Sit and Go Bankroll Management
Sit and Go's are fun to play and have a much lower variance than bigger field tournaments. The goal in playing poker online is to make money and Sit and Goes are a great way to build up your bankroll.
So what are Sit and Go's? Sit and Go's are poker tournaments that have no scheduled start time, that start when a predetermined amount of players register. Heads-up, single table, and multi-table Sit and Go's are all popular. Single table tournaments usually have 6, 9, or 10 players. Multi-table tournaments can have 18, 45, 90 or 180 players.
The natural variance that occurs in poker could cause even a long term winning player to loose their bankroll if they don't follow proper bankroll requirements. Following proper bankroll requirements should keep a winning player from going broke. A losing player will eventually always lose their bankroll if they don't improve their game.
Since there is less variance in Sit and Go's than in bigger field online poker tournaments you don't need as many buy-ins to be properly bankrolled for Sit and Go's. A lot of people say that the minimum amount of buy-ins for Sit and Go's should be 20 buy-ins. I feel the minimum should be more like 30. Recreational players can comfortably play at a limit with around 30 buy-ins in their bankroll. Professional players will want a minimum of at least 50 buy-ins.
You shouldn't move up to a higher limit until you have 30-50 buy-ins for the higher limit that you want to play. If a downswing occurs that takes you below 20 buy-ins you should move down to a lower limit.
Just because you won enough money to move to a higher limit doesn't mean you have to. The higher the limit the better the players are overall. Maybe you don't feel like you are good enough yet to play at the higher limit. Or maybe you just aren't comfortable with the larger monetary swings. Or maybe you would rather cash out a portion of your winnings.
I keep a conservative bankroll of around 50 buy-ins. I am comfortable at the limit I am playing and I am not ready to move up to the next limit yet. When I get up to around 80 buy-ins I cash out a portion of my bankroll and leave around 50 buy-ins in my bankroll. That is my cash out strategy. It's not the right or wrong way of deciding when to cash out. That's just how I do it. You can decide your own cash out plan, but remember to keep in mind the bankroll requirements.
