These 5 Tips Will Help You Grow Your Poker Bankroll

• 31.06.2025 4:05 pm
• headhunter
• 1 Comment

It is possible for any poker player, even the winning players, to lose almost all their online bankroll within the shortest time. It is possible to burn the bankroll you took months to build over one or two sessions. The greatest bankroll burners are live poker players who decide to go online. What they do not realize is the fact that online poker demands more control and discipline in order to win. This is because online poker comprises of fast play that live poker and the players are much more aggressive.

This article should be able to help good poker players learn on how they can hold on to their online bankroll.

1.     Take part in poker games within your bankroll

This is the most important aspect for all poker players. In order to make any money online, you have to play within your means. The gambler's ruin theorem can best explain this;

When two players take part in a game of zero sum, like coin flipping, where winning or losing rate is zero percent. One of these two players has a bankroll that is finite while the other's is infinite. If the coin flip was to be repeated infinitely, the finite bankroll holder will at some point go broke.

Equating this to online poker, you get to play against all the other players. This puts you on the finite bankroll against infinite bankrolls of your opponents. Incase online poker was the 0 sum game, you would end up bankrupt. In case you are lucky enough and you are the winning player, it is possible you will get large returns on your bankroll invested in the game. You need to have enough online poker bankroll in order for the variance and swings to be irrelevant.

In order for your bankroll to look infinite, you need to adapt to the golden rule of poker which insists on investing less than five percent of your bankroll in one table every time. If you are a robust kind of a person, you can take down the number to as low as 2% on each table sitting each time.   

2. Stop keeping tabs on your balance

Once you learn how to successfully follow the above rule, then you need not worry about going broke. You need to focus your game on your chips not the money. You should not equate the chips to money as it is irrelevant. You need to avoid looking at your bankroll balance every time, learn to resist the urge.

When you are winning, it means that your bankroll is also increasing and checking it will motivate you. As you check while winning, remember that a single bet is all it takes for it to go low. Incase you lose a hand, and you are constantly checking on your balance, your spirits will go down and you will try all measures to get it back up. The problem is, every time a player plays out of desperation always ends up losing even more.  This is normally the initiation of self destruction.

Watching your balance is an easy way of falling into depression in the shortest time. You will want to play in games higher than your bankroll because you imagine that this is the best way to get the bankroll back. By doing so, you automatically break rule number 1 above.

3.     Take online poker seriously

When taking part in real money poker, every move, pot and hand is of utmost importance. Small mistakes can easily cost you a lot of money. You need to limit your distractions; anything that takes your attention off the game is a distraction. You are bound to make hefty mistakes when you decide to split your concentration with other things.

It is possible for some players to play as good with split concentration while others cannot. It is important that you assess your playing ways and determine where you fall.

It is a bad idea to play online poker because you want to get cheered up. This is because poker is like a business where money is lost and won. When playing poker because you are bored, you are bound to make silly moves that will cost you money.

4.     Listen to your physical self

As a human being, you need to maintain your body in good health and state. Being physically fit will go hand in hand with playing great poker. It is impossible to play at your best if your physical self is not at its best state. The most important aspects are:

• Food – you need to have a full stomach in order to think rationally and clearly.
• Comfort – you need to ensure that you are comfortable when playing online poker. Being uncomfortable will mean getting distracted from the game. Ensure you have a comfortable chair, as well as a good screen that will ensure you are at the peak of comfort.
• Tiredness – you need to ensure that you are not fatigued when you decide to play online poker. Playing while feeling tired will make you make unreasonable moves at the table thus lose you a lot of your bankroll.
• Too much thinking – the only thing you should be thinking of at the table is the game. You should not play poker if you have other matters stressing you as this will deprive you the chance to play your best poker. You should also avoid playing while drunk or on drugs.

5.     learn to quit while still ahead

You need to learn when to stop playing especially when you see that you ate tilting. Tilting will kill your bankroll in a few sessions. There is no point in playing when you are going through a tilt. Very few players can keep their good game going even through a tilt. You need to log off when you start seeing signs of tilting.

By following the above rules, you are sure to play winning poker every time and you eliminate the chances of going broke in online poker.

You need to ensure that you avoid breaking any of these rules as the others will not be far behind if you break even one of them. You need to keep tabs on your play and look out for any signs of breaking the rules. This way, you can stop play before you break any rules.

Always bear it in thought that poker will still be there the next time you want to play. Learn to quit while still ahead.