One of the most difficult parts of playing poker is bankroll management. This holds true, especially in online poker. The reason being, is because it is just so easy to be undisciplined. With the click of a button, you could end up at a table with your entire bankroll on the line. That is clearly not a smart way to play poker and it is definitely not good bankroll management. As an online poker player, managing your bankroll properly can make you or break you.

The Starting Point

Every player has some sort of starting point. It's possible to build a strong online poker bankroll from absolutely nothing. But no matter how big or little it may be, there has to be some sort of starting bankroll. Fortunately, playing online allows you to properly exercise your bankroll management skills because there is such a wide variety of limits. If you only have a $50 bankroll, you can still use that as a significant bankroll as long as you are playing in the right limits. That may be harder to do in a live game (as there are not near as many options as there are online).

The proper bankroll size is 20-40 times the maximum buy in at the game you are playing in. If your game of choice is $100 NL Texas Holdem ($0.50/$1.00 blinds), then you should have a minimum of $2,000.00 as your bankroll. You should have as much as double that, although it is probably not needed. The reason being, is because poker is a long term game. You will never win poker every time you play for a long period of time. In fact, there will be times where you will lose a lot and run really bad due to some bad luck. On the other side, there will be times where you run really really good and you get crazy amounts of returns on your investments. The fact is, that if you are a solid winning poker player - then you will win over the long run. With the proper bankroll, you are able to do this.

Getting Paid

The whole point of playing poker online or offline is to make money. There are not any serious poker players out there that do not play the game for the money. That is what it is all about. It is important however, to manage your bankroll and manage getting paid at the same time. It is almost like a business. You have to look at poker as your business. Your biggest expense is buying into a poker game. You need to have enough money in your bankroll to buy into at least 20 of them. At the same time, you have to look at yourself as an employee that is on the payroll. You need to get paid on a regular basis while still putting money back into your bankroll.

With all of this going on, you still need to worry about growing your bankroll as well. That is, unless you never plan on moving up to higher limits. Some players will play at the lower/medium stake limits for a really long time without ever worrying about moving up. Others have a goal in mind to move up as quickly as possible, and they will just simply never pay themselves. Instead, all of the money goes back into the poker bankroll. However you want to do it is fine, but it works best to build your bankroll slowly and pay yourself at the same time.

A nice little tip is to open a bank account that is specifically for poker. You can deposit and withdrawal just using that account. Also remember how important it is to track everything. Track every penny that goes in and out of your poker bankroll. That is another reason having a bank account for poker is a good idea. It will be much easier to to keep track of everything. It is actually very straightforward. The hardest part is to be disciplined. Stay within your limits and you will be fine.