What percentage of your bank roll should you play in one cash game? I understand that you need at least 50 big blinds approximately , however say your bank roll is significantly more than this. I can't imagine sitting down and playing with your entire bankroll. So how much should you play with?

I think it depends on your skill and tillt level. I use around 40 bi rule.

2% (or bankroll management of 50 buy ins) would be considered standard, can go a bit higher or lower depending on personal preferences

Generally speaking, I don't feel comfortable if I have more than 5% of my "roll" in play, so if I'm playing cashgames, I like to have at least 20 buyins for that limit. I'm more more relaxed if I have 50.

If you're a beginner or casual player with another source of income, you don't really need a bankroll as such. You just need a "budget" and the discipline to stick with it. e.g. If you play occasional Friday night live games of 1/2, just take $400, or however much you can afford to lose on a given night, and don't go to the cash machine if you go busto.

Yes, Most players simply need a poker hobby budget. If you are making a living or trying to make a living ( more likely) at poker , then BR management becomes very important. Putting anything near 10% of your roll into a game is a very agressive move in most circumstances IMHO.

About 3,50%.

Anywhere from a single buy in (100%), if you are a recreational player with an alternative source of income (one of these so called "jobs"), to 500 buy ins (.2%), if you are a risk averse professional, or an agent of a massive staking company.

In general professionals need more buyins than semi professionals who need more buy ins than recreational players. And it is prudent to have more restrictive bankroll management as you move up, as the money you have is more worth protecting / harder to replace and you can expect a smaller winrate as well meaning that your downswings should be sharper.

It also depends on how you define the term bankroll. Do you mean your networth, or a fixed % of it? In the latter case you can be more aggressive in terms of number of buyins you have than in the former.

Thanks everyone. I had searched on the net for an answer but came up with nothing.

This isn't a direct answer to the question in the OP, but I think it's related:

I've always been of the opinion that if you buy into a no-limit hold'em game, you need to stand in front of a mirror, hold up two buyins, say to yourself, "I don't give a rat's left front tooth if I ever see this money again" and see if you believe yourself. If you don't believe yourself, you won't be able to play optimal poker.

Say, for an extreme example, someone decides they want to take up live $1/$2NLHE as a hobby, creates a separate bank account, and deposits $10,000 in it. Going all-in for $200 will feel like removing a grain of sand from a beach. If a person, even a beginner, truly puts in the effort to actually learn how to play, keep records of their sessions, ONLY plays $1/$2 with MAYBE an occasional foray to $1/$3, maybe even hire a coach yada yada yada, it's next to impossible to burn through $10,000.

Now let's contrast that with someone who just says, "I'm gonna take $400 to the casino, and when it's gone, I'm done". Is that person really going to feel like that $400 is truly disposable? Maybe. I don't know. I don't think *I* could.

As other posters have said, if you don't have the discipline to stop after you go busto, making a bankroll or a budget is a waste of time.

Hope that made sense
DTXCF

Thanks DTXCF.
I think I got the answer. Whatever amount I'm happy never to see again. This is probably 2% of my bankroll in one cash game.

It depends on many variables which make the answer unique to the individual.

Anyone who gives you a fixed number doesn't understand the problem. There is no "standard" adequate number of buy-ins.

For a recreational player, I like DTXCF's answer. For a professional, it depends on your win-rate, standard deviation, living expenses, additional income you may have, planned volume, risk of missing volume, personal risk tolerance and probably a few other factors I don't have at the top of my head.

If you bink $100k in a mtt so have 50 buyins for 10/20 does that mean you are rolled for that? Of course not, a big part of poker is knowing your current skill level regardless of your bankroll. Play what you can beat until your skill improves to beat the next level regardless of bankroll.

I enjoy playing hyper-turbo HU sngs. I generally play so I have 40-50 buyins. Most professionals would (definitely) consider this improper, but its a dramatic improvement from what my BRM used to be. I'll generally play 4 at a time, goal is to win 3/4 but settle for 2/2 to collect rake. If I go on a losing streak ill take a breather then come back to lower stakes. Luckily I've never lost 40-50 more games than I've won in a single session. But if you do, just go to the beach and leave your laptop at home.

