Hello everyone, today we will discuss an essential aspect of Texas Hold’em — bankroll management. As the name suggests, bankroll management is all about managing your funds effectively to reduce risk.

You might ask, why are we talking about bankroll management before diving into specific strategies? The reason is simple: Texas Hold’em isn’t just a game; it’s an activity closely tied to money. Your ultimate goal is to make a profit, and the last thing you want is to lose money.

Unlike other activities like esports, basketball, or running, if you lose all your buy-in funds in Texas Hold’em, you face bankruptcy. This doesn’t mean you’ll be homeless, but rather that you won’t be able to participate in poker games for a while, which is the real issue. Real bankruptcy in poker occurs when you lose your entire bankroll.

Therefore, having a proper understanding of bankroll management helps reduce the risk of bankruptcy while playing Texas Hold’em. It also helps you understand risk and variance when participating in high-stakes tournaments, allowing you to avoid difficult situations.

Defining Bankroll
First, let’s define “bankroll.” A bankroll is the amount of money you’ve specifically allocated for playing Texas Hold’em. It’s separate from your bank savings, stocks, or cryptocurrencies, and it’s the amount you’ve clearly decided to dedicate to poker. For example, if you have $10 million and decide to use $2 million for poker, that $2 million becomes your bankroll. It’s an independent fund where all poker-related wins and losses occur. Your bankroll can grow, or it can shrink to zero.

Key Management Principles
The first principle is to set a reasonable ratio. In any poker game, your buy-in amount should not represent too large a portion of your total bankroll. For example, if you have $2 million and join a $1,000 buy-in game, that’s a reasonable ratio. But if you have $2 million and enter a $100,000 buy-in game, that’s unreasonable because one loss could deplete a large portion of your funds.

Here’s a simple reference guideline for different types of games:

• Cash games: 50 buy-ins (based on 100BB per buy-in)
• Large tournaments (with many participants): 500 buy-ins
• Small tournaments (100–300 participants): 200 buy-ins

The second principle is to avoid being influenced by emotions. Whether you are winning or losing, stay calm. Don’t rush to move up in stakes when you’re winning, and don’t chase losses impulsively after a losing streak. Emotional swings can lead to irrational decisions, which will ultimately impact your bankroll.

The third principle is to have a plan and stick to it. Based on your bankroll, set a clear gaming plan that determines the stakes you can play, your stop-loss limits, and when to move up in stakes. Don’t change the plan due to impulsiveness or emotional reactions.

In summary, bankroll management is crucial not only in Texas Hold’em but also in life. Proper bankroll management allows you to survive the ups and downs of poker and achieve long-term profits.

50 buy ins??? What a nit

The parameters provided here are based on the safest values for players with average skills. If your skills are better, you can increase the number of buy-ins accordingly.

That awkward moment you think you're talking to a bot and it talks back

anyways this is good advice for those starting out

BRM in cash is relative to the edge that you have- in lineups you have a smaller edge you need a bigger bankroll and vice versa.

The error people make is they see it as a linear path but say you see a 2 whale table the limit up, you should shoot that thin.

On the other hand if you’re playing zoom at the regular stake that you usually play on reg tables, you should have double the bankroll needed for reg tables.

Next episode: what's a continuation bet.

OP, if you're planning on making this a thing then perhaps you should just stick them in the one thread

Who are these ppl?

I use a 40 buy in bankroll and I take a shot to a higher limit with 2 buy ins. If I lose I go straight back to the lower limit to grind it back before I try again

This is a good approach, but what prevents you from taking a 2 BI shot with a 25 BI bankroll if you confidently win at the current limit?

BRM is a pretty complicated thing to fit into a small article.
You have to consider your long-term plans: whether you want to move up the limits quickly or you are already at your desired limit and want to make money with minimal risk.
You also need to consider your win rate, psychological stability, etc.

As a starting point, I would suggest working with the poker variance calculator, which will help you calculate the right BR based on your win rate.

I know a lot of people advocate taking shots with 1-2 buy ins at the next stake etc but for me who ALWAYS seems to run bad at the new stake when trying this I prefer to just get to 30 buyins for the new stake then move up permanently unless I fall below 20 buyins then i would drop down. A 10 buy in downswing is rare enough for me that this approach is preferable.

I've also tried it where i'll mix so playing 1 table of the new stake and the rest of table normal stake and add extra tables as bankroll dictates but again I ALWAYS seem to run bad on the higher stake which is very tilting plus both stakes don't always play the same so I prefer to just play one so I can adjust properly to how people are playing there.

Yeah I think I should be more flexible with my bankroll.

I guess I am not confident enough to take shots to bigger games. I am not mentally ready to lose for example 2 buyins in NL50 and then I have to grind them back in NL10/NL25.

Maybe I should man up LOL!

I have a habit of taking losses when I try a higher limit haha. I think I try too much to overplay my opponents. Instead I should just table select well and stick to the basics.

being conscious of 'the table' with the higher stake despite playing in BBs is defacto playing less than an A game I think. Bankroll nitting is maybe the best kept secret in poker. That and higher tables rigged for run-bad ofc

Totally. Need to get the new stake being the new normal asap so can get back to playing our normal game that got us there in the first place and not be thinking consciously or subconsciously about the higher $ amounts. Best way to do that imo is a full move up when your BR can support it.