Lots of people have trouble with this very simple and fundamental concept in poker, both live and online - I’ve put this in the online poker section, though, as that’s where most people try to build bankrolls.

When deciding how big your bankroll should be you should look at a number of things:

-How much money can you afford to lose? If you only have a part-time job earning $150 a week then it’s not a good idea to start off playing anything higher than the very smallest stakes (this applies even if you’re a poker God).

-What’s your game like? If you’re a Hellmuth-esque nit then you can probably go with the bare minimum of 20-25 buyins. If your game is wildly loose and bluffy then max out. I know one guy who plays NL5 with an $800 roll - he’s a total freakin’ nit when it comes to bankroll management but at least he’ll never go broke. He probably needs it anyway; he raises suited connectors under the gun.

 

For a solid, tight player who isn’t too aggressive, 20 buy-ins is probably enough for full ring cash games, with 25-30 for 6-max. A tight-aggressive player probably needs 25-30 for full ring and 35-40 for 6-max. If you’re an incarnation of Sam Farha go with 50+.

These are all NLHE guides - I’ll leave it to Nima to write the limit section.

I would say have 5x the roll for tourneys that you do for cash - there is far more variance, especially in MTTs. In single-table sit’n'goes you can probably afford to have only a little more in your bankroll than if you’re a cash player. In turbo STTs, you need literally hundreds of buy-ins.

Let’s use an example - Bob is a solid player, who prefers shorthanded cash games playing no limit hold ‘em. He also plays tournaments. His cash game is quite tight for 6-max but he is aggressive; he runs something like 22/18/4.

He plays NL200 but when he’s on a good upswing he’ll occassionally take a shot at NL400. He plays a lot of MTTs, usually freezeouts with a $25-$50 buy-in and some single-table tourneys of the same level, but not many. What is a sensible sized bankroll for him?

a) $4000

b) $15,000

c) $7,000

Answers on a postcard, please - I’ll post tomorrow.

Ciao.

Categories: Online Poker, Poker Strategy