With more people playing in sit and go tournaments online then cash games it’s important that you learn how to excel in tournament play and not cash game play. One of the skills you need to learn as a sit and go player is how to manage your bankroll effectively. If you are unable to manage your bankroll then you’re going to find that you run out of money quickly.

The first thing you need to realize is that you aren’t going to be able to win money in every sit and go tournament you play in. It would be nice to be able to win money every time, but it just simply isn’t going to happen. You will need to win money in a good percentage of the sit and go tournaments you play in if you expect to make money over the long run though.

Over the short term you need to be able to grind your bankroll up without risking going broke. The one thing I see a lot of new players do is they will play in sit and go tournaments that are too expensive for their bankroll. If you only have $100 in your bankroll then you aren’t going to be able to play in $20+$2 sit and go tournaments because it doesn’t allow you enough of a cushion.

If you lose the first two tournaments you play in then you’re only going to have $56 left in your bankroll which is just over 50%. As you can see if you manage your bankroll as such you’re going to have to win basically every other tournament you play. It’s recommended that you play in sit and go tournaments that have a buy-in of 20-30x less then your bankroll. For instance, if you have $100 then you should ideally be playing in $5+1 sit and go tournaments until you can grind your bankroll up to $200-$300 and then you can move up to the $10+$1 sit and go tournaments.

By only playing for 1:20 of your bankroll in each tournament you’re not going to have to worry about losing it all on a bad run. There is no way that you should go 20 straight tournaments without a cash and if you do then you just aren’t playing good poker. By managing your bankroll properly you will allow yourself to win money as long as you play good poker. When you don’t manage your bankroll and you risk too much of it in one tournament then you’re putting a lot more luck into your game.

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