Bankroll Management

By Mike Caro

Many players treat their whole bankroll as if they're involved in an elimination tournament. You know how the pro tournaments work, right? They keep raising the stakes every hour, increasing the stakes as more and more players are eliminated quickly. Eventually all the chips end up with one championship player and everyone else loses.

Sadly, many players treat their bankrolls like this in real life. They beat a game, build their bankroll, move to a bigger limit. They keep pushing up the stakes whenever they survive one level. While they may be getting, theoretically, the best of each encounter, they're not likely to survive any more than they're likely to win a tournament.

They may do very well and survive to play bigger rounds. They may do so well, in fact, that they would have finished, oh, second in a tournament. But finishing second in real life, when you're always putting your poker bankroll in jeopardy just means you're broke.

Don't treat your bankroll like you're in a tournament, always raising the limits, until you win the whole thing or go broke. Don't do that.