Head Games Bankroll Management Wisdom: Part II – Cash Games With Lex Veldhuis, Jay Farber, and Christian Bourlier

Craig Tapscott: How did you build your poker bankroll and what were the major stumbling blocks you ran into along the way?

Lex Veldhuis: When I started playing poker, I started at the very bottom. This meant my investment was really small and I could build a solid foundation. A lot of people complain the lower stakes are “not real poker,” but the easy counter that I use is; “it shouldn’t take you long to beat them then.” 

A lot of starting players make the mistake to deposit $50 and then jump into $10 buy-in games. This will not give you a lot of room to learn, or to handle a downswing. I suggest you make a schedule for yourself and stick to it. If you have to move down limits, you can’t lie to yourself or come up with reasons to stay there. Be disciplined. I think my biggest setbacks were moving up too early and not moving back down when I had to. Then I made a schedule where I always wanted between 80-to-120 buy-ins when playing a limit and I would move up and down accordingly. This ensures you can hardly go broke unless you have serious leaks in your game. 

I started getting better at taking shots at higher stakes when I didn’t quite have the bankroll yet, only when games were incredibly soft and also moving back down the next day when they were tough. Keys to good bankroll management are discipline and honest evaluation. 

Jay Farber: I was pretty fortunate in that I had a profitable business and rainy day money when I first started playing poker. I never really had to worry about bankroll management, because I knew I had income coming in. I definitely think that helped me be comfortable when I was playing. I also was able to take days off if I wasn’t feeling well mentally or physically.

Poker is a hugely mental game and if your state of mind isn’t right you’re not going to play your best. So I was happy to be afforded the ability to not have to play or feel like my rent or bills depended on me being at the poker table. On the negative side, because I always had income coming in, I would chase bigger and bigger scores. Instead of saying, “Oh I’ve made $2,000 today in 4-to-5 hours of play that should be plenty.” I would try to run it to $20,000. I’ve definitely jumped into some big games that I probably shouldn’t have played with 100 percent of myself in them. After the main event I found myself playing in some $100,000 plus buy-in games and no matter how much money you have, a bad day can still get very expensive.

Christian Bourlier: When I began my poker journey back in January 2005, I dabbled in $20 rebuy local tournaments and $2-$4 limit hold’em with the limited extra funds that I had available to me. Immediately it was clear that I possessed a skill advantage over my novice opponents as I had made it my endeavor to learn everything possible about playing hold’em by reading books, magazine and Internet articles, watching videos, joining poker discussion groups, and of course, playing innumerable hands both live and online with play money.  

Early in 2005, I decided to get a job at a tanning salon pulling in about $5,000 per month. This influx of capital allowed me to pay my living and college bills, with a good chunk of change leftover. With this steady income I started playing $100 no-limit ($2-$3) at the local Southern California card rooms and had steady success. After two unsuccessful online $100 deposits, I decided that the old adage would hold true, “Third time’s a charm!” Twenty four hours later my account hovered around $2,000 and within a week of playing $1-$2 and $5-$10, I had $5,000 in my account. Long story short, I didn’t have the foresight to remain playing online and gluing my eyes to the computer screen for 24 hours per day. I cashed out my virtual money to get spending money in the real world and play at brick and mortar locations. I played $200 no-limit live and would bring my laptop and multi-screen $1-$2 online while at work via dial-up modem. Six months later I was averaging $5,000 monthly playing poker and decided to quit my day job.

By mid 2008 I was buying into $5-$10 no-limit games at 100-to-150 big blinds (BB) and by the end of the year I was a regular at $10-$25 no-limit and occasionally took a shot at $25-$50 games. The next few years through 2011 taught me the greatest bankroll management lessons that any poker player could hope for and dread. I had an insatiable thirst to move up stakes and challenge the biggest fish possible once I knew I could beat them on a regular basis.

When I had a bankroll hovering in the $100,000 region I began to take way too many shots at $25-$50 games (both no-limit and mix) that played considerably bigger and faster than your average casino table. Every player and host of these games knew that I was favored to win in them and I also presented a likeable presence in the game. Thusly, I always had a seat when I wanted one.  

Unfortunately, as we all know now, playing higher stakes on such a small bankroll has its extreme disadvantages…especially when coupled with spendy habits of globe-trotting, fine dining, and Vegas. The “perfect storm” always hits and the fish start to get lucky in the biggest pots you play. At that point you begin to question your celestial importance (Why Me God?!). Lesson learned: In poker, just like in the real world, the key to continued success is the ability to remain solvent longer than the market can remain irrational.

Craig Tapscott: What are the biggest mistakes you see players make concerning their bankroll? And do you have any suggestions on how to maintain discipline concerning your roll from your personal experience or from watching friends?

Lex Veldhuis: What I see a lot of players do when they move up stakes is treat that as their new minimum. They are too proud to admit they should step back when their bankroll demands it. It’s just as important to minimize risk to your bankroll as it is to maximize profit. 

Obviously another thing people do that hurts your bankroll is extravagant purchases because of new riches. I do think it’s very important to splurge on something nice once you start doing well, just to show fruits from your work. However, I had a friend who bought a $70,000 car when he had an $80,000 bankroll. Not a good idea. 

I feel like a hypocrite at times because I do a lot of these things. They are almost always calculated risks and I always have plans for every scenario. When you start out climbing the stakes ladder the most important thing is not going broke and staying in the action so you can learn. Money comes later.

Jay Farber: I see people with a few different leaks in their bankroll management. A lot of guys are sports bettors and pit degenerates, myself included. Some guys like to party and buy expensive things. Others try to move up too fast. I remember a few years ago, I was playing a tournament with Daniel Negreanu and we started talking about what stakes I played. At the time it was $5-$10 and $10-$20. I remember him saying that you can make a good living grinding those stakes and that there was no reason to aspire for the nosebleed stakes. The advice stuck with me.

Fortunately, I was beating the games I was playing consistently and at a very good hourly so I didn’t feel the need to jump up in limits. For a while when I played online I’d win a bunch of money and I’d hop into the biggest limit game I could find and try to spin it up with no goal but to win. I can’t tell you how many times my account went from $300 to $30,000 and back down in a couple days. What I can say about bankroll management is that if poker is going to be your primary income, you need to have stuff like this under control. If you’re going to take a shot at the bigger game, sell pieces of your action. Play in your comfort zone and don’t chase the dream of playing at the Bellagio in Bobby’s Room. Keeping up with the Jones’s is tough.

Christian Bourlier: The greatest lessons were reflections on my own play. The end of 2011 brought with it self-reflection, realization, and restructuring. I took a year off from poker and finished my bachelor’s degree and by September of 2102 I found a backer to play in $10-$20-$40 pot-limit Omaha (PLO). This provided me the opportunity to play high stakes with other people’s money and win for both of us, while returning to an elevated lifestyle and the sense of fulfillment. Sadly though, juicy games dry up and backers find themselves in problematic situations when they loan money and do not manage their own bankroll appropriately either.

So today, like many Card Player readers, I find myself trapped climbing from lower stakes that are not fulfilling and where the only table talk makes your ears bleed while you question your own self worth. Once you’ve had a taste of the good life and the good game, nothing can quite compare. I guess it’s time to add a real-world job and that steady income that helped launch my poker career a decade ago so I can return to higher stakes while utilizing appropriate bankroll preservation methods.

I am sure I will still take shots at the big game and the big fish and will never perfectly adhere to conservative bankroll management tactics even though I keep getting better at it. After all, I would rather suffocate under the pressure of chasing a dream than to die a slow death, coddled in the arms of mediocrity. ♠

Lex Veldhuis divides his time between Las Vegas, Toronto, and his hometown Vlissingen, Netherlands. Veldhuis multitables the highest cash game limits online and has numerous big tournament results. He is a PokerStars Pro.

Jay Farber is a mid-to-high stakes cash game player. In 2013 he placed second in the WSOP main event for $5,174,000. Farber’s fulltime job is as a VIP host in Las Vegas.

Christian Bourlier has been described as comically positive and predictably unpredictable. He is a lover of the outdoors, most sports, and life. Bourlier is a poker player, business developer, and amateur philosopher who enjoys living life to the fullest and inspiring others to do the same.