Bankroll management is one of the most underrated keys to success for any professional poker player. However talented you are, if you don't manage yourself properly, you're going broke somewhere down the line. Granted, gambling may get you some short term success but even so, success this way is going to create bad habits, which will come back to bite you one day. In this article, I aim to outline the non-poker aspects of the job which I think are vital.

First of all, the basics. I think a minimum of 25 buy ins behind, for cash game play, is essential. This isn't something you should follow loosely either. It is extremely important to be disciplined and force yourself to move down when necessary. Moving down has been the hardest thing for me, but always pays off in the end. There is nothing more demoralising than dropping down and losing a few buy ins straight away, but you must curb your temptation to try and recoup your loses at the higher stakes that you 'know' you can beat. This, controversially, works both ways however. I think it is almost equally important to move up a level when you have around 60-70 buy ins. With too much money at one level poker can become monotonous, the excitement can fade and the sense of progress, which is so vital in poker, disappears. Yes, you may feel uncomfortable at higher levels, but that's a good thing surely? You have to want to push and challenge yourself to be successful and get the most enjoyment out of the game.

Its all to do with making a proper allowance for variance. For example, if you are an average player playing 4-6, 6 max tables you can expect daily swings of around 5 buy ins, losing weeks and even the odd losing month - this is the level of variance that your bankroll strategy has to cater for. If you play with less than 25 buy ins the risk of going broke is too great and you will have no sense of stability or continuity. You will fluctuate between levels too frequently, stopping yourself from getting a good feel for the player pool or dynamics at a given level. Your style of play can affect the amount of variance you are likely to experience. A TAG player is, on average, going to experience less variance than a LAG player. In terms of bankroll strategy this means TAG players are safer to stick to the minimum requirements for levelling up whereas a LAG player might want to be more cautious. Big multi-tablers may want to be more cautious when levelling up as well. Either stick to 4 or less tables until you have over 35 buy ins behind or play a combination of levels at once. A new level means new players and a slightly new style of play, this takes time to adapt to so going in gung ho with 6-12 tables with only 25 buy ins left over could cause a big shock to your bottom line. More tables doesn't mean more variance but a new level is rarely going to be easy straight away, whether it's a level up or a level down to stakes you've not played at for a while.

Something which very few players practice properly, is cashing out regularly. The system which I use, and believe in, is to cash out a buy in every day of profit. For example, say you were playing 200nl, any day you profit more than 200, even if its 201, you take out 200. Its important to do this on the day as well. If you have a nice profit day and don't cash out, the next day could be a losing day and, in that case, it is so easy to 'forget' about the previous days profits not to damage your sacred bottom line. There are a couple of reasons why cashing out is important. Firstly, if your doing well, you need to treat yourself away from poker, having plenty of money is nice and will help you through the inevitable bad runs. Also, if these bad runs get on top of you, which is especially apparent for those early in their career, it is likely you will go bust a few times. Having cashed out regularly you should be able to get back up ok and never have to borrow money.

Going bust is the biggest test of your discipline and management skills. Obviously, in going bust, you've probably broken your bankroll rules anyway, so the temptation to continue on the same vein "just until you get back to x" is going to be great. The first thing you have to do is to take a break, not a long one, just a week or so. This will, hopefully, put you in a better mind state and give you time to really understand what you did wrong. Then you have to drop down to a game which, one, you can afford, and, two, is lower than your last regular game. Although, through cashing out, you should have some money saved you don't want to pump this all back in. For a 100 or 200nl regular, I'ld recommend dropping down to 50nl for around 2 weeks or so. You have to stay at your chosen level for a reasonable amount of time to regain a sense of continuity and stability. Then just fall back into your routine, 25 buy ins minimum, don't think about where you used to be, concentrate on winning at your current level, not getting back to your old game, the subtle difference in mentality is important.

It is vital for anyone reading this to understand that the most important, overriding aspect in all of this is discipline. It is all well and good to follow these rules when your running good but when you can't win a race and are getting coolered every big hand you make you need to really show your strong will and self control to keep to your rules and level down.

A few more simple points which I think may also help :

-Have a stop loss of around 5 buy ins when your running bad and around 7-8 when things are going better. (by stop loss I mean when you've lost this amount you stop for the rest of the day)

-For sngs and mtts I recommend having around 40-50 buy ins however for those playing many tournaments everyday the swings are so great that something closer to 100 buy ins is wise if you are playing a high volume.

-Use Poker Tracker, as in, actually USE IT! At very least try and review all your biggest losing hands of your session and look for leaks.

-Make sure you're not loosening up when you're running bad, if anything tighten up. Poker Tracker is also good for this.

-Keep learning. Watch lots of videos and keep looking for new books to read. Try and implement new things into your game and make a concerted effort to correct your mistakes.

-Don't play above your limits in live games. Yes, the games may seem very beatable and you might have had a few drinks but don't go any higher than one level above your regular online game.

Bankroll