A guide to spreading your bankroll across multiple poker sites

When you browse through posts in the BBZ Brags Discord you’ll find scores from a variety of different poker sites.

While some poker players build a bankroll on one particular site and only play there, many enter tournaments across multiple poker clients at once – especially when there are big online series running simultaneously.

But if you’ve only got money on one site, how do you get set up on a new site?

How do you pick which tournaments to play? How much of your bankroll should you withdraw from one site and then deposit on the new one? And what are the benefits of signing up to a new site?

WHY YOU SHOULD PLAY ON MULTIPLE SITES

First, let’s cover why playing across multiple poker sites can be beneficial.

For starters, you’ll simply have more games available for you to play throughout your sessions.

Until recently, BBZ Poker community member Matt, aka ‘NeverWinPots’, played the majority of his volume on PokerStars – with great success. But he recently began playing on ACR too (again, with success).

“The main reasons were different game selection and to get in more volume,” he tells us. “Most of the time I play an earlier schedule, so I think it’s a good way to find more good value MTTs.”

Another reason to sign up for a new site is the special offers available to first-time depositors.

“ACR has a very, very good rakeback offer for first-time deposits,” Matt says. “I think you get heightened rakeback for up to like $2,000 to match the first-time deposit.”

Most of the big online poker clients have similar offers available, so you can use these to help you decide.

Finally, some poker sites are simply softer than others. We’ll get to that later.

NOTE: Check out our interview with NeverWinPots in the article: How to build a poker bankroll (the right way)

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU DEPOSIT?

Withdrawing money from your bankroll on the site where you play the most volume can often feel like you’re taking a step backwards. You’ve built the bankroll to a point where you can comfortably play the stakes you’re at, so making a healthy withdrawal can feel like your roll has taken a hit.

But that’s not the case when you’re either using the withdrawn funds to invest in yourself with better studying material, or you plan to deposit it on a different site.

Your bankroll remains the same, it’s just now spread out across multiple sites.

But how much is a good amount to deposit on a new site?

Matt made his decision based on his average buy-in throughout his sessions, and the field sizes of the new tournaments he’d be playing.

“I only moved about 5-10% of my roll onto different sites,” he says. “I think with game selection I only really need around 50 buy-ins, due to the smaller field sizes and the difficulty of the games.”

SCOUTING A NEW SCHEDULE

You’ve made a deposit onto a new site, now you’ve got to scout the tournament schedule and decide which games you’re going to include in your sessions.

This could take a few days. You probably know the schedule on the site you built your bankroll on like the back of your hand, and have a list of tournaments you never miss. Now you’ve got to do the same on this new site.

So how do you pick which tournaments to play when you’re first looking at the schedule and getting used to it?

“I just stick to my normal buy-in range, typically $22-$109’s,” says Matt. “From there it’s just about playing games you like the structure of and game types you do well in.”

Matt enjoys the fact that sites like PartyPoker and ACR tend to have smaller field sizes than PokerStars. “They have a decent amount of tournaments on during the day with fewer than 150 runners,” he says.

As for the quality of your opposition, this also differs from site to site. Some sites are targeted at certain markets where play is generally considered weaker.

You might be pleasantly surprised.

“Some sites definitely feel a lot softer,” says Matt. “I feel like you see a lot more punting, especially in Progressive Knockout events.”