Another day another dollar

I went and saw the movie "Mr Brooks" last night, and it was really good. I'm not a big Kevin Costner fan, but he did an excellent job of playing the role of a psychotic killer. If you enjoy thriller movies make sure that you check it out.

Another steady day playing at Pokerstars. Just lately things have been very smooth no big upswings, no big downswings. I know that I'm tempting fate by saying it, but things actually get a bit boring when you happily run along at a 2bb win rate. I'm sure someone will flick the doom-switch any day now.

Today's Topic: Bankroll Management

I get asked by friends that if they have a $500 bankroll what limit they should be playing. The first thing to bear in mind is that if you are just a social player who enjoys playing poker and if you happen to go bust then you just wait to reload with next week's paycheck, then bankroll requirements are fairly irrelevant. Play at a level you enjoy, can afford, and are comfortable at is my best advice. Secondly if you are a losing player then regardless of your bankroll you will lose it eventually if you are not good enough to beat the game.

If you are a semi serious winning player who doesn't want to lose their bankroll by hitting an unlucky losing streak then the following guidelines are the general recommendations:

• Tournaments: If you play MTT or STT tournaments then you should have an absolute minimum, 100 buyins in your account. 200 would be preferable. For all serious players, 100 buyins is the standard, although there is nothing wrong with taking shots at a higher level with less. You can make adjustments for this depending on how willing you are to move down in stakes after a downswing. If you don't mind jumping around stakes, as few as 30-50 buyins might be enough. However, it is preferable to only move up once you have 100 buyins at a given level so if you DO happen to go on a bad run, you won't have to move down to recover. So if you want to play $10 tournaments it is recommend that you have a minimum $1000 bankroll.
  
• Ring Games: A bankroll of 300 Big Bets is the standard recommendation. If you are playing $1/$2, you should have $600 available in your bankroll. If this bankroll cannot be replenished, then you should often have more than 300 BB's available for your current stake. You can certainly take shots at a limit with less than 300 BB's, but be prepared to drop down if you hit a downswing. If you are playing 6-max tables, you will need an even larger bankroll to survive the higher variance.
  

These guideline might sound overly cautious to a beginner, but once you have experiences the inevitable losing streaks that everyone encounters at some stage, you will understand the reason for these recommendations.

Today's Link:

Today's link is one that I found on Iggy's blog that is a great prop bets to try on your friends some time. Link here.