To play poker you need a bankroll, which is defined as “some dollars in your poker account”. Where you got this money from is irrelevant for the purposes of this article, but it does need to be there in order for you to pay for the buy-ins to the various cash games or poker tournaments that you wish to play in.
Bankroll management is difficult for many people, especially those who play in poker tournaments with high buy-ins where even a large roll can diminish quickly. It was estimated in a poker article that I read recently that it would cost around $500,000 per year to play in a $10,000 every other week ($260,000 across the year) and the remaining $240,000 on flights, hotels and living expenses. That is assuming that the player does not gamble on cash games and other casino games and we all know that many players do just that! Extravagant parties and designer clothes can add extra dollars to that bill. It is rare that a poker player would constantly lose to have this sort of hole but it can happen!
Many professional poker players are staked into large poker tournaments to help minimise the constant siphoning of money from their poker account balance. This can lead to expensive make-up arrangements and can lead to players unwittingly accruing large debts to their stakers.
Poker broke is the term for when you have no bankroll left. This can come about because you have a bad run of losses or simply because you blow all of your money in your poker bankroll either through poor game selection, bad play or bad money management. It has happened to most professional players at one point or another in their poker career. “Poker broke” assumes that you are not completely broke and that you have some money left so you are not completely out of cash. Your reputation as a good player can earn you stakes so you can stay in the game. Personally I prefer to wait until my own bankroll allows me to play in games but this will probably lead to me never putting down $10,000 to play in a single poker tournament. Professional poker players work hard on networking and staking other players in order to buy themselves favours in the future, exactly a case of “you scratch my back after I’ve scratched yours†in terms of future staking. For many poker players the grass will not always be green, so by staking others they ensure when they are poker broke someone can lend them money to play.
Life broke is something far more serious and what I would recommend every player work very hard to avoid. Life broke for me suggests that poker has become a problem. I love poker, but I would never let it destroy me. Someone who is broke can be life broke by not paying debts to other players and getting a bad reputation on the circuit can lead to them being refused stakes and ostracised because of their unreliability to others. Being life broke means you must earn money where you can and this frequently leads to a poker player eating humble pie and being forced to get a job. This is particularly painful for a player used to the freedom of life on the road and relative financial freedom.
Playing poker on a site like bwin.com can lead to riches, but you must remember to look after that money. One win does not make you a superstar; it makes you a target, especially vulnerable to the errors one can make when one has money. Never assume money will always come, assume the opposite then you can never be hurt. Keep friends on the circuit and be courteous, because you never know when that tournament buy-in depends on your ability to get a stake from a fellow poker player. It could be the difference between your first WSOP bracelet and poker anonymity for life.
By Malcolm Clarke
