Bankroll article

[Izverg04]

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The correct question should be: given the full range of +EV gambling setups (different games, different limits, multitabling choices), each one with a different hourly rate and variance, which setup is optimal for you at a given bankroll?

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Indeed, one part of the answer is that advantage gamblers should tend to play in games for which they are overbankrolled according to the Kelly Criterion or their preferred fractional Kelly system. This is a consequence of the way games get tougher as you move up, rather than being scalable as is assumed by proportional betting systems.

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Yep, that was the main thing I was thinking about, and not something that many poker players are aware of. Although I wouldn't generalize for all advantage gamblers, overbankrolling effect only applies to people who play skill games like poker and backgammon. This effect applies to a much smaller extent to blackjack players, sports bettors and the like, who can scale their bets without running into diminishing returns, unless they bet really big.

Another related result is that blackjack players should trade away exactly half of their winrate if they are offered a flat wage in return, while poker players should always trade away less than 50%, typically around 30% when playing at optimal stakes -- because they should be overbankrolled, compared to blackjack players.

Remember a poll in a high-stakes forum maybe a year ago that asked this question?

Ok, found it: Poll . Too bad, the answers are missing. But I remember that 50% said they'd give up less than 10% which struck me as "wrong" for being a little too low.