Building a Poker Bankroll
If you’ve worked your way through the lessons in this course then it’s my guess you’re serious about poker. If you’re serious about poker then you need to be equally serious about your poker bankroll. The reason to have a bankroll is so you can weather losing streaks and not completely deplete your funds. In this lesson we’ll deal with building a bankroll the old fashion way – earning it by playing Texas hold’em poker. Later on in the lesson we’ll explore when you should consider moving up and possibly down in limits.
A good cash game player might win 60-80% of the time, which means they’ll go home a loser 20-40% of the time. How many times in a row is considered a losing streak? Five in row would bother many players but professional poker players knows that fluctuation (what some call luck) can be chaotic, coming in erratic waves. The longer you play poker the more chance you will see that double digit losing streak – which is exactly why you need to build a bankroll. The bankroll is the one aspect of this crazy game of poker that we can control.
Types of Bankrolls
Some poker players have a dedicated bankroll, some players’ goal is to have a dedicated bankroll, and some players just hide poker money from their wife. As a day tripper, I used to put what I could afford to lose in envelopes. I had an envelope for everyday I would be at the casino filled it with $300 for weekdays, $400 for Fridays, and $500 for Saturdays. If I lost my daily bankroll I would go to the swimming pool, workout room, read, play online, or go sightseeing. A casual bankroll like this might be kept as any hobby or vacation fund might be utilized. The dedicated bankroll includes players that just let their bankroll build until it reaches a certain amount before taking any money out. Others take out 20% of what they win. What they don’t do is take any money out of this precious fund to pay for dinner, slots, mortgage, or anything. In contrast, the professional poker player has to take money out of his bankroll for housing, taxes, retirement, healthcare, vacations, and all their living expenses.
What type of bankroll you need will depend on the reasons why you play poker in the first place. A beginner or casual player plays for fun and to learn. At this stage they play with what they can afford to spend for a hobby. They might go to the casino, play in some bar and home games, or put some money into an online poker site. It can cost money to have fun, and it’s a fast way to experience all aspects of poker. When I started out playing poker I soon realized that I had to be careful because if I spent more on poker than it cost me to have another hobby, like playing golf or going to sporting events, I would have had to quit poker, and I loved poker – and still do.
How to Build a Bankroll
The main way to build a bankroll is slowly, through experience, not blowing through the levels and the money. Perhaps you’re financially independent and have the money to keep reloading a bankroll. If so, it’s ok to bolt through different limits and see if you’re the best. Otherwise, use discipline; let your valuable bankroll, personality, and learning ability dictate what level of poker you play.
Two of the best stories are about Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad. Chris took $1 and amassed $20,000, just to prove it can be done. It took him six months and he did it by sticking to a strict bankroll management policy of not buying into a MTT (Multi Table Tournament) for more than 2% of his bankroll. The experiment was to show how a player can move up and play bigger and bigger games, graduating to the next level slowly – which requires discipline. Annette started with play money when she was 15 years old (thus her "Annette_15" online name). She never put any money into an online poker site. She won some money in freerolls and now she is one of the most feared poker players online or on land. She has won and kept millions of Euros.
How Much Do You Need?
How much do you need for your poker bankroll? There are general sayings like, do not buy in for more than 2%-5% of your bankroll or quit a game anytime you lose more than 10% of your bankroll. Like most things in poker it depends. Other than the buy-in amounts, here are some of the things you’ll need to consider:
- Type of games: Firstly, it depends on the types of games you play since tournaments have a much higher variance than cash games. Granted, the prize pool can be very large in big tournaments, but even the best players can go a long spell without making any money. This makes for the high variance and therefore a high fluctuation in your bankroll. For example, in tournaments you might need 100 buy-ins but for cash games you might only need about 40 buy-ins. Heads up sit and go tournaments are a variance extravaganza all on their own. It varies considerably with a player’s win rate.
- How good you are: The size of a bankroll also depends on how good a poker player you are. If you are a cash game player that wins 60% of the time, you obviously need a bigger bankroll than a player that wins 80% of the time. Loose players have a much higher variance than tight players. Players that learn how to be mentally strong have less variance than unstable players. The types of players you play with, their playing style and ability will also affects variance.
- The betting variations: The betting limits you play will also have significance for your bankroll. Limit and Pot-limit hold’em players can have a somewhat smaller bankroll and follow the smaller end of the buy-in amounts on these tables. This is because the size of the pot isn’t usually as big as a no limit table and the variance is much lower.
