there's a chouette that runs here in miami about once a week, $5 a point. I'm wondering how much of a bankroll I should have for it. At 5 a point if I'm in the box against 4 people i'm really playing for $20 a point, which seems to make the game quite large. The chouette rarely reaches more than 5 players. Is a 2k BR sufficient cushion for variance? it seems like play on the box is extremely high variance, so it might require a large br.

You are probably in the right ballpark. In this thread, Bill Robertie recommends that your bankroll for a single session should be 100-150 times the stake. Chris Bray gave 150 in one of his columns. Danny Kleinman has written 200. In the thread cited above, Robertie also gives 300 points as a reasonable total bankroll.

I would add that you should be able to sleep comfortably after a big loss. If you stake $5, for instance, and go down $500 or $750, will you be able to shrug it off? If not, then you are betting too much.

Consider a recube to 4. If you are in the box, playing against, say, a team of 4, you should not be afraid of the recube that might come back at 8. Four cubes hitting you at 8 is 32 points. Should you lose a gammon, that would be 64 points. So ask yourself, is the stake so large that it will inhibit me from making a proper recube to 4? Will I be tempted to a pass a recube to 8 when I should be taking? If so, then you are betting too much.

Another point that Chris Bray stresses is his judgement that most people probably play for more than they should. They have not considered their reaction to the rare but predictable big loss they will eventually suffer.

Mike

Sure in theory you could lose 100 or more points but that is highly unlikely.

The most I've ever won or lost in a single session is about 60 points. And that is the best ever and the worst ever.

+or- 40 points is a bit more common.

Most of the time you will be +or- 20 points.

So, yeah, I guess you should be prepared to lose a lot but odds are you won't.

I'm emotionally okay with big swings as long as I'm bankrolled for it. I remember back in 2010 I was playing a lot Pot Limit Omaha. Possibly the poker variant with biggest swings. (they say bg is the cruelest game, but I'm not sure those bg players have played a ton of PLO lol!) I'm just trying to make sure I'm bankrolled for chouettes.

I agree that gamblers (even professionals) generally practice bad BR management and play way bigger than they should. But 2k for a $5 dollar chouette does seem fairly deep, I guess.

thanks for the suggestions, guys.