Poker Money Management

Stop loss and stop win systems are a common part of poker bankroll management strategies employed by many people in the belief that they are protecting their money, when in fact, they are doing just the opposite. A stop loss system is based on quitting for the day if you've lost a certain amount of money; stop win systems work using a similar logic, whereby you stop playing for the day if make a predetermined amount of profit. Both practices are restrictive and counterintuitive.

Stop loss systems may allow you to play without using 'scared money' because you know you can only lose an amount that you're comfortable with losing, but there are'nt many other advantages with using this system; the main disadvantage is that you will be forcing yourself to continue playing until you have lost a certain amount of your poker bankroll before making the decision to give up, when it may already be clear that you should have given up hours ago, this can lead to you losing more than you really need to. It's more advisable to analyse why you are losing and base your decision to quit on that, rather than blindly playing on until you have lost a certain portion of your bankroll; if you are tired, on tilt, playing against superior opposition or even just have something on your mind that is stopping you from playing well, these are very good reasons to stop playing, because you are'nt in the right frame of mind to do your best work. So rather than using a stop loss system, choose a system which allows you to stop when you feel the time is right, Don't let your chip stack decide.

Stop win systems have their advantages and pitfalls too; one advantage being if you do find yourself profiting from a a game where your opponents are better then you, you stand a better chance of keeping that profit by having any form of stop win system than by playing on because playing on will invevitably lead to losing money to your more experienced adversaries. That aside, stop loss systems hold very little value; when you do find yourself profiting from the game because of your skills advantage, or because you're mentally and physically fresh, or just in the right frame of mind, using a stop win system will restrict the amount you gain when you have a winning session, this does'nt allow you to take full advantage of the beneficial situation you find yourself in, rather it forces you to stop when the situation clearly favours you.

An alternative common sense strategy is advised whereby you stop when you're sure you should'nt be playing and you continue to play when you're sure you should be hammering home your current advantage.