What’s the Biggest Bankroll Management Mistake You’ve Made? And What Did You Learn?

[Omar.Imrane]

bankroll management is one of the most important skills for any serious poker player. But let’s be honest—most of us have made mistakes, especially in the beginning. Maybe you played too high for your roll, chased losses, or didn’t save a cushion for downswings.


What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made with your bankroll?

What did you learn from it?

Any advice you’d give to beginners?

 

[ManOfSky]

My biggest mistake was playing cash games with my full bankroll on the table. I thought I was playing well, but one bad beat wiped me out. Now I always follow the 5% rule — never risk more than that in one session.

 

[yuya]

I had been gradually building up my chips, but lost a large portion of my bankroll due to a single bad beat. Wanting to recover quickly, I moved up in stakes.
Raising the stakes after a loss is one of the worst things you can do.

I believe that the better the player, the more capable they are of lowering the stakes when they're losing.

 

[puzzlefish]

Going to the casino section of the site. First, it got me hooked on playing roulette and then even let me win hundreds of dollars. But once hooked, it is just as easy to lose all that money thinking that you have some kind of system that has to work and beat the house. It doesn't work. It just ends up costing the bankroll because you can't choose how much money to bring to the casino on most sites. The whole bankroll follows and it becomes easier to lose it. There are ways around this to limit losses but it is better to just stick to poker.

 

[Sparta77]

I still can't manage my bankroll.The problem is that your profits are taken away by the casino. I should change that.

 

[sandy358]

Bankroll management is one of the most important skills for any serious poker player. But let’s be honest—most of us have made mistakes, especially in the beginning. Maybe you played too high for your roll, chased losses, or didn’t save a cushion for downswings.


What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made with your bankroll?

What did you learn from it?

Any advice you’d give to beginners?

Underbankrolling for MTTs.

I think underbankrolling is the main and the only beginner problem with bankrolls, because potential overbankrolling is not that big of an issue. Also have seen threads out there about people withdrawing too much cash/playing in the casino section, leaving the balance for poker too low.

Also I wouldn't classify chasing losses as a bankroll management issue: I'd say it is more of a tilt problem.

 

[pentazepam]

Don't do that with Spin & Go's.

 

[Nemamiah]

I can't say that I've already made such a mistake because for now I'm still afraid of spending the bankroll I built with the freerolls Maybe that fear will prepare me to create a solid plan for when I decide to reinvest the money.