During my spare time I enjoy watching Twitch poker, and being a regular viewer of a wide variety of the channels on Twitch, I often see the same question pop up, ‘what do you recommend I play with a $100 starting bankroll?’ To which the majority of hosts say ‘100 BI’s’ is the best bankroll management (BRM), so from $100 starting, the maximum BI per game should only be $1.’ This common answer to the most frequently asked question bothers me every time, I believe that BRM isn’t the only thing to take into consideration, but a mixture of 3 things, all as important as each other, that add up to Game Management. So here is my theory on the 3 principles of Game Management, which I’ve been using for the last 6 months, and incorporating into my very own BR challenge.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Before starting a session, you should try to think ahead; plan your tournaments, have a start time, have a last reg time in mind, decide how many tables you want to play at any one time and think about the speed/length of the tournament in advance.

For example:

So based on the table above, if I start playing at 7am, but have somewhere I need to be at 8pm, I can’t play any deep/slow tournaments as I will not have time to play the final table (FT). If I’m playing reg speed, I can’t register any after 11.30-12.30, turbos last reg by 4.30, and hypers last reg by 6pm. 

TABLE MANAGEMENT

The amount of tables you play is down to you as a player, but it’s an important factor for you to be a profitable player. Find your comfort zone, personally I only play 4 tables at any one time. And once I see that I can manage the tables and make a profit from it, I will add 1 more in at a time. This also works in reverse: If I am losing more, take away a table and concentrate on a more profitable game in 3 tournaments, rather than a loss of profit in 4. The actual size of the of the tables is imperative, as you don’t want to use a lot of eye energy to concentrate on the small writing of bet sizes and HUD stats. The more tired your eyes get, the more fatigued you will feel and end up not playing to the best of your ability. You also need to take into consideration the boredom of 1 tabling (unless it’s the last table/FT of your session) even if you are a new/beginner player I would say to start with 2 tables and move up.

BANKROLL MANAGEMENT

The age old debate of ‘what is good BRM?’ Here is my theory, which I’ve used throughout my current $500-$5k BRC, which is going quite well. I have already planned my session, and decided on which tournaments I will play when I have busted one of my starting tournaments. I use an ABI BRM, so for example; I am going to play 12 tournaments today, I have $500 BR. I choose my tournaments and this is where it gets interesting, as I can BI for above my BR as long as I also go below. For example: the BI for the 12 tournaments I want to play is like this: 2+2+3+5+8+4+3+4+2+3+5+4 making my ABI $3.75, way below the common 100BI rule used by most for BRM. I also don’t include the rake, this is something you have to pay to play, but gain back in ‘stars coins’ from Pokerstars, as they are now called, where you claim cash/rewards back once reaching ‘x’ amount of coins. You’re never going to get 100% of your rake back from any site, but you get some of it, that’s the reason I don’t include it in my BI.

SUMMARY

So to end it there Time + Tables + Bankroll = Game Management. I have good experience in planning and discipline with being in the Armed Forces, as they drill this into you. I wrote this article to hopefully inspire some of the newer grinders and maybe even some of the experienced grinders that having a plan and executing it in good old army style can sometimes help ease the variance we all experience in MTT’s. We have a saying in the Army it’s called the 5 P’s “Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance”, something I like to incorporate into all aspects of my life.