So as you can see, the size of your bankroll will depend on many things, and it’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself. But for a general guide the following table may prove a useful starting point:
Table – Recommended Bankroll for No-Limit Texas Hold’em Cash Games:
| Game Limit | Buy-In | Bankroll | Number of Buy-Ins |
| 2c-4c NL Online | $2 | $80-$100 | 40-50 |
| 5c-10c NL Online | $6 | $240-$300 | 40-50 |
| 25c-50c NL Online | $30 | $900-$1,200 | 30-40 |
| $1-$2 NL Online | $100 | $3,000-$4,000 | 30-40 |
| $1-$2 NL Online 6-Max | $100 | $4,000-$6,000 | 40-60 |
| $1-$2 NL Live | $300 | $6,000-$9,000 | 20-30 |
| $2-$5 NL Live | $400 | $8,000-$12,000 | 20-30 |
| 5c-10c Limit* Online | $1 | $40 | 400 Big Blinds |
| $4-$8 Limit* Live | $100 | $2,400 | 300 Big Blinds |
*The limit Texas hold’em was added for comparison.
Table – Recommended Bankroll for No-Limit Texas Hold’em Tournaments:
| Tournament Type | Bankroll Needed |
| MTT NL | 50-100 Buy-Ins |
| MTT NL with 1000+ players | 200 Buy-Ins |
| STT NL | 30-40 Buy-Ins |
The professional would have to double these numbers to protect their lifelong bankroll. The casual player may be able to risk more, maybe 10% on a buy-in, but a dedicated bankroll should not risk more than 2-3% on any buy-in. Your bankroll is your lifeblood. Anyone, I repeat, anyone, can build a bankroll if they learn to play correctly at each level and keep within their bankroll.
When to Move Up or Down In Limits
The simply answer is to move up when your bankroll is big enough, and move down when your bankroll is too small. However you should consider the following:
Return-on-Investment
ROI refers to the net profit you’ve earned playing poker. Divide any profit by the gross amount you’ve invested and multiplied by the number of games you’ve played. A ROI of 0% would indicate that you’re breaking even. In general, move up when your ROI is 25% or higher. For example, when playing SnG tournaments, move up when you have a ROI of 30% over 100 tournaments or 20% over 300 tournaments. ROI applies to cash games as well. Many players have a ROI of 30-35% and 50% is possible with superior play. There are many other good benchmarks, formulas, statistics, and graphs available to judge yourself and other players. Most of the stats are related to ROI, that is – making money.
Are You Comfortable?
Psychologically a player is ready to move up when they feel comfortable to do so. When a player feels uncomfortable, they often play weak. Move up because you are playing good solid poker and then continue to play your best poker. Do not change but keep with what has been winning for you. If you are a tight, timid, winning player, force yourself to move up. You can move back down if you are not successful at the new limit, or if you’re psychologically uncomfortable. Knowing basic play at each limit is a building block for the future. The big question you need to ask yourself is "Am I still playing my best game?" – Which leads us to:
Analyze Your Play
In the lesson, “Analyzing Your Play“, we talked about keeping records and the use of statistics. Well, statistics will not only let you know where your strengths and weakness are in your game, they will assist in your decision of what games to play and when to move up to the next level. Analyze the play of your opponents and yourself. Know your success rate at each limit and for each type of game. The more a player analyzes and find leaks in one’s game, the faster a player can move up to the next limit. This is crucial in helping you to establish what kind of bankroll you might need.
But do not necessarily change your game. It could be just the gremlins of fluctuation. As we said in the previous lesson; study, ask a friend, move down a level and play some more, get some kind of poker tracking software, get a coach, do something. Keep statistics of your poker sessions, and you’ll then have a better idea of what size bankroll you’ll need in order to continue playing the games you already play, and whether you can afford to move up to bigger limits, and bigger buy-ins. Keeping a record of your play will allow you to make faster and better decisions and thus help advance your poker bankroll.
Conclusion
Bankroll management is one of the most important poker skills and while it takes discipline, it’s a skill that must be learned if you are going to be successful. Don’t risk too much money at one time by moving up too fast in levels. In other words, conquer and learn most of what you can at a $1-$2 game before moving up to the $2-$4 game. The fastest way to move up is to study a little, play a lot of poker, study a little, and play even more poker. What could be more fun? At each level make sure to check your ROI and other stats – and if necessary, don’t be too proud to move down in limits. This game takes even the best of poker players for big swings. Therefore, a big reserve is good for your psyche whether losing or winning. So, let your poker bankroll dictate what limit you’ll be playing.
Next Lesson: Advanced Level » Module 3 » Lesson 4 » A Winner’s Checklist