I recently wrote an article that explained [nofollow=”http://www.pocketfives.com/articles/bankroll-management-variance-emotion-587902/”]how bankroll management, variance, and emotion all tie together[/nofollow]. I wrote about how the three relate and explained that if a player falls short in any of these categories, the effects can begin to multiply due because each of these three poker fundamentals affects the others. Note that this article is intended for beginners, so please keep that in mind when reading and commenting.

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Without proper bankroll management, variance is hard to handle. When we are short on funds and run into the downside of variance, it is easy for our emotions to run wild whether we lose the hand by playing badly or bad luck.

The best way to keep our emotion in check is to understand variance and use proper bankroll management. Once we realize that variance is real and we are not supposed to win every hand, it only makes sense to master our emotion to the point that we do not get upset when we lose.

In most poker hands, our opponent will have some outs, and those outs can hit. Rarely do we get the money in as a 100% favorite to win. Because of this, we need to understand that we cannot win every hand; we should be able to handle losses when they happen.

To battle through variance, we need to have good bankroll management and a proper bankroll that will be large enough to sustain through the good times and bad. With this bankroll, we will have enough buy-ins to ensure that we’re only concerned about making good decisions. We will no longer need to sweat the results.

When bankroll management is being followed and the decisions are more important than the results, our emotions don’t come into play. If we want to play poker at a high level, we have to make sure that we are making decisions with analytical thought, not emotional thought. Understanding bankroll management and variance will help keep emotion out of our game.

Now, I want to share some of the common errors I see players making regarding bankroll management. In general, I think way too many players are playing with too small of a bankroll. For MTTs, 100 buy-ins represent a decent minimum. For cash games, between 20 and 40 buy-ins is an acceptable minimum. I always prefer to play MTTs with 200 buy-ins, which gives our bankroll enough room to fade some variance; plus, we won’t have to drop stakes too quickly.

The first bankroll management error I want to point out is from players who will lose several buy-ins during a session and then leave every time they double up to book a winning session. In my opinion, that is completely backwards. I think we should minimize our losses and not limit our wins. A rule of thumb is to follow buy-in parameters strictly, whether that allows me to fire one, two, or three barrels to keep from any big losers. If I am winning, I will keep playing as long as I am winning and will only leave if I lose 20% of that profit back. I think it’s important to limit our losses and maximize our wins.

I also think there are too many players hitting a decent score and then instantly moving up in stakes before paying their dues and mastering the level they are at. Winning a cash game session or one or two tournaments shouldn’t be enough of a reason to jump up in stakes too quickly. We should jump up in stakes when we feel we have mastered our current stake, not just because we have a little more money.

Another very common error I see is players booking a win or two and then acting very freely with their winnings. Oftentimes, a player who had a less than optimally sized bankroll before he booked the win will make this error. In my opinion, this error usually stems from a lack of knowledge about bankroll management and not enough familiarity with a properly sized bankroll. I know that most players would feel rich if they had a 40 to 100 buy-in bankroll. I could only imagine how they would feel if they had 200 buy-ins.

Overall, bankroll management is a very important part of becoming a great poker player and should be studied and mastered the same as any important fundamental.

This article was written by John cracker9ballReynolds, who hails from Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information, contact him at [email protected] or visit [nofollow=”http://www.variance101.com”]Variance101.com[/nofollow].