Holdem bankroll management strategies and building a bankroll are really important to all poker players. It is crucial to begin at the correct level buy-in according to the size of your bankroll for the session. You will raise your chances of winning money and reduce your frustration level. This is particularly important if you play the most popular sit n go tournaments.

Millions of players are online every day playing poker, and in my opinion, 99% of them are playing beyond their bankrolls because they don’t have a holdem bankroll management strategy. The rule of thumb for deciding your buy-in level should be 5% of your total bankroll for that session. Simply put, this means that if your bankroll is only $20, then you should play in the low-stakes tournaments and buy in at no more than $1. This gives you plenty of wiggle room if you have a losing streak. No one wins consistently all of the time. You WILL have losing streaks. If you have bought in at $5, you’re broke after 4 losses. At $1 you will still have 16 chances to win. That’s 16 more opportunities to practice your strategy and 16 more opportunities to win a few bucks back.

If you have a $20 bankroll and play $5 SNG’s, you will be broke after 4 none cashing tournaments (like a bad run of cards). If you were to play the $1 buy-in tournaments you will have lost only 20% of your bankroll instead of 100%. Don’t forget to add in the cost of the rake, which would put you over your bankroll! You may be willing to take that risk, but it may not be worth it in the long run. Anyone who has ever built an investment portfolio knows that you must leave your investments in for the long term, as the markets roll up and down over the years. Protecting and conserving your bankroll follows the same concept. Your holdem bankroll management strategy must be able to withstand some bad runs and that certainly can’t happen if you’ve left your entire bankroll on the table!

In order to maintain long-term sessions, remember to use no more than 5 percent of your bankroll to buy in. Then you’ll be in the game for a reasonable number of hands and the more you play, the more experience you’ll get. Rule of thumb: Play only 5 percent of you bankroll per buy-in