Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
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So the lifeline ofpoker is bankroll managment, its a must if you want to take the game serious and hopefully in the long run make a profit. So here is my guide on what limits to play...... NL Holdem
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 95
Nice guide B1gfoot Bankroll management is the most important thing when playing poker
Does NL5 refer to buying in for 5 dollars, or 2/5c hold 'em.. I hope I'm not the only one who's unsure about this
50 buy ins is quite tight for NL Hold 'em I rkn.. IMHO you only need 20-30 buy in's, if you play 50 you won't go broke, but it will take you a long time to move up in limits, and if your playing micro limits, you will very likely get bored. It depends how much you want to keep your money i guess.. if you play 30 and you make sure to move down in limits when you fall below 25 or so, it will be hard to lose everything... assuming your a winning player of course. Those who are really new, or want to play it really safe (pro poker players.) would be correct in going with 50, but that's just my opinion
Note that for Pot Limit Omaha, you need even more buy ins than NL Hold 'em.. But 50 should generally be enough.. just make sure to move down a limit if you fall below 45 or so buy ins.
For MTT's don't buy in unless you have at least 50 buy in's IMO.. 80 would be much safer though.. they do have a massive amount of variance.
No matter how good a player you are, if you play at limits above your bankroll, you will inevitably hit a bad run of cards and your bankroll will disappear.
Joined: Aug '09
Location: Chile
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Posted by doomdy: Nice 1
I wud say for tournements:
For beginners : 100+ buyinns. For bankroll builders / (semi) pros: 200+ buyinns.
I agree with you. I would say the same for S&G too. May be I'm being too tight but if you don't want variance hit you I would recommend at least 100 buy-ins (rake included) for s&g.
About your question Lurk3er. I'm think Bigfoot's table is for Big Stacks. The amounts are difference if you are a Short Stack player.
Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
I guess i should have mentiond its a MIN requirement to play IMO. There is nout wrong IMO playing NL50 with a BR that lets you play NL400. And id advise it.
I mainly play SNG's & feel fairly comfortable with around 30 buy-ins, although as soon as hit a bad run and drop below a floor then i always make sure to drop down a level, & i think this is a very important aspect of BRM if you want to avoid going broke
Joined: Oct '09
Location: United States
Age: 47 (M)
Posts: 15
Bankroll Management is the key to sustainability.
I try to play the 2% rule. However I have stepped out of the 2% into the 5% range at times.
One thing I would say to any BRM member, If you are playing under a bonus that is the only objective until it is cleared. So stay conservative in both bankroll and play. Once you clear your bonus, that is when you reevaluate and start to play poker.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Brazil
Age: 55 (M)
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you are taking BSS (big stack strategy). most players actually is playing SSS (short stack strategy)...i have seeing tables whit 7/10 - 10/10 SSP. So 20bb buy-in we can calculate a 1/5 ??
Cash game guideline is really conservative, but then again for most losing players thats what they really need to be playing. But for winning players at the micros 40 buyins is really really conservative. I started NL10 with 25 buyins, & been running a solid 18 bb/100, started taking shots at NL25 at around 16-17 buyins but the rule was if i drop 1.5 buyins, i must drop to NL10 straight away & it's kept me on top of things. I think thats the biggest problem for most ppl... dropping down stakes when it aint running your way.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
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Personally I think for the lower levels of NL HE 20 Buyins is fine, I think once you're playing over NL50 then maybe around 30-40 and for NL200 and above then 50 buyins.
I think this because a) The lower limits are generally softer and by playing ABC poker your variance won't be as big and you should be able to stay alive with a 20 BI rule b) if you're playing low limits then your bankroll isn't a serious portion of your actual money, it's merely a bit of money allocated to poker, if you bust on it you can just deposit some more and try again. And you'll be able to build up faster with a lower BI rule and then once you get to a level that you feel is more worth your while you can adjust your BI rule to protect a bigger roll.
Joined: May '08
Location: Netherlands
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Posts: 6197
From experience i think 20 buyinn rule is far too low, make it 50+ for CASH/SNG and 100+ for MTT. With this ur BR is save and also importent ur money is not scared
Joined: Nov '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 47 (M)
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yeah good thread for any beginners or for those who forget the importance of good bankroll managment from time to time. Bankroll managment has to be a very strong suit if you poker playing days are to continue for many years to come... Alass its not my strong suit...lol Oh well theres always time to build on it. That said i'll have another stab at keeping my head this afternoon when i return to the tables after a long week and weekend at work..... Back to poker in the evenings ...YIPEE With bankroll management fresh in my head.
Joined: May '09
Location: Argentina
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For tournaments you should actually have more than 40 buy ins considering them to be those that start in a regular basis(the ones that start when certain amount of players join, say 90 or 180), not the ocationals at 5 o clock since those are just like off the record.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
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Posts: 401
Nice one. You are only missing a rule for SH/6max: NL SH +5/10 buy ins than in same stake FR, FL +100/200BB than FR equivalent, because Sh has a lot more variance.
For MTTs 100 buy ins minimum is more recommended.
Another rule for PLO FR: 100 buy ins (1 buy in =100 big blinds).
And it is recommended o be more tigh when you go up some levels, increase your requirements because on higher stakes variance increases and you could be moving up and down a lot, and that can be tilty.
Play always within your comfort zone, even if it implies you to play a lower limit than the one your bankroll allows.
Posted by racpxt: Nice one. You are only missing a rule for SH/6max: NL SH +5/10 buy ins than in same stake FR, FL +100/200BB than FR equivalent, because Sh has a lot more variance.
For MTTs 100 buy ins minimum is more recommended.
Another rule for PLO FR: 100 buy ins (1 buy in =100 big blinds).
And it is recommended o be more tigh when you go up some levels, increase your requirements because on higher stakes variance increases and you could be moving up and down a lot, and that can be tilty.
Play always within your comfort zone, even if it implies you to play a lower limit than the one your bankroll allows.
Well tbh, for a long time, i was actually kinda scared to move up from .2/.5c just cuz it took forever to build at those stakes & each couple of dollars i would win meant alot to me (lol) But when i moved up to 10NL, i realised the games were just about as soft, & i could make 3X as much money as 5NL & in less time too, & then give or take the same thing for NL25. I think its great to take shots every now & again, & it really helps your confidence when you can win at a higer stakes than you usually play, but ofcourse it's key to drop back down if you lose a couple buyins
Posted by shokaku: 40 buy-ins for cash games is a very high number for the micros. On the other hand just 40 buy-ins for tourneys is a bit low. Make that 100.
NL5 is 2/5 cent blinds. I'm also pretty sure that B1gfoot's bankroll list assumes a BSS of buying in for the max that that ring game allows. If your playing an SSS, than your buying in for the minimum amount, therefore the amount u need at a certain level can be less ( $100 for nl5 instead of $200).
