Bankroll Requirements
Does the size of your bankroll really determine what limits you should play? The answer to that question lies in your motivations for playing poker. If you are a casual play who does not take the game seriously, then bankroll size probably does not matter. Afterall, you go to the casino, buy chips, play, then go home. You hope to win some money, but in the end, you view the experience as entertainment value, or an opportunity to make some quick money. Afterall, who knows when you will get back to the casino?
What if you are a serious player and want to advance up the limits? Then the size of your bankroll definitely matters. Most people play limits that are too high for their current cash reserves. Conventional poker wisdom says that you put all of your poker money in a separate account. This account is different from your regular money. That way you can watch it grow and shrink. Yes, your bankroll will shrink as you go through the normal variations that we all face in poker. How much should you have? The answer is more than you might think. Calculating bankroll requirements are slightly different for Limit and No Limit poker, but there are correlations between the two.
Limit Holdem Bankroll Requirements
For Limit holdem, the calculation is very straight-forward. You generally want to have about 300 - 400 Big Bets. While 300 big bets is a good number, 400 is even safer. What is a big bet? It is the amount that you must wager on the turn and river. For example, if you are playing in a 1/2 Limit Holdem game, the Big Bet is $2. You can easily calculate bankroll requirements for each limit. Here are the numbers:
| Limit Holdem Bankroll Requirements | ||
| Stakes | 300 Big Bets | 400 Big Bets |
| 1/2 | $600 | $800 |
| 2/4 | $1200 | $1600 |
| 3/6 | $1800 | $2400 |
| 4/8 | $2400 | $3200 |
| 5/10 | $3000 | $4000 |
| 10/20 | $6000 | $8000 |
| 15/30 | $9000 | $12,000 |
| 20/40 | $12,000 | $16,000 |
| 25/50 | $15,000 | $20,000 |
| 30/60 | $18,000 | $24,000 |
| 40/80 | $24,000 | $32,000 |
| 50/100 | $30,000 | $40,000 |
| 100/200 | $60,000 | $80,000 |
| 200/400 | $120,000 | $160,000 |
No Limit Holdem Bankroll Requirements
Bankroll requirements for no-limit holdem games are usually based on buy-ins. When you play no limit cash games, you should always be deep stacked. You do not want to beholding the nuts only to have a short stack. Rarely should you ever buy in for less than 100 Big Blinds. For example, in a 1/2 NL game, you never want to buy in for less than $200.
For the purpose of defining a buy-in, it is the amount required to post 100 Big Blinds. To have an adequate bankroll for a limit, you should have at LEAST 25 buy ins at that level. If you are playing 1/2 NL, a buy in is $200, and you should have $5000 in your reserves to be playing this limit. Here are the bankroll requirements for no-limit holdem at variou stakes:
| Stakes | 1 Buy In | 25 Buy Ins / Required Bankroll |
| 0.01/0.02 | $2 | $50 |
| 0.05/0.10 | $10 | $250 |
| 0.10/0.20 | $20 | $500 |
| 0.25/0.50 | $50 | $1250 |
| 1/2 | $200 | $5000 |
| 2/5 | $500 | $12,500 |
| 5/10* | $1000 | $25,000 |
| 10/20* | $2000 | $50,000 |
| 25/50* | $5,000 | $125,000 |
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* Casinos often cap the buy in amount at lower levels. When you move to these higher limits, the buy in can be uncapped, meaning you can buy into an 10/20 NL game for $300,000 if you wated to do so. |
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