Bankroll Management 101: How to Never Go Broke

Why Bankroll Management Matters More Than Skill

You can be the best player at your stakes and still go broke. Variance in poker is real and brutal. A 10-buyin downswing at NL100 is $1,000 — and it WILL happen, probably multiple times per year. Without proper bankroll management, one inevitable downswing ends your career.

The Golden Rules

Rule 1: Never Risk More Than 5% of Your Bankroll

For cash games, you need at minimum 20 buy-ins for your stakes. Conservative players keep 30-50 buy-ins. This means:

• NL10 ($10 buy-in) → $200-500 bankroll
• NL50 ($50 buy-in) → $1,000-2,500 bankroll
• NL100 ($100 buy-in) → $2,000-5,000 bankroll
• NL200 ($200 buy-in) → $4,000-10,000 bankroll

Rule 2: Move Down Before You're Forced To

If you lose 5 buy-ins at your current stakes, move down immediately. Don't wait until you're on your last bullet. Your ego will tell you to stay — ignore it.

Rule 3: Move Up Requirements

Only move up when you have:

• 30+ buy-ins for the next level
• A proven win rate at current stakes (minimum 10,000 hands)
• Emotional readiness to handle bigger swings

Risk of Ruin: The Math Behind Going Broke

Risk of Ruin (RoR) calculates the probability of losing your entire bankroll given your win rate and variance. Even a 5bb/100 winner has a 1.3% chance of going broke with a 20 buy-in bankroll. With 50 buy-ins, that drops to nearly 0%.

Use our Bankroll Calculator to see your exact Risk of Ruin based on your stakes and win rate.

Game Type Adjustments

Tournaments (MTTs) require much larger bankrolls due to higher variance. Minimum 100 buy-ins for MTTs, 50 for SNGs.

PLO has significantly higher variance than Hold'em. Double your bankroll requirements: 40-60 buy-ins minimum for cash, 200+ for MTTs.

Common Bankroll Mistakes

1. Taking shots without a stop-loss — If you shot-take at a higher limit, set a strict 3 buy-in stop-loss and go back down.
2. Mixing bankrolls with life expenses — Your poker bankroll should be completely separate from rent money.
3. Ignoring rakeback in calculations — Rakeback effectively reduces your required bankroll. At 50% rakeback, your breakeven point drops significantly.
4. Playing stