One of the most underrated skills you can develop as a poker player is managing your bankroll.

You hear a lot about managing your chip stack while you’re at the table, but the truth is that of us are on limited budgets and if we don’t manage our bankroll well, you may not be able to sit down at the table in the first place.

Admittedly, this is a lot easier for virtual players. Players at Betway’s online casino, or any other online poker room are able to quickly and easily see how much money they have in their account.

Plus, there’s a slight barrier to access that money since you have to withdraw it from the site somehow.

Poker players that prefer the live games though, need to make sure they keep a close eye on the funds they have dedicated to playing poker. It’s all too easy to decide to splurge after a big night at the tables and buy a big ticket item. Sure you might enjoy that new big screen TV that you paid cash for after hitting the nut flush, but you might be leaving money on the table in the long run.

You see having a big bankroll of funds that you can dedicate to playing the game means you can absorb more bad beats and still have the funds to play. Successful poker requires the ability to make the odds work for you over the long haul. If you spend most of your winnings and continually leave your bankroll thin, you’re only a couple of bad breaks away from being unable to sit back down.

So, if you want to have long term success at the poker tables, make sure you manage your bankroll away from the table just as carefully (if not more so) than you would your chip stack while you’re at the table.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dante1334/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Last night we went to the boats and played some $1/$2 No Limit. About 10 hands after I sat down, a guy three seats down from me was dealt A♦A♥ and got paid off when he flopped a set. The very next hand I was dealt A♠A♣ and after raising to 12 pre-flop, flopped a set. Unfortunately I had to bet to push out the flush draw and my two callers folded.

The biggest hand of the night came when I had A♣10♣ and called a small raise pre-flop. After a flop of 9♣7♦J♦ it checked around and the button bet $20. Everyone folded and I probably should have, however, I had a bit of a read on this guy and he seemed to be buying the pot. I smooth called and waited for the turn.

The turn was a rag and I checked it to the button again. This time he bet another $30. I considered re-raising but I figured if I was right and he was just bluffing or semi-bluffing that I could check raise him on the river and take it down, especially if an over card hit.

Well the river came an 8♣ hitting my gut shot straight draw. I should have bet it at this point but was greedy and wanted to set a trap for the button (who had drawn out on me in a previous hand). Unfortunately he simply checked and I flipped over my straight and took down the pot (about $125 total).

Had I been thinking at all, I would have realized that if my read was correct and he had a weak hand, he probably wasn’t going to take another expensive stab at the pot. As it turns out, he had a J♠ with a small kicker and I still believe I would have taken down the pot with a large raise there. However, I was waiting to check raise and I probably wouldn’t have gotten that option.

So I have to admit, I got a bit lucky on that one. However, he had done pretty much the same thing to me (drew to and hit his gut-shot straight) earlier in the evening and ended up taking about $40 off me so in my mind, we were pretty close to even.