Moving Up

by: Lou Krieger©

Poker is one of the only occupations I know of where you don’t have to wait for the boss to give you a raise and a promotion; you can decide to promote yourself whenever you believe you can handle the new job. And the new job always involves playing in a tougher game against better opponents. You can win more money if you play in bigger games, but because the stakes are higher, the risks are greater too.

Conventional poker wisdom suggests that a minimum of 300 big bets are needed to sustain a player through the predictable peaks and valleys at any given limit. If your game of choice is $3-$6, you’ll need a bankroll of at least $1,800 and more is better. But if you prefer poker at betting limits of $20-$40, you’ll need $12,000 set aside for nothing but poker ? it doesn’t include money for rent, food, gasoline and other necessities. But these figures are estimates, not a formula, and whether it’s enough depends on a variety of factors.

First, 300 big bets will never be enough if you’re not a winning player. Neither will 500. If you can't beat your game but keep playing in it, you’ll need a bankroll big enough to outlast your life expectancy.

Second, if you’re good enough to pound the game to the tune of two big bets per hour (conventional wisdom suggests that a solid professional poker player will win approximately one or two big bet per hour — except in the highest limit games, where the expectation is significantly less), you won’t need nearly as much as you would if you're just managing to keep your head above water by winning only one-fourth of a big bet per hour on average.

Third, if the game is very volatile, you'll need a bigger stake to outlast the game’s swings and reversals of fortune. In tamer games, where raising is rare and most players call far too deeply into hands they decide to play, you can probably get by on a smaller bankroll. A game’s texture goes a long way to determining the amount you'll need to sustain yourself.

Fourth, if you’re a recreational player who supplements his playing stake with other income, you really don’t need any more of a bankroll than you’d bring to the table for your buy-in on any given night, and that’s only about 25 big bets. After all, you can always infuse your playing stake with discretionary income, just as you’d fund any other hobby.

Fifth, if you’re playing online, you might be able to win more by moving down, playing a notch lower than usual, but playing at two or three tables simultaneously. Online play, with more hands dealt per hour, allows you to get more money into action while risking less money on any particular hand.

If you’re doing well at your current limits and are considering moving up, why not take a shot at a bigger game? Here's the best way to do it: Many of your regular, everyday opponents also play one notch above or below their limit of choice some of the time, depending on whether a game looks soft, how well funded they are, as well as on more prosaic matters, such as where the open seats are located.

If you wait until you find a bigger game with a few players you know from your game and take a shot at it, at least some of those opponents won't be a mystery to you, and that should help you navigate your way into a comfort zone at those bigger limits.

And if you take a shot a few times and figure you can beat the bigger game, it’s probably time to promote yourself. Why not; you’ve earned it!