The Beginning

[Vito_Nuccio]

OK, I will start this new forum area with a beginners lesson on bankroll management.

First Step, find a poker room associated with rakeback.com. You get money auto deposited into your account every month, some sites every day (Nordica) with a rakeback deal.

So you want to play online poker for real money. You can sign up with a poker room and deposit some money or attempt to win some cash in a freeroll (free tourney, no money needed, but the cardroom usually adds a little money and often these will offer players with money in their account to rebuy for .50 or so to add more to the purse). There is a current challenge going here at Rakeback to start with nothing and see what you can do with it. Check out some of the other posts if you are interested.

Either by deposit or freeroll winnings you now have some cash in your account. If only a few dollars from freeroll, bankroll management really does not quite come into play yet except, find the cheapest buy-ins or blinds and play them. If you plan on depositing money, be aware of the games and money levels offered in your rakeback cardroom. Make sure you have enough reserves to handle the losing swings everyone has. What those reserves need to be really depends on the player and the games being played. There are countless articles written by pros and noobs declaring X percent this and Y percent that. Study what others think and come up with a personal formula. You must ultimitely determine and maintain your roll.

As a beginner you may not have a grasp of how truely important it is to protect your roll. No one will be baby sitting you. The poker room will not issue a warning message if you are about to play a game for 95% of your account, as long as the amount is there, you can register for a game. Avoid the disaster of overplaying your wad, you will be much happier in the long run.

Remember the cardrooms are always open, there is always a game. There is no need to act in haste by playing a game for an amount of money you can not handle. Keep your head on straight. Utilize and study what everyone has to say about bankroll management, play poker and adjust your habits accordingly.

I did not want to get into specific dollar amounts and odds here, just want to say, if you are a true beginner, watch your bankroll. If you take care of your bankroll, it will return the favor.

Good Luck and better yet, Play Well.

Later,

[frob23]

Yes... I agree with everything above with one additional note: do not under-estimate how much money you will need in reserve for a certain limit. It may seem stupid to have $200 in your account and be playing for literal pennies -- and it would be stupid if you could reasonably just deposit more whenever you wanted -- but if you want to reduce the risk of losing it all as much as possible, it's smart to play with a small percentage. Like Vito, I won't say what percentage that might be... but it's probably smaller than your first guess.

It's also been said, that if you're a losing player then you'll need an infinite bankroll. And that's true. No matter how big your bankroll is, if you're not winning then you're going to burn through it eventually. So study hard and practice... review your hands and look for mistakes... do everything you can to become a winning player as quickly as possible. Even with rakeback, you will still need to be a lot more than "just above average" to beat the rake -- even the reduced rake. Post hands on here and let's talk about them. Almost everyone on this site is looking to improve and we can help each other as we go.

Also, enjoy yourself. Poker is a great game and even when you lose, it was cheaper entertainment than you might have spent doing something else (more true at the lower limits than the big ones where swings are larger). You can lose a couple $5 sit and gos and have spent less for the amount of time than a movie ticket. If you're not having fun -- win or lose -- then what's the point in playing?

[liladypokerpro]

Love this thread Vito, excellent idea and advice...same for your post, Frob! I especially agree with the last paragraph. You should always go in looking to enjoy yourself as well as make a profit...but if for some reason you don't, and you've managed your money well, then you can view it as, "I paid for entertainment" and move on to the next challenge for less than a night out on the town.

The best part about playing poker rather than going out for entertainment, is poker pays you back...