By Bond18 on October 18th, 2007 (more posts by author)

If there’s only one thing I could teach or imprint upon another poker player it’s how important bankroll management is. There are a ton of talented poker players who are extremely capable in the games they play, but due to poor bankroll management stay stuck around broke for years.

What seems to be the standard rule for MTT bankroll management is as follows: Always have at least 100 times your average buy in. I say average buy in because this allows for a player to ‘take shots’ without over extending.

As far as the maximum amount of your roll you should put on one event, that mostly comes down to your preference, but I personally (and these days I’m a pretty big BR nit) can’t imagine putting down much more than 5% of my roll on one event.

The largest problem with playing outside of your bankroll is that for most players it tends to force up emotional involvement. Building a bankroll and then blowing it due to mismanagement is mentally crippling to almost everyone and often results in going even higher and faster.

I encourage people to not try to move up to fast and when they do to do so in moderation. Creating a bankroll so big that the stakes you play makes it nearly impossible to busto but gives you room to take a shot now and then is truly the ideal.

As always, if anyone has a question or needs me to elaborate, just ask.