A Pokers Players Biggest Sin - Poor Money Management
Part 1- Money Management for Cash Games
Dan Harrington, one of the worlds most respected poker players, says the worst sin professional gamblers can commit is not being able to play because they’ve let themselves run out of money. He’s witnessed too many brilliant players fall by the wayside because they played outside the limit of their bankroll.
When interviewing the world’s top no-limit hold’em players for the book Poker Wizards, I asked them about money management, bankrolls, cash games and tournaments. Not surprisingly, their money strategies vary as much as their playing styles but just about everyone agreed on one thing; If you’re a good poker player, your bankroll is your ammunition… never run out of bullets.
Cash Games
All the top players I spoke with say cash games are the most consistent way of making money in today’s poker environment. According to Daniel Negreanu, anybody who’s serious about becoming a professional poker player should start doing it the good old-fashioned
way, through side games because they provide
a much more steady diet of money than
the tournaments.
For many of the new, younger players however,
cash games just don’t have the thrill that tournaments do. Mike Sexton says that compared to the seemingly instant fame and fortune that can be obtained in front of the cameras on the tournament circuit, cash games can seem like a lot of work and little glory to many people. Unfortunately, it’s also not all that common for players to be both great tournament players and cash game winners.
What is an appropriate bankroll for playing cash games? Harrington believes new players should start with the smallest bankroll they can play comfortably and beat the lowest game, then slowly work their way up. Mike Sexton agrees. He says one of the most common mistakes new players make is playing at limits too high for their skill level and bankroll.
Chris Ferguson wont play in a cash game unless the buy-in is less than 5% of his total bankroll and will get up and leave if his growing stack means he is risking more than 10% of his total bankroll at any one time. Ferguson has also set a rule for himself that if he ever loses half his bankroll, he’ll go back down to a lower level where the skill level of his opponents is less and slowly build up his assets again with reduced risk.
The lesson: No matter how good you are you’re going to have losing streaks and may have to drop down to a lower level to rebuild your equity.
Pot-limit and no-limit games tend to be more risky than limit games but can be very rewarding for skilled players who can live with the volatility. For lower risk, and smaller bankroll requirements, stick with limit games - for many players they provide a more consistent source of income with much smaller financial swings.
Everyone agreed, when it comes to cash games if you are skilled, and playing at the right level - there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be ahead at the end of most weeks. As a result, try to have a total bankroll that will allow you to survive that long at your chosen level and try not to risk more than 5-10% of total disposable poker bank at any one time.
What sort of a bankroll should you have to play in Tournaments? You can read the answer to this question and others in the second half of this article in our next blog.
Warwick Dunnett is the author of Poker Wizards: Wisdom from the World’s Top No-Limit Hold’em Players at www.pokerwizards.net . You can the Poker Wizards Blog and get free weekly poker tips at http://www.oneononepoker.net/
Warwick Dunnett
How Poker Pros Make Millions
Ever wonder what sets a good poker player apart from a pro? Is there one secret to playing the game? A strategy? Is there a certain talent that only some lucky players have? Are you born a great poker player or can anyone develop into one? I’ve wondered about that myself and decided to investigate some of the top professional poker players and see what sets them apart.
And what did I find? In general, the best poker players have 5 characteristics in common.
1) Intelligence
In order to be a good poker player, you need people skills, some math knowledge and good intuitive ability. You have to be pretty smart to be good at poker, but I don’t mean doctor smart or lawyer smart – you have to be street smart. Whether or not a player has a strong educational background doesn’t really matter; the best players are all very, very smart people who consistently make better decisions at the table.
Another type of inherent intelligence that the best players have is often called ‘feel’.Feel is what separates great players from average ones. It’s instinct or a gut feeling, and it comes from the subconscious. This intuitive sense is something many players don’t have, making them very static players who are easy to read.
2) Competitiveness
Above all, to excel in poker, you have to love being very competitive. It’s got to hurt when you lose. The competitiveness is what drives and motivates you to become a better player. However, in poker you have much less control over the outcome than in many sports, so you must be willing and able to lose without it affecting your game because no matter how good you are it is going to happen.
3) Aggressiveness
Being aggressive is important in poker but it’s not the most aggressive players who are the best, it’s the ones who can be aggressive at the right time. The question of how aggressive you actually need to be isn’t easy to define. Weak and timid doesn’t work in poker, but at the same time, you have to be able to lay down a big hand. It’s very hard to find people that can do both of those things successfully. It’s picking your spots and being aggressive at the right time that’s key.
4) Discipline
The need for discipline (both with your cards and your money) commences well before you sit down at the table to play. The best players know how important it is to be physically and mentally prepared for a tournament. Once you’ve decided that you’re in good shape to play, utilize sound judgment and money management skills to stop yourself from risking more than you can afford. Personal discipline is the key.
When you’re at the table, use your discipline to wait for good opportunities and get away from bad situations. In a tournament, there’s no doubt as to when it’s time to stand up and leave! But when you’re way down in a cash game, or even well ahead, it sometimes takes a huge amount of discipline to get up from the table. There will be times you’ll have to force yourself to put your ego aside and walk away a loser – for the time being, of course.
5) Read, Watch and Learn
There are fundamental skills and knowledge involved in poker and the best players have studied the game and continue to read, watch and learn. Great players learn everything about the game and read everything they can, picking up something from every book they read. Just like anything else, if you want to be good at poker, you have to work at it.
Once you’ve got the basics down, be willing to think out of the box. Good players are always willing to try new things and experiment. They read about strategies, watch and study players they respect, and they always walk away from a game – win or lose - and evaluate their own play and consider how they might have done things differently
anybody who’s serious about becoming a professional poker player should start doing it the good old-fashioned
way, through side games because they provide
a much more steady diet of money than
the tournaments. 
Chris Ferguson wont play in a cash game unless the buy-in is less than 5% of his total bankroll and will get up and leave if his growing stack means he is risking more than 10% of his total bankroll at any one time. Ferguson has also set a rule for himself that if he ever loses half his bankroll, he’ll go back down to a lower level where the skill level of his opponents is less and slowly build up his assets again with reduced risk.
