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“Poker is a tough business,” says Erik Seidel. “You can go through long streaks when you don’t win anything.” When things go badly, when you can’t seem to cash in a tournament or win a significant pot in a cash game, you come to understand the importance of maintaining an adequate bankroll.

Just how big should your bankroll be? How much money do you need to ensure that a bad run won’t put you on the rail? Most pros agree that the answer depends on a number of factors, including the types of games you’re playing, the level of competition you’re encountering, and your psychological disposition.

As Jennifer Harman says, “Some players can be effective on a relatively short bankroll, but others need more of a cushion.

They’ll get stressed out and play scared if they don’t have enough money behind them.” So you need to be aware of your comfort level at the table. If you’re nervous about what you stand to lose in a given pot, you’re probably playing too high for your bankroll. Harman, recommends a conservative approach and suggests maintaining a bankroll that leaves plenty of room for downswings. “If you’re playing $10-$20 limit, I think $10,000 is about right,” says Harman.

John D’Agostino agrees, “You should never play a limit where you feel uncomfortable.” He suggests that a player shouldn’t put more than five percent of his bankroll in play at any time.

The need for a sizable bankroll exists for tournament play as well as cash games. Erik Seidel, a tournament specialist, notes that long droughts are common for tournament professionals and that entry fees can add up quickly. “If you were to play all of the $10,000 buy-in events, you could spend half a million over the course of year,” says Seidel. “Even top players can have years when then don’t cash for $100,000, so having a proper bankroll is critical.”

“You need a much bigger bankroll in tournaments than you do in side games,” agrees Chris Ferguson. “A lot of people play tournaments without nearly enough. You easily need 100 buy-ins. Maybe 200.”

Playing over your bankroll is fine once in awhile, but all the pros concur that it’s important to leave yourself plenty of money to recover from unlucky hands and the occasional mistake. D’Agostino, one of the top young players in poker, offers one further tip for hanging on to your money. “Don’t play Phil Ivey heads up. I tried that once and I failed miserably.”

Written by FullTilt staff Writers

Honestly visual tells in poker aren’t that common and in good players are very hard to see. However occasionally you see something, it may be something very minor but you may eventually pick up the pattern and place a value on what it means. This list may help you look for things and actually see them but then again maybe not. At the very least if you use what you find here in a live game it may help you pay more attention to what’s going on

1. Watch the Eyes
This is why many pros wear sunglasses or visors/caps when playing, they know that the eyes rarely lie. For example, many players can’t help but stare at big hole cards, so their length of time peeking is longer. Conversely, if a player is looking to steal the pot, he may look to his left to see if the remaining players, who haven’t yet acted, have quickly glanced at their cards and are likely to fold. Another example, a player may try to ask you questions about your hand, knowing that people rarely can “look someone straight in the eyes” while being dishonest.

2. Facial Expression
Again, many pros try to disguise their entire face by wearing a cap and looking downward. This is to avoid the classic stare-down that poker pros are famous for. They may try to study your face for nervousness (detecting a weak hand), or even look for repetitive characteristics like a body “tic”. You may have obvious unhappiness

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Below is an article by Any Bloch and was posted on Full Tilt Poker’s Website. There’s always so much discussion from people about playing only premium hands that I thought this would be a good article to counter the nits and set miners out there. Stop thinking you’re better than every one else, there may be a reason for the hands we play.

Personally I play whatever feels good at the time, literally I do. I have been called every name you could imagine but 90% of the time I have good reason for playing an off hand. The other 10% is just donkey play, yes I said it, I am a donkey.

Loosening Up Before the Flop – Part 1
Andy Bloch
March 20th, 2008
Knowing what to do and when to do it is what separates those who just play in tournaments from those who make final tables. This is especially true in No-Limit Hold ‘em, where the first decisions you’re faced with are what hands you should play and when you should play them. As the blinds get bigger and antes come in to play, these decisions become even more crucial. In these situations, one of the most critical errors that people make is not varying their pre-flop strategy enough.

While many pros advocate playing a tight, aggressive game (more…)

At my local card club I play 3 or 4 poker tournaments a week and do pretty well. I mean it’s been paying my bills. My recent run has been pretty good, I’ve hit the final table 4 of my last 6 tournaments finishing 1st, 2nd (by 2 chips) 4th and 6th. Previous to this recent stroke of skill (luck) I’ve finished 1st 3 times and final tabled quite few times in the last 6 months. Most of these tournaments have anywhere from 125 up to 300+ playing in them. It takes a lot of patience and laying down BIG hands that I may have been ahead on to get there.