Money Management for a Poker Player

As important as it may be to win money playing poker, it is even more important to be able to manage the money that you win. There is a lot of money that goes in and out of the pocket of a poker player. You may go into a casino with $100.00 one day and walk out with over $1000 then the next day do the opposite. With so much going on and so many ups and downs it is important to be able to properly manage your money as a poker player.

Track Everything

The number one thing about managing your poker money is to track everything. YOU MUST TRACK! Every single detail about your game should be written down. I have used a few different tracking programs and I have used some of my own techniques. Right now the best that I have found on the market has been Poker Evolver. The importance of tracking your game is immeasurable. You should be tracking literally everything you can think of possibly tracking. There is really no other way to know what is going on with your money.

Poker Account

I have found that the best way to manage your money is to have a separate bank account for your poker money. It may sound a bit extreme but it really is the best way to go. Just go to any bank of your choice and open up a free checking account. That same day, take your bankroll and deposit it into your account. You should get a debit card and all that, so it will be easy to get your money from your account.

Divide up the Money

If you are managing your poker money then that means you know exactly where it is all at. You should always know exactly how much money you earned or lost each time you play. The next tip I am giving will depend on a couple of different things. It depends on your goals and what you want to achieve with poker. If you have a bankroll that you would like to build up or you want to play higher limits then this will pertain to you more then others.

So at this point you probably have at least 2 bank accounts. You probably have your own personal account, and then you have your poker account. This helps make sure you never tie in any of your personal finances with poker. The next thing you need to do is figure out how you decide what money goes into what account. The money in your poker account should only go towards poker. You never want to go into that account for any other reason and same goes for the personal account. You never use your personal money for poker and you never use your poker money for personal life.

Now, if you have a high goal to increase your bankroll (located in your poker bank account), then you should definitely be putting a good percentage of your winnings into your poker bank account. Each time you go to play poker you should be taking a specific amount with you to play. All Casinos have ATM’s and you will have your poker debit card. The most important thing is to just keep all your receipts of your withdrawals so you know how much you won and lost. If you are playing online then it is the same except you aren’t using an ATM.

Back to percentages – when you are done playing you figure out how much you won or lost that night. If you ended up ahead after that night then you take a specific percentage and put it into you poker account, then put the rest into you personal account. If you have a big bankroll and you have no plans to ever move up to higher stakes, then you can just put all your winnings into your personal account. It is really up to you, I don’t think you need someone telling you exactly what to do with your money.

The basic idea is to always know where your money is at. When you go play poker write everything down and keep good track of your money. There are too many people that just throw the money in there pocket and they never know the difference. There is no other way to measure your success. It is very important to have bankroll and money management.