2/20/200 Bankroll Plan

2/20/200

So what bankroll management strategies can I use to keep things under control and prove it to myself that I can make money at this game, without “worrying” about the money at the tables? If you search through the poker websites or the MANY poker books out there, you will see A LOT of different views on proper bankroll. Bank roll guidelines vary widely, I’ve seen recommendations go from 20 to 80 buy-ins for cash games (including 6-max) and 50 to 500 buy-ins for tournaments!!!  There are a lot of factors that come into play, so it’s up to you to figure out your own best fit for what you’re trying to accomplish. I personally like to keep things simply and possibly a lil’ OCD 😉 so I’ve planned to use a 2/20/200 theme for my challenge.  All the number have specific multiple meanings, while keeping things basic and to the point. 2 is for 2k, the amount I’ll be using to start my online bankroll. Its also the amount of rebuys I’m allowed for any tournament and amount of buy-ins I’ll use to measure any cash games played. If I lose 2 buy-ins , I’ll quit and if I’m up 2 buy-ins, I lock up the win and leave the table. This might be leaving value at the table, but personally, I believe this will be a healthier mentality and lead to a more profitable poker sessions in the long run. Additionally I’ll will only be able to move up levels when I fully double, 2X’ing the entire bankroll. The long term plan will be to run 2k all the way 20k. I’ll be doing this as an IntertopsPoker site challenge, but more on that in a minute.

So 20 is the next number of our theme, 20 will be not only be the number I hope to reach for the challenge, it will be my starting bankroll for live play. 20K seemed like a fair amount to be a relatively average players BR, but as I’ll show you, this is pretty limiting to most regular grinders for sure. 20 will also be the absolute lowest amount of big blinds I can have If I bust a tourney and want to Re-buy. So if re-buying after a bad beat, cooler, or misplayed hand the starting stack must be at least 20 big blinds or it’s “on to the next one”.  20 will also be my minimum amount of buy-ins for both live and online cash game play! Anytime I have less then that I’ll drop levels and, keeping with the same protocol, I will only be able to go up levels when I double the 20 buy-in rule for any cash games as well. I’ll be attempting to run up 2k all the way to 20k! So while that will be my main online goal, my Live poker goal will be taking the 20k and using strict bankroll management to turn it into 200k!  This could prove to be very difficult with these guidelines, but it think it will be a fun challenge and I know I will learn a lot throughout the process.

So 200 is last last number in this BR management theme,  and while it has the fewest meanings, I think it also looks to be the most challenging of the three. I’m going to do it by using a 200 buy-in minimum for ALL tournaments, both live and online.  With recommendations going from as low as 50 buy ins to as high as 500 buy ins, a lot of factors came into play for choosing 200, but overall I felt this was a solid “middle ground”. This might sound absurdly high to some and scarily low to others, and that’s fine, to each their own. When it really comes down to it, you have got to do what works best for you and YOUR individual situation.  I feel like 200 buy ins will be very limiting for live tournaments, as that leaves me to $100 tourneys and lower to start, but that’s kind of the point for now anyway. But given that even the smallest rings events for WSOP circuits are $365, it does force a serious and immediate downgrade. I will most like stick to cash games for a while, at least until I have enough to play at a more significant level, but would still be quite content grinding the occasional <$100 daily tourney! And of course, if I really can’t resist the temptation, there’s always the options of playing satellites or selling action for bigger tournament events!

So keeping with the theme of 2s, I’ll be starting this challenge of February 2nd 2018! Live will most likely be some fairly random cash games and the occasional tournament or two at the local casinos in Oklahoma; Winstar and Choctaw. For the Intertops challenge specifically, I’ll be playing 3 to 4 nights a week and streaming over on twitch at www.twitch.tv/2fit2fold.Intertops has smaller buy ins tourneys that will fit well into this whole plan. The fields aren’t gigantic like some other sites, which will hopefully allow for more consistent cashes. The smaller buy-ins will fit perfectly in with the guidelines of the challenge and the faster structures will ensure I’m not up all hours of the night grinding for peanuts ;).  Stop in an say hello on the stream, I’d love to hear what you think of the 2/20/200 experiment! I really think I’ll learn a lot from this challenge and hope it helps others to find their own simple bankroll management strategy.

If you want to talk poker hit me up on twitter @2Fit2Fold and if you want to battle it out in the challenge with me download  Intertops poker  and I’ll see you at the tables!!

Run Good!

Tim O’Keefe aka 2Fit2Fold

PS: use promo code TOK2018 to get the bonus below to help build YOUR roll!