Beginner Strategy and Bankroll Management
Most players start out with Sit n Go style poker tournament because the fixed buy in gives them some time at the table, where they have an ability to win some cash, but more so, the ability to control their losses. If the buy-in at the Sit n Go table you choose to play at is $10+1 (so $10 plus the poker room’s $1 fee) that’s all you can lose. New players especially take comfort in that.
Building a Poker Bankroll
That’s great, and we need that constant influx of players that think just like that to keep the games profitable for those of us that decide we want a little more than a hobby from the game of poker, we want a profit. The first part of this is going to be to build a poker bankroll. This is money set aside specifically for the purpose of playing poker, to make more money.
How much money should I start my bankroll with?
The amount of money that you initially set aside for playing poker largely depends on you and what your finances look like at current. If you usually spend $20 a week playing poker, and that’s the absolute most you can do and still make the rent, then you will probably be doing some micro tabling very soon.
However much you can deposit, you’re going to increase that number by using a poker deposit bonus to your benefit. In fact, over the next few months, you’ll want to try a couple of these.
Using a Poker Bonus to Kickstart Your Poker Bankroll
Let’s look at a couple of poker bonuses for the guy that only has $20 to infuse into his bankroll. 888.com right now offers new players that use special poker bonus codes $8 free just for trying their software.
Get $8 Free from 888.com for your SNG Bankroll
- Click HERE to download the free poker site software from 888.com
- Run the installation file and set up the program on your computer
- Set up a brand new player account with the site
After you’ve finished the above process you will have a free bankroll of $8. Here’s the tricky part.. you don’t ever want to be buying into a tournament for more than 1/20th of your bankroll, so you’re really going to playing some very conservative microstakes poker if you’re going to make it off of $8. It can be done, Martin Staszko started his poker career as a freeroller and he finished #2 in the 2011 World Series of Poker in 2011.
Getting the Most from your first Deposit
Let’s say you can make a deposit though. Well you’ve gotten that $8 free, because it’s free so you might as well right? Now, 888.com also offers new players that come from the links on this page $700 in free poker cash. If you type 888poker.com into your browser, you’re only going to get up to $400. But we’ve worked hard to negotiate better deals for our readers so here’s how it works:
First you’re going to follow the above instructions for downloading, installing and signing up at 888.com. Then you’re going to make that first deposit and take advantage of a 100% deposit bonus at 888.com that will get you up to $700 free. If you can only deposit $20, that’s fine, you’ll get $20 free. Think before you act here however, if you can deposit more, then you’re going to give yourself a bigger edge. They call it a ‘first’ deposit bonus for a reason. Once you make that first deposit, you don’t qualify anymore, so if you can squeeze that $20 into $40, it’s to your benefit.
If you are able to take full advantage of the bonus offer, then $700 is the magic number, $700 gets you the maximum $700 bonus.
How much of your Bankroll Should You spend on one SNG Tournament?
As we briefly mentioned above, you never want to be spending more than 1/20th of your roll on any one event, be it a tournament or a Sit n Go style tournament. That gives you 20 chances at losing it all before you go broke. If you don’t have chips, you don’t get to play, and we start back over again either depositing, or playing your way through 1000+ player freerolls hoping to win a few cents to get yourself back into the game.
A good starting place is right around $10 for players with any sort of skill. The reason here is that players at this level tend to know enough to fold their bad cards, but not enough to take all of your cash. If you play at lower levels, you’re going to find yourself in some crazy games, which is often not a bad thing at all. More often then not in a $1 tournament, you can simply sit out and make the final 4, then play your way to the money.
Whatever level you play at, you want to feel comfortable, but you want to make sure you care if you lose. Scared money is dead money, that’s one of the first rules in poker, however, if you’re not at all worried about the cash, you might as well kiss it goodbye.
Now you should have some idea how to go about building a poker bankroll specifically designed for sit n go style tournaments, and how to take advantage of bonuses with that bankroll. What I’d like you to do right now is press ctrl d on your computers keyboard and bookmark this page. We’ll going to delve much deeper into Sit n Go strategy and ways to make you a consistently profitable sit n go poker player in future articles.
