Growing Your Bankroll – Easy Does It

Most poker players start playing poker with a relatively small bankroll and, if they are serious players, give considerable attention to playing good poker in order to grow that small bankroll into a HUGE bankroll. The greatest hindrance to reaching that goal is poor play. However, even players who have developed good, winning poker skills often find it very difficult to really grow their bankroll for a couple of other reasons.

For instance, after a bad run and resulting losses to their bankroll, a player might feel the urge to move up in stakes. After all, a good session or two at that level might result in a nice increase in the bankroll. Sometimes that tactic has the desired effect, but often, when you step up to a higher stakes game in order to rebuild a diminished bankroll, the unhappy result is even greater damage to your already bruised bankroll. A better time to step up to a bigger game is, of course, when you are playing well, and even then you should leave yourself a way out if you lose…such as limiting yourself to only one or two buyins as a stop-loss.

Likewise, a player may be frustrated not because he is losing, but because his wins just don’t seem that stellar, and therefore he might decide to shake things up a bit…or alot, overplaying hands, or bluffing too much or in the wrong situations, trying too hard to win beyond what the players/cards/tables/situations (pick one) allow. If the legitimate opportunity for the big move comes, by all means, take it. But my experience has been…when you try to force it, when you try to go too far, too fast, or make up for lost ground (and step out of bounds in the process), there is usually somebody at the table who is more than happy to take your money.

When it comes to growing your bankroll, the best advice is this: easy does it! Work on your game, and if you develop into an expert or at least a good (better than average) player for the game you play, then you will win over time, and your bankroll will grow…significantly! Time is your ally if you are a good poker player, so use the leverage which time affords you!

And here is what many players don’t understand: it doesn’t take huge winning sessions to grow your bankroll big time…over time. Ever heard of the rule of 72? It is a handy “measuring stick” that folks in finance have used for years for quick “shoot from the hip” calculations. Take a rate of return or interest rate and divide that rate into 72 and you will find the number of “periods” required to double your money. For instance, if you earned 4 percent per year in a savings account, you would know by the rule of 72 that it would take about 18 years to double your initial deposit (72/4 = 18).

Well here is something that might really surprise you! What if you average a 5% daily increase in your bankroll through solid, disciplined play (at a level where you are comfortable)? How long will it take for your bankroll to double at that 5% daily rate? The answer is about 14 days…two weeks! 5 divided into 72 equals 14 “periods” or in this case days. $1000 to $2000 in two weeks…not bad at all! What if you average a 2.5% daily increase in your bankroll? Then you will see your bankroll double in about one month! If you are just tearing up the game you play consistently and are able to average a 10% daily increase, your bankroll will be doubling approximately every seven days!

These are very realistic numbers for some good players. I can tell you by my own experience that if I play my game the way I am capable of playing (serious, smart poker…no tilt allowed) then 5 percent daily bankroll growth is very attainable. I have done it over extended periods of time. Of course, there have been other times when I go on tilt and..well, let’s not go there.

Consider this bankroll project: Lets say you have developed your game to a level you are pleased with (for now at least). And on day one of your project your modest bankroll is $1000. Your game is Holdem and you multi-table 2/4 limit holdem games, two or three tables, nothing crazy. You devote some hours each day and are able to average 4BB/Hr over 3 to 4 hours of play, so you are winning $50 to $60 per session on average. Well, there is your 5% daily increase (50/1000 = 5%). As your bankroll increases, you move up to higher levels when you have 250 to 300 big bet equivalents in your bankroll. So when your bankroll is $1500, maybe you are ready for 3/6 tables. A $2000 bankroll might be your signal to go to 4/8. But don’t get hung up on transitioning to the higher tables at a set point, and DON’T GET TOO FOCUSED ON HITTING A DAILY PERCENTAGE. We are talking averages here, not daily quotas! The discussion of average daily growth is designed to foster solid play and bankroll management/growth, by helping you realize that you can make really good money over the days, weeks and months…without knocking the ball out of the park every time you play. Still, in case you are curious, if you did average a 5% daily bankroll increase, the $1000 you started with on day one of your project would have grown to more than $4,000 after 30 days and more than $18,000 after 60 days…exponential growth due to the magic of compounding!

The point of this article is to encourage careful, deliberate, expert (or at least better than average) play at your game/level over extended periods of time, resulting in significant bankroll growth. “Easy does it” may not sound too exciting, but if “easy does it” means potentially doubling your bankroll every 30 days or every two weeks…well, that sounds pretty exciting to me. Don’t confuse exciting with terrifying…they are cousins, but not siblings.

Don’t be a Drip….Fix Your Leaking Game

Poor play in the blinds, and the small blind in particular, is such a common problem, that it is one of the major leaks in many players games. As Chuck Blount points out in this article, it is just too easy to call that one-half bet from the small blind. After all, I already have money “invested” in the hand, don’t I?

Well, that is one way of looking at it. Such an approach to the blinds may not be patently wrong, but if you aren’t careful, that attitude of having something “invested” in the hand can lead to other costly mistakes, such as fiercely “defending” the blinds, which, in many limit game situations (low limit/full table games in particular), can be down right silly, and extremely costly.

While the blinds are forced, mandatory bets, I tend to view the blinds not so much as investments in a particular hand as I do the “rent” paid for the privilege of having a seat at the table, and the rent just comes due every so often, regardless of what cards I happen to be holding at that point in time. So, I pay my “rent”, and if the cards and/or situation warrant it, I play my hand.

Now, that philosophy can be carried to an extreme as well, and the other astute players you are up against can and do abuse players who are passive pushovers in the blinds. However, what I am recommending here is not allowing yourself to be steamrolled when in the blinds. But you have to think about, analyze what is developing in these hands where you happen to be in one of the blinds. Kneejerk calling or folding doesn’t qualify as thoughtful, smart play in most situations. In or out of the blinds, your (limit Holdem) game should be about smart, tight play, coupled with thoughtful aggression when you do decide to play a hand. Just don’t let your incidental position in the blind make your mind up for you.

So, does that mean being in the blind shouldn’t influence your decision to play a hand. NO! On the contrary, it is a major factor, for at least a couple of reasons. First, being in the blinds is a position issue, and position is paramount in poker. Second, even though I don’t advocate the idea of the blinds having anything “invested” in the hand, you certainly are correct to consider the “discount” you are getting by virtue of having already put in the blind bet, and that “discount” means there is a wider range of playable hands available to you in the blinds, especially the big blind, depending on the betting which has already taken place when the action reaches you.

Blount’s article does a good job of showing how expensive poor blind play (pre-flop) can be. For some good advice on pre-flop play from the blinds (and all other positions as well) you need to consider the Preflop50 Hand Strength System we have developed. Just click on the banner at the top of the page.It is available as a free PDF download.

And the Moral of the Story is….Slowplaying Can Make You Feel Really, Really Stupid

Whenever I read a story like this one, I am reminded of how very careful you must be when slowplaying a relatively strong hand, or even a very strong hand. Poker players can, and do, develop tunnel vision, seeing only the hand they have, and not their opponents potential hands based on their actions and the cards on the board. We must also consider the cards which may still be coming. When staring at an ace high straight, or the nut flush, it is all too easy to miss the fact that we may already be beat (the straight by a flush, the nut flush by a full house). And, of course, the full house can be beat as well…

The last live tournament I played in was in Tunica, MS, and I slowplayed my set of 4’s after the flop. The hand got even better when my set turned into a full house on the turn. With an ace and a flush draw on the board and two other players active in the pot, I was sitting pretty, I thought. Let them do the betting and/or chasing. The seven of spades on the river was my dream card, I thought! After all, my full house beats his made flush, right? Except by slow-playing my strong hand (which only got stronger) I had actually allowed him to hit his gutshot straight flush, which he was chasing since the flop. The pot was huge, and that hand crippled me. Soon I was out of the tournament.

I played the hand badly. My biggest mistake was not fully recognizing what the developing board might afford my opponent. I saw the flush draw, but I did not see the straight flush draw. I let this beat happen by not fully reading the board and understanding where one of my opponents was really headed.

Slow-playing is an effective, albeit dangerous technique. You must be very aware of the cards that are out, the cards that may come, and be good at reading your opponent to effectively exploit slow-playing opportunities without shooting yourself in the foot.