This is a much different approach to playing a MTT for me. If I have 3k in my account, Ill still play the $200 sunday 100k, but if you're grinding tables or SNG's and repeatedly hitting that 'rematch' button, a little more backup is required.

its much more important to only play in games where you can tell you have the best of it. and not be deceiving yourself so you can play.
if you play in games like that you will certainly build your net worth unless you go bananas.

if you play in games without the best of it. no bankroll is sufficient as it will disappear at some point if you play enough.

40-50 BI seems fine for that format, actually, as long as you have the ability to move down in a downswing. That format is the lowest variance form of poker. IDK what a typical ROI is, though.

I should start this by saying that I have ADD and it's very easy for me to get lazy, disorganized or distracted. If some of what I'm about to say seems a bit over the top, that's why. I need to keep things under control. That said, IMO it's always good to know exactly where you stand in your poker endeavors.

I have separate bankrolls for live and online. I play only tournaments, but if I played both tournaments and cash those would be separate bankrolls as well. I don't like the idea of using tournament winnings to finance cash games. It's messy. You're going to be better or make more money with one than the other, and keeping bankrolls separate gives you a clear picture of that.

I keep very good records, not just for the IRS, but so that I'm honest with myself. I track my poker time, in quarter hours, and divide it by play, study and administrative time. If I'm not putting enough hours in, that's a problem. If study is less than 25% of my time, that's a problem and those problems need to be addressed.

If you want to do it properly and move up in stakes and actually be a pro poker player this is the way to do it. ITs based on buyins. If you can beat that limit for 50 buyins you deserve to move up. If you can't you don't move up until you can. And when you do move down you don't have to grind up the 50 buyins again only 25 buyins to get back up again to limit your trying to beat. This will make you better at br management and you will become a great player following this. it will take a lot of volume to complete all of these limits. But you should look at it as a test in school or training through university. Not making money but completing tests or a challenge. then you don't focus on your br but like completing a program. And the more volume you put in the more faster you can complete each limit.

If you got 5k and want to play 5% of it at 200nl but can't crush 4nl you are gonna have a lot of losses your gonna go on tilt and bust your roll. i know your rolling your eyes to start at 4nl but this is how to do it properly. Trust me on that. it worked for me and a few of my friends that followed this program.

Oh ya i forgot this part. As you complete each limit BEFORE you start playing higher you take a day off and spend 8 to 10 hrs just watching the higher limit and taking notes on all the players. Try to spot collusion, cheating, bots, and of course the tags, lags, fish etc. So on your day off before you play you take one day on just taking notes on the players. MAke sure against cheaters and collusion players only sit the table if your on their left or don't sit. Then the following day you play. That is like a must with this system is to study the players one day before hand as you move up to a new player pool. And this is very boring to do i know that. But if you don't do this you will learn the hard way. I guarantee you will get rekt like there is no tomorrow if you don't do this.

4 nl- 100 to 300= 50 buyins- (reload at 100 until you win 50 buyins)

10nl 300 to 800= 50 buyins ( move down to 4nl if br is 200)

20nl 800 to 1800= 50 buyins ( move down to 10nl if br is 550)

50nl 1800 to 4300= 50 buyins ( move down to 20nl if br is 1300)

100nl 4300 to 9300= 50 buyins ( move down to 50nl if br is 3050)

200nl 9300 to 19300= 50 buyins ( move down to 100nl if br is 6800)

400nl 19300 to 39300= 50 buyins ( move down to 200nl if br is 14300)

600nl 39300 to 69300-= 50 buyins ( move down to 400nl if br is 29300)

1000nl 69300 to 119300= 50 buyins ( move down to 600nl if br is 54300)

2000nl 119300 to 219300= 50 buyins( move down to 1knl if br is 94300)

its crazy not to move up if you can see you are better than the players in that group.
take shots at the higher games and go for it. thats if you want to get there quickly. you can feel if you arent playing a winning game and drop down to where you know you can win and replenish.

also if you work or have other income then your bankroll is not finite so you can play over it somewhat.

if playing online more up but only play one table and increase that as you improve and see you are able to win.

every additional table you add you lose some of your total per hour edge per table but may gain total profits from the combined play. and add volatility.