An age old question asked in the poker community is:
"How much of a bankroll do I need to play such and such a limit, or game? "
A bankroll is the amount of money you have allocated strictly for playing poker. It is not meant to buy groceries, to pay the electric bill, or to go out for drinks with friends. Your bankroll is meant only for dealing with the downswings in poker.
It would be difficult for a carpenter to get any work done without tools or for a fisherman to catch anything without with out a boat and fishing rods. For a serious player to play poker, you need money. If you take the analogy a step further; Imagine, a fisherman who has his boat and his rods but only has enough money for 2 days worth of bait. What is going to happen if he doesn’t catch enough in those 2 days to buy more bait? Quite simply, he’ll be out of work. He didn’t allow himself enough leeway to compensate for a couple of bad days. A smart fisherman on the other hand will leave himself enough money for several weeks of bait and supplies to insure success.
A Recreational Bankroll
A recreational bankroll can be replaced fairly easily. For example, if you earn $1,000 a week at your job and lose the $100 you had set aside for poker, it wouldn’t be too difficult or inconvenient to replace it (as long as your significant other does find out about it.) Someone who plays poker “just for fun” can use a recreational bankroll and just replace their losses as they occur.
A Professional Bankroll
A professional bankroll is difficult to replace. Again, if you made $1000 a week but you had set aside $10,000 for poker, it would take quite a bit of time for you to replace the $10,000, and your significant other would more than likely find out about it! A good poker player keeps a professional bankroll.
If you are a winning player you should never have to replenish your bankroll from an outside source. Your bankroll should be large enough to withstand any downswings which will leave you with enough money to recoup those losses when the downswing ends.
If you are a losing player no bankroll will ever keep you from going broke, it will only prolong this inevitable outcome.
Poker Sponsorship is a way of mitigating the risk of playing poker. By siging up to a poker sponsorship program a poker player can be assured that their bankroll is covered and can just get on with playing poker. LivetheDreamPoker has a risk free poker sponsorship program for livethedreampoker community members.
Read more about Poker Sponsorship
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