Managing your poker bankroll is a key factor to online success, yet the clear majority of online players fail miserably in doing so, thus stacking the deck against themselves without realizing the importance of knowing which games to play and how much to risk at any given time.

The absolute best way to manage your own poker bankroll, is to use someone else’s money, then your total risk is limited to profits already won from opponents. If you are just starting out this may be confusing because a lot of professional players and writers will recommend having say 50 or 100 buys-ins compared to your game of choice. In a sense that is true, but if you want to play $5 buck sit and go tournaments and learn the game a little, a $500 deposit is a tad unreasonable and really not very realistic.

This is one of those areas where pro players lose touch with the little guy and place outrageous expectations and rules as to how to play and manage their online activities. No, for someone just starting out $50 maybe $100 bucks deposit at a time is plenty enough. If a new player deposits more than that, chances are they will end up on higher tables looking for a nice cash, only to find they are out-played at higher levels and reloading becomes imminent.

So how do you get other’s players money in your bankroll when you’re just starting out? You earn it! You play the low stakes games like $1 and $2 buck sit and go tournaments or the .25/.50 limit hold ‘em tables. If you can’t beat these levels, why would you start higher, risk more, and face stiffer competition? Start with $50 and see if you can double it. Get to $100 or $200 in your account, then start playing $.50/$1 limit hold ‘em and $5 sit and go tournaments. Build your account to $500.

This is NOT easy to do, but neither is it difficult. The good thing about OPM (other players’ money) is that if you get to $500 from your original $50 deposit, you’re likely to value it more as hard earned poker money and think twice about moving up to faster, harder, stronger levels and risking too much against superior players.

By working your way up levels with accumulated winnings you are really earning your way up because you have proven to be able to adapt, learn, and control your own emotions at the tables in any level you have tried. If you are a profitable player, you have already then joined the ranks of the very few and those skills learned at low limits can be carried forward to more profitable levels.

Marty Smith has video reviews of all the online poker odds calculators and produces tournament strategy videos that is useful for building your bankroll from small amounts using OPM.