Bankroll management
How many buy-ins you need per format, and why that buffer matters more than talent.
More good players stop because of an empty bankroll than through lack of skill. The reason is mathematical: even winning play has long losing periods, and anyone without a buffer for that gets knocked out along the way by swings that are simply part of the game. The rules of thumb per format:
Cash games
20 to 40 times your buy-inThe swings are smallest here; anyone who plays tight gets through practically every normal dip with this buffer.
Tournaments (MTT)
50 to 100 times or moreThe results swing enormously: even winning players usually fail to cash and earn everything in a few deep runs.
Sit and gos
30 to 50 timesBetween cash and tournaments: a firmer structure than a big tournament, more swing than cash.
They are rules of thumb, not laws
The right buffer depends on your profit per 100 hands, how aggressive your style is, and above all: how bad it is if it goes wrong. Anyone who can easily top their bankroll up may sail closer to the wind than somebody who saved for months for it. The free bankroll tool works with your own numbers and says which level fits your roll.
The deeper reason why this works is in what is equity: good decisions lose a predictable share of the time. A bankroll is the tool that lets you carry those losses without changing your game. And because the biggest threat to any bankroll is not the cards but your own reaction to losing, preventing tilt belongs inseparably to this subject.
frequently asked questions
Bankroll questions.
Why do I need a bankroll at all? +
Because losing is simply part of it even with good play. A bankroll is the buffer that absorbs normal swings, so that a bad week stays a statistic instead of the end. Playing too thin means the mathematics catches up with you sooner or later, however well you play.
When may I move up a level? +
When your bankroll covers the new level by the same rules and you are winning at your current level across plenty of volume. Two good weeks are no proof; tens of thousands of hands are.
And when should I move back down? +
Sooner than your ego wants. Agree a limit in advance, back down below twenty buy-ins for cash for instance, and stick to it like a contract. Moving down is not a defeat; hanging on until it is gone is.
Is my bankroll part of my ordinary money? +
No, and this is the most important rule of all: your bankroll is money you can completely afford to lose, separated from rent and groceries. As soon as poker money touches household money, every healthy decision at the table stops.
work out your own situation
Which level fits your roll?
Pokiq's bankroll tool works with your own profit per 100 hands as soon as you import your hands. Free to try.