Bankroll Management

Starting at the beginning of this month I'm going to use a new bankroll management formula to decide which games I play. There was a good article on bankroll management in a recent copy of Inside Edge magazine and this forms the basis of the formula I will use.

The rules I will be following are essentially:

1. At the start of a playing session I am only going to allow myself to play in Sit & Go's with <= 10 players, with a buy in of 5% or less of my account balance on that site. So in other words, if I start the night on Party Poker and have $100 in my account then I am only allowed to play $5 Sit & Go's with less than or equal to 10 players.
2. I am only allowed to move up to the next level of buy in an Sit & Go once I have a profit of 2 x the buy in. Therefore, I cannot play a $10 Sit & Go on party until I have a profit for the session of $20
3. If I lose the higher value Sit & Go I step back down to the previous level
4. The same rules apply for MTT but I need to have made 3 x the buy in before I play. In other words I need to be in profit by $30 for a session before I play a $10 MTT
5. I won't skip levels, I can only go up one level at a time.

This should reduce swings in my bankroll and ensure a steady, if somewhat slow growth. If I am having a losing say it should only be at the lowest levels. If I am playing well and having a good day I will progress up the levels. Essentially as I move up the levels or choose to play a multi table tournament I will have already made a profit for the day and the next game basically becomes a freeroll.

I've also noticed that some days it takes me a couple of games to really get into my stride, this technique should help me here as it minimises the losses.