Everyone knows that gambling can be addictive and saying the contrary would by a lie. On the other hand, why condemn gambling as a whole because a minority can’t be responsible with it? Poker can be extremely fun, lucrative, and it’s a great hobby or social activity to get into. Ultimately it is a game, and with all games there needs to be certain rules in place. I will tell you something about myself: I have an addictive personality. That’s a fact. I can also tell you that over the years, trough experience, I have learned to manage my addictive tendencies and I want to teach you how. It requires discipline and commitment, but it works so well for me I just had to write about it! And best of all, it’s extremely simple.

Set general Gambling Goals

When you gamble with real money, you need to set objectives and limits. Let’s talk budget. How much money can you afford to loose during a specific period? Establish a weekly or monthly gambling budget. For example, you could decide you’ll deposit $100 dollars in your account this month. In doing so, you must accept the possibility of never seeing that money again. It’s part of playing poker. You have to accept to loose it in order to successfully gamble with it and make the right bluffs at the right times.

Include Timframes as Part of Your Gambling Objectives

Now, should the worse case scenario occur, how quickly or how slowly would you want to loose all your money? It’s quite easy to loose $100 in 5 minutes by going to $10-$20 no limit table, and it’s quite easy to make that money last for a month by playing $0.05-$0.10 limit games. This brings another question, how quickly do you want to win? The tables where you can loose money quickly are also the tables where you can win quickly. Of course, that means higher risks. So depending on your answers to these questions, you should know if a limit or no limit version is best for your objectives.If you’re goal is to make money at poker, the secret is to set an attainable objective, and to stop once you reach it.

Stick to Your Gambling Plan

Let’s assume you commit $100 per month and your goal is to turn that $100 into $500 during the month. This is an attainable goal. Here are the possible scenarios: The worse scenario of course is to loose $100. When that happens, you need to have the discipline to respect your plan and hold off the poker games until next month where you’ll try again. This is very important. You must remain in control and operate as per the limits you’ve set for yourself because if you can’t do that, then you could develop a gambling problem and that’s no fun. There’s nothing worse than playing poker when you can’t afford it! This means if you deposited $100 on the 1st of the month, and lost it all by the 5th, you’ll just have to wait 25 days or so before depositing again. Take this time to use play money because you obviously need more practice.

Now, let’s assume you do have a great month and by the 10th you did reach your goal and turned your $100 into $500. Well that’s just great! You’re on a high now! Enjoy it, but enjoy it away from the money tables. I know you want to keep playing, but stick to the plan. Consider that you’ve just acquired your poker fund for the next 5 months and anything you earn from now on goes directly in your pocket. That’s a great spot to be in. Don’t be foolish and spend the $500 now. Always stick with the plan! You need a break because when you’re on a high, you’ll make the same mistakes as when you’re on tilt. If you don’t have a leveled head, you are vulnerable. People who earn fast cash tend to develop egos and this leads to loosing money much faster then you earned it. Take my word for it: You need a break, even if you did well.

Revise Your Gambling Strategy

Another critical step is to revise your plan regularly. If you are not reaching your goal it’s either because the goal is isn’t realistic (like turning $10 into $10,000 in 5 days). Not realistic doesn’t mean impossible, but it does mean improbable. Another question you want to ask yourself is regarding the goal itself. Is my objective valid? Maybe I need to work on specific aspects of my game and my goals should be more experience driven than financial result driven. It’s ok to loose a little bit of money in order to gain experience and ultimately improve your skill. I view that as a poker lesson, and lessons can cost money. As long as I learn, retain and apply new concepts that will improve my game in the long run, then I’m willing to loose a few bucks to learn. If you are consistently not achieving your goal, perhaps you need to review it and consider different objectives. Also review your budget. Maybe you want to invest less until you start to be more successful.

If you regularly achieve your goals, then this calls for a revision of the plan. You’ve found something that works for you. Do you want to stick with the games you are familiar with, but instead increase your weekly or monthly budget from $100 to $200? Do you want to play at tables with higher stakes? Do you want to try a different kind of game completely? My personal philosophy is this: Do more of what works well. For me, if no limit Holdem is where I win, then I’ll stick with no limit Holdem and I’ll raise the stakes and/or the budget amount. If I find that this plan modification doesn’t yield positive results, I’ll go back to the previous plan until I figure out a new plan that works better.

Include Cycles in Your Gambling plan

If you want to play poker frequently, consider using weekly cycles for your plan. That means establishing a weekly budget and a weekly objective. Stick to this plan for at least 3 cycles (3 weeks in this case) before assessing your results and modifying your plan in consequence. If you can’t play that frequently, the use monthly cycles instead, and allow for at least 3 cycles to go by before changing your strategy. If you stick to a solid plan, you’ll be able to intelligently manage your poker wallet without developing a gambling problem. Respect the limits you’ve established and gambling will not become a problem for you. I find that setting limits and sticking to them and to your plan is the best way to manage your poker wallet.

Put your Poker Reward Points to Work

A benefit you’ll get when you gamble with real money is frequent player points. You can rack up points fairly quickly in a month. Don’t just let those points accumulate, use them! If your objective was attained or if you busted out before the end of your budget period, maybe you want to keep playing poker using your points. Points can normally be wagered as currency, with the room taking a point rake instead of a cash rake. Points can also gain you free entries in tournaments and special events. Take advantage of those opportunities because you won’t get them when gambling with play money.

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Happy gambling!

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