Poker Bankroll Management

Poker Bankroll Management (BRM)

Your bankroll is the amount of money that you've decided to allocate to playing poker. Bankroll management allows you to choose how you manage your funds. It's an essential skill, but too many players overlook it.

Having dedicated poker bankroll makes everything easier. You know exactly how much your poker money is, how far it goes and that confidence feeds straight into how you play. As long as you’re using money you can afford to lose, poker stays what it should be: a game, not a financial risk.

What do you want from playing poker?

Your bankroll should match what poker means to you. If you play occasionally for fun, your bankroll can be small and flexible. If you play regularly, or aim to play professionally, it needs to be managed more carefully. A bankroll isn’t just money to play with; it’s what keeps you in the game.

Set a target

Even if you're a good poker player, you can still lose any hand. For example, if you go all-in pre-flop with AA against KK, you'll win most of the time, but you'll still lose sometimes. If you risk your whole bankroll in a spot like that, you could face financial difficulties sooner or later. To avoid this, only put a small part of your bankroll on the line in any game.

Check out the table in the next section, 'What stakes should I play?' for guidance on how many buy-ins you should have for different games. Serious players should be prepared to lose their stack at least 20 times without running into financial trouble.

If you're on a downswing or not comfortable at your current stakes, drop down and rebuild. Strong players move down when they need to. It’s a practical decision, not a setback. Once you're ready, you can try again with higher limits. Playing above your bankroll increases the chance of going broke. Protecting your bankroll comes first.

What stakes should I play?

How big should your poker bankroll be? It depends on what you want to achieve in the game. If you're a casual player who plays for fun, you don't need a considerable bankroll. But if you're going to take poker more seriously, you'll need a much bigger bankroll so you can handle the swings.

The chart below illustrates which games and stakes are suitable for different bankroll sizes. It's aimed at players who take poker seriously but don't rely on it as their sole source of income.

Bankroll	Multi-Table Tournaments	Sit & Go	Cash	Spin & Go
$10	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.25
$20	N/A	$0.50	N/A	$0.25 or $0.50
$50	$0.55 tournaments (e.g., Big $0.55, Hot $0.55, Bounty Builder $0.55)	$1	$0.01/$0.02	$1
$125	$1.10 tournaments (e.g., Big $1.10, Hot $1.10, Bounty Builder $1.10)	$1.50 – $2.50	$0.02/$0.05	$2
$250	$2.20 tournaments (e.g., Big $2.20, Hot $2.20, Bounty Builder $2.20)	$3.50 – $4.50	$0.05/$0.10	$5
$625	$5.50 tournaments (e.g., Mini Daily Marathon, Big $5.50, Hot $5.50, Bounty Builder $5.50)	$7 – $15	$0.10/$0.25	$10
$1,250	$11 tournaments (e.g., Sunday Storm, Hotter $11, Big $11, Bounty Builder $11)	$30	$0.25/$0.50	$25
$2,500	$22 tournaments (e.g., Double Deuce, Mini Sunday Million, Big $22)	$60	$0.50/$1	$50

For tournaments, the general advice is to have around 100 buy-ins, because the swings can be pretty big. If you want to play higher-stakes tournaments, try to win your seat through satellites. This way, you don't have to pay the full buy-in.

Spin & Go's usually need at least 50 buy-ins. The same applies to Sit & Go's. Bigger fields, such as 45- or 90-player games, play more like multi-table tournaments. You'll need extra bankroll protection for these games.

For cash games, a common suggestion is to have at least 25 buy-ins (for example, $2 for $0.01/$0.02). With a bankroll of only $25, you're not really rolled for even the smallest real-money cash games. To feel comfortable, closer to 40 buy-ins is better.

Every author offers slightly different bankroll advice, but bankroll management is a personal matter. These guidelines are designed to help you avoid financial difficulties, but you should adjust them to suit your individual needs. Even a player with $1,000 could bust playing $1 Spin & Go's if they make the wrong decisions.

If you're new to poker, having a $2,000 bankroll doesn't mean you should start with a $0.50/$1 six-max cash game. Start at the Play Money tables to learn the basics. When you feel ready, move to the smallest real-money stakes.