It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that you have to have real money to play real money poker online. When you run out of money, you can’t play anymore. If you’re looking at the game as a way to consistently make money, as opposed as a way to gamble, then the smart move here to make is to start out strong, by creating a poker bankroll.
How Much Money Should You Start Your Poker Bankroll With?
How much money can you afford to invest into your bankroll initially? You CAN start your bankroll for just twenty bucks realistically. You can go to a poker site that offers at least a 100% deposit bonus, deposit your $20, and play super tight micro stakes poker with an ‘always cash’ strategy, grinding slowly and consistently until you’ve built a solid bankroll.
If you can afford it however, the magic number for starting a poker bankroll is $600. You’re probably wondering right about now why $600… The reason is pretty simple, the average online poker site offers a first deposit bonus to all new players of 100% generally up to .. you guessed it $600. In some cases that number’s going to vary a bit either direction. Just remember, this is your one chance to take advantage of a first deposit bonus at the site you choose to play at, make it count.
If you’re a higher stakes player, you’re obviously not going to begin your trek with a mere $600, so let’s talk about that, let’s talk about your bankroll in relation to the stakes you play.
As a general rule of thumb, you want to be buying in with 100 big blinds if you’re playing no limit holdem. We won’t delve to deep into that number, however, shortstackers that don’t want to risk large amounts at one time will buyin for less, more advanced players that want to capitalize on any mistakes their opponents make to the fullest will buy in for as much as possible. At online no limit tables, 100 big blind buy-ins are common and normally the maximum you can buy in. This means that in a game of $0.10/$0.25, you would buy in for $25.
TIP: Never risk more than 5% of your bankroll during any one sitting at the same time
Now whether you’re the guy above that started with $20, or you’re starting out with $600, the idea is to safeguard that bankroll against the ups and downs, known as swings in poker. So we’re going to divide your bankroll by 20. So if you’re playing No Limit poker with a $600 roll, divided by 20 buyins, you can afford to buyin for $30 per session. You shouldn’t buy into any no limit poker game for more than $30.
Thinking of your bankroll in terms of the amount of buyins it contains is a great way to keep yourself from going broke in one night, and it will help you manage that bankroll and turn it into something bigger. If you should hit a major downswing, chances are, if you’re using any sort of decent poker strategy, you’re not going to loose all 20 buy-ins in a row.
If you do lose all 20 buy-ins, you might want to consider taking some time away from the game. Moving up in stakes is again another subject entirely, however, it’s fine to play with less than 1/20th of your bankroll, the key is to avoid playing with more than 20%.
The above all refers to those playing No Limit as well as Pot Limit Poker games, however, there are some key differences the general rules of bankroll management for Limit Poker play, as well as for tournaments and sit n go’s.
Bankroll Management for the Limit Poker Player
If you’re a limit holdem poker player, your magic number is 300. To sit down and play poker at a limit stakes table, a player wants to have at least 300 big blinds in their bankroll. So let’s say you make your first deposit at a site like Full Tilt Poker that offers a $600 deposit bonus, you deposit the full $600, taking maximum advantage of the bonus offer. While you’re clearing the bonus you have $600 available in your account to play with, so you could theoretically play a 1/$2 limit Holdem game.
Bankroll Management for the Sit n Go Tournament Player
The general rule of thumb for a sit n go player is to always have at least 40 buy-ins in their poker bankroll. There is a ton of poker strategy available for $10 sit n go players, so we’re going to begin here using that as our example. If $10 sit n go’s are your game, taking into account the $1 in fee’s paid to the poker site, making the game an $11 game, players want to at least a $440.00 bankroll to begin grinding at this level.
You can take this strategy down to the micro’s playing $1-$.10 where you’ll need at least a $44 bankroll, or you can play at a higher level. Here’s the mathematical formula:
Buyin + Fee * 10 = Recommended Bankroll
