Managing your bankroll is a key skill necessary to making a healthy career in poker. When playing poker professionally, bankroll management is just as important as your playing skills.

Most believe that playing poker for money is gambling, when really it is just investing. Unfortunately, not many professional gamblers are successful. Why? The main reason is poor bankroll management.

Bankroll management, simply, is the amount of money you have put aside from your income to play poker. This should not be more than 10% of your total bankroll. If you inherited a $100 and a $100 bankroll, the most you can take from the bank is $91.

For instance, if you start with $100 and have 50 buy-ins, you should have 15 buy-ins or $15 blinds in the bankroll, whatever you feel comfortable with. That way you can sit down at a $2-$4 limit table or a $5-$8 limit table. An amount to play between 5 and 8 games based on your bankroll.

It is important to never play above your bankroll. Playing any higher than a 5% of your bankroll is pure gambling and will cause you to lose all your money. It is advised to never exceed 15 buy-ins for a single session.

For example, lets say you have $100. You want to play $5-$8 limit afapoker. You go online and search for tables with $8-$12 limits. After selecting one, you read the table instructions and understand the action to take. You decide to play $5-$8 limit poker for the next session. You deposit the $5 and commence playing. After the session you go back to $8 and play until your bankroll is back to $100. Then you take a break. You should not make any further deposit in the $100 bankroll until you have 15 buy-ins ($15 x 5). This is an important aspect of bankroll management. Normally playing 5 to 8 buy-ins will cover the Big Blind in most poker games up to $4,000. However, in higher stakes games you may need to play higher amounts of buy-ins. For example, in a 5/10 limit game buying in for $10 and playing 11 buy-ins as a whole will cover the blind in the $5-$11 range. You do not necessarily have to play exactly 11x$, however.

Buy-inlogic tells us that if we have a $100 and a 15 buy-in, we should only play the $5-$8 limit games. However, the games vary. You could play between $5 and $25 buy-in, and in between $0.25 and $5. No matter what your bankroll ends up being, the games still have the same payout and likely a higher one than if you had stuck with the $25 buy-in.

The other advantage to playing with a lower number of buy-ins is that the competition at the lower stakes is slightly easier. If you are used to playing $5 or $10 games, playing $5-$10 games at higher stakes means you won’t have the same level of expertise and won’t be able to play as well. Therefore, even though your drawback may be the same as your advantage, being able to play $5-$10 games of higher stakes makes it easier to make a profit.

It is also possible to play with lower buy-ins and make the same amount of money, if you have a good strategy for playing. These games are not as tough as the ones at high stakes, so with a little bit of practice you can probably beat those games.

If you want to win more money in cash games, playing with lower limits could be the answer. However, if you do not have the proper strategy, you will not be able to press forward with your game. The old adage poker to win money says true, in the long run, if you play with a strategy other than your cards, you will lose. However, if you argue that your skill is not that important in poker as long as you don’t play, you can easily defeat people who play using skills.

The thing that most people forget when considering an online poker bonus is that they need to earn the bonus money in real cash games. The vast majority of online poker players play aimlessly and never ever develop a strategy other than playing every hand. As a result they end up hardly ever leaving the poker room, never making any money. If you develop a strategy to play which involves using your poker skills in conjunction with a strategy of using your bankroll, you will have a way to leave the poker room and walk away with some extra money.