Don't Play Beyond your Means

Alright, so you've got yourself a nice tall cold one (squid ink, of course), you've made a small deposit in your favorite new online poker room, you've read all of our strategy articles (naturally), and you sit down at a 10/20-cent no-limit table. You keep learning, you keep adapting, you keep playing smart, and you've doubled your $75 deposit by the end of the day!

You're really encouraged by your winnings and keep playing for a couple of hours every day. After a couple of weeks, you've worked your way up to $500 in your online poker account. Since you've been dominating the micro-limit tables, you want to move up and increase your potential winnings. That $500 is a good buy-in for a $5/10 no-limit table, so you sit down with your entire bankroll. You post the big blind, and the virtual dealer gives you pocket Aces on your first hand! You wind up all-in preflop against pocket Kings and you watch a K fall on the river. Your hours and hours of hard work are gone, and I think that your skull has become a steamer for that cold one.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard this story, or a similar tale, from good new poker players. They did everything right by slowly building up their bankroll, and it took them a good deal of time at the limits they were playing. Unfortunately, they took a huge jump in stakes and in skill level and lost it all. Don't fall into this situation, and don't play beyond your means. Playing beyond your means includes playing at tables that are too large for your bankroll, and playing at tables that surpass your skill level.

Stay in Your Comfort Zone

When you start winning at online poker, you shouldn't get overly confident. First of all, you need to prove to yourself that you can sustain those winnings. If you can, then you should build up your bankroll in your "comfort zone", or stakes that you have been dominating. Our example player did the right thing by starting at a 10/20-cent no-limit game. He had $75, and you will typically buy into this game with $20. I recommend having at least 3 or 4 times the buy-in or more in your account. If you are playing well strategically, this buffer zone will allow you to have enough in your account to ride out any prolonged period of bad beats.

As you begin to get comfortable, build up your online account, and get the desire to up your game, do it one level at a time. First of all, you'll want to be comfortable with the numbers and bets tossed around at a particular limit. If you have a standard bet and raise, you don't want to be completely thrown off by changing your limits. Secondly, you don't want to put increased pressure on your newly-padded bankroll. To move up 2 levels to a .50/$1 games, you probably should have $300-400 in your account. Move up slowly, and get a feel for each limit before you declare it "shark-ified". Okay, tell me that you guys declare it shark-ified, too…

Know the Skill Level of Your Opponents

Another important consideration to keep in mind is the skill level of your potential opponents. It shouldn't come as a big surprise that skill level generally increases as the stakes increase. At the micro-limits, many players are drunk, stupid, just having fun, or are still sharks. You'll run into an assortment of players at all skill levels. They can afford not to take these games too seriously. As you move up into larger games, the players are risking more and you'll run into more aggressive waters. However, don't be too discouraged about beating the higher limits online. As more time passes, it seems like the West Fishy disease (I made that one up) spreads to the higher limits like a parasite. Even players at some of the top limits seem to play without a clue. Many of them will play absurd draws, and you'll still run into your fair share of bad beats. Stick to your tight-aggressive game and expect drawing opponents at all levels. Generally, the higher limit players are still better players overall, but there are still plenty of them who must be millionaires just having fun without a care - or a hand.

Cash Out Your Profits

Finally, I recommend one very essential skill to building an online bankroll and successfully winning money playing poker: cashing out your profits! It might seem simple, but it's something that many players overlook until it's gone. One of the major drawbacks to online gambling is that you can't get up from the table, walk over to the cashier, and walk to your car with a few crisp new bills in your wallet like you can at a real casino. But don't let it stop you from pocketing your winnings online! They have a "withdraw" feature for a reason - and I frequently cash out one-session winnings. Why not? If you're comfortable with the stakes you're playing and you don't need to build a larger bankroll, why not put those winnings for the night into your bank account? Of course you should still leave enough in your account to keep playing tomorrow, but it will make it seem more real and keep you from losing it all in at the next bad beat session. Reward yourself for your good play.

Aside from the proper play you will need to employ to become a winning poker player, you should learn how to move up at the right times. Don't play at stakes that risk our entire bankroll, and don't move up until you've mastered the current stakes and skill level. Don't forget to keep your feet firmly planted in reality, move up one level at a time, and cash out your winnings if you've had a big night. This should allow you to comfortably move up the poker ranks until you're playing 1,000/2,000 clamshell games at my home lagoon! Until next session my little fish-lings… Adios!

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