Bankroll Basics

What variance actually looks like

Even a player with a genuine edge loses frequently and sometimes for a long time. A flush draw that is 36 per cent to complete will miss three times in a row about one attempt in four, and that is a single hand type in a single session.

• Losing streaks of several sessions are ordinary, not evidence of anything being wrong.
• Short-term results tell you almost nothing about whether you are playing well.
• The player who is winning tonight is usually the player who was dealt better cards tonight.
• In blackjack and other house games, the edge runs against you permanently; variance only decides how long that takes to show.

Setting the number

1. Decide what you can lose entirelyThe test is simple: if this money were gone tomorrow, would anything in your life change? If the answer is yes, the figure is too high.
2. Keep it separateA different account, or physically separate cash. A bankroll that sits in your current account is not a bankroll, it is your current account.
3. Choose stakes from the bankroll, not the other way roundThe stakes you play should be a fraction of what you have set aside, so that an ordinary losing run cannot end your playing.
4. Set a session limit as wellDecide in advance what one evening may cost and what would make you stand up. Both numbers, not just the first.
5. Write down what happensDate, game, stakes, hours, result. Memory is unreliable in exactly the direction that flatters you.

Conventional guidelines

These are the figures serious players use. They are conservative for a reason, and they assume a player who is at least breaking even.

The tournament figure surprises people, and it is the most important one. Prize money concentrates in the top few places, so even a strong player can play dozens of events without a significant finish. See Tournaments and Cash Games.

Habits that cost the most

• Chasing losses. Moving up in stakes to win back a loss is the single most expensive habit in card games, because it combines a larger risk with worse judgement.
• Playing tired. Decisions made in the sixth hour are measurably worse than decisions made in the first.
• Playing on borrowed money. There is no version of this that improves.
• Ignoring the rake. In a small game the house’s cut can exceed the edge any player has. Check the table sign.
• Keeping no records. Without them you cannot tell a bad run from bad play, and the two need opposite responses.
• Treating a win as income. One good session is a sample size of one.

When to stop

Decide these conditions before the session, when they cost nothing to agree to.

• You have reached the loss limit you set.
• You are playing hands you would have folded two hours ago.
• You are angry about a hand that finished some time ago.
• You have considered using money that is not in the bankroll.
• You are no longer enjoying it.

If gambling has stopped being a choice — if it is affecting money, work or relationships — national helplines exist in most countries and are free and confidential. GamCare in the United Kingdom and the National Council on Problem Gambling in the United States both operate free lines; most other countries have an equivalent.