For many people who have just begun to play poker it is difficult to determine proper amount of the funds necessary to play poker for an extended period of time. We call your poker “bankroll” the money you can afford to potentially lose and have earmarked to your poker game. Poker is intrinsically unsteady and chances are that you will either win or lose quite a bit already by playing three to four hours – especially, when you are playing online, as the games are so fast-paced.

So, in order to minimize losses and to get a feel for the games first, I would recommend for a beginner to try starting out playing at very low limits. The fact is that the vast majority of new players starting out at poker grossly underestimate the bankroll needed to play at certain limits for a longer period of time. You may not belong to those ones and to be an exception, but just in case, it might be useful to take a look at the bankroll guides below.

But it is not the end of the problem. Even many experienced players make bankroll mistakes. The biggest mistake is to treat your bankroll like a tournament buy-in. This means that as soon as you have played for a couple of weeks and are at break-even or are up a little bit at one limit, you then advance to a higher limit with your entire bankroll and so it continues. If this happen to you, you are almost guaranteed to eventually lose all your money.

There can be some reasons for that. First, you need not to put too much pressure on your insufficient bankroll. Then, perhaps, you are playing at higher levels where you not only have to adopt different playing styles to be profitable, but also are up against players who are probably significantly stronger than you. In addition you face the risk of playing too passively at the higher limits as you can get ” gun shy” when you cannot afford to lose and are inexperienced. It is better to avoid these heights for now. If you are playing at reasonable limits for at least 200 hours of play, you will be either doing well or at least not losing too much. Nevertheless, if you want to try a higher limit, you should try to do so for just a short period of time with a smaller test bankroll and get out if it is not working well for you. You are most likely playing poker for recreational purposes - make sure you give yourself the chance to enjoy yourself for more than a month or two!

Fortunately for the few professional players out there, most players of poker play to enjoy themselves. If you play mostly for fan and you are not completely focused on playing a winning game, you belong to the 95% of those, who can be called happy amateurs. Try to have a good time playing as much as possible at as low limits as possible. It would be silly to destroy your hobby by playing too high.

But don’t think it’s difficult to break even or win in poker quickly. You have a very good chance of making a profit if you learn the basic strategies and adopt a tight/aggressive style of playing.

By adopting these guidelines as a beginner and practicing them on lower limits you should be able to improve your game significantly in less than 50 hours of playing and often make a profit in less than 100 hours of playing. Remember to review the strategy advice at least twice during your first 100 hours of play to be sure that you are really putting the strategies into practice!