Bankroll blues

Bankroll blues

Thursday, 16 July 2009

Dear Dr Tom,


I have issues with bankroll management. I know how important it is – yet I do not have the patience, or the time, to grind my way through the low stakes until I eventually have enough to play the stakes I want to play. What is your best advice for me? Is there some other way around this problem?


Sam, Dublin

Dear Sam


My advice is to enjoy yourself. No one ever said you should only play poker with money you won playing poker. If you don’t have any other job then bankroll is obviously crucial, but 99.9% of winning poker players are not pros. So if you want to take a punt at the $5/$10 tables with last week’s wages, by all means do it.


Just ask yourself if you are having fun after a few hours of it, because if you play poker without regard for patience or time then you are playing it for amusement, not profit. Patience and time are the commodities that poker players use to turn the uncertain into the certain, the gamble into the wage.


Shucks, if you like to gamble and you can afford to do it, I’m not going to tell you not to. But since you are now playing strictly for fun, then always keep asking yourself how much fun you are actually having. If you carry on playing the $5/$10 even though you are losing and hate losing, but just want to get your money back, you’re no longer playing for amusement or profit. You’re just a sad loser.



Tags: Tom Sambrook, Strategy,