The Poker Bankroll

I’m writing this post primarily to remind myself on my rules on how to manage my poker bankroll. Hopefully this may also be helpful to you the reader. Time and again I have had successful stretches, only to break the rules that are in my head, and take a dive back to zero. From this day forward, I pledge to follow these rules:

1. Never play more than 1% of my bankroll on a single sports bet. If I have $100, then my unit size is $1. If I have $500, then my unit size is $5. If I have $1,000, then my unit size is $10, etc.
2. Never buy-in to a cash game for more than 10% of my total bankroll. Typically my home game has a $20 initial buy-in, so I’ll need to have at least $200 in my bankroll to play. If I’m going to hit the Ypsi Charity Room, which usually requires a $200 buy-in, then I need to have at least $2,000 in my bankroll.
3. Never buy-in to a Mulit-Table Tournament (MTT) for more than 5% of my total bankroll. The Krablar tournament has a $25 buy-in, so I’ll need at least $500 in the bankroll to participate. For a larger online tournament with a $100 buy-in, I’ll need to have at least $2,000 in my bankroll.
4. Never reach into my pocket more than four times in a night. After the fourth buy-in, I’m clearly not playing well and it’s time to call it a night. Don’t dig a hole that is too larger to get out of.
5. Keep a spreadsheet of all of my gambling trasactions. I am doing this currently and I will continue to do so.
6. Keep my Gambling Bankroll separate from my personal finances. This is also happening currently. I will continue to maintain this separation.
7. Profit Sharing with my family is something that I have done for quite a while. It’s the equivalent of my paycheck from my Gambling business when I am running things well. I do this, in part, so that my wife and son will be supportive of this side endeavor, and also as a way to consistently pull out some of the profits. In the past, I have been sharing 50% of profits, but I have determined that rate is not sustainable if I want to make long-term gains. Moving forward my plan will be as follows:
   • I will disburse profit sharing twice a week on Sunday (Fri-Sun profits) and on Thursdays (Mon-Thurs profits)
   • I will share 22.5% of my profits with my wife
   • I will share 2.5% of my profits with my son

I will share my progress as I go, but as of today (after some bad losses this week), my bankroll stands at $680.16. This limits me to sports bets of units of $6.80, cash games with initial buy-ins of $68 or less, and tournaments with buy-ins of les than $34.

So it is written, and so it shall be done.

What about you? Do you have any rules for bankroll management that you’d like to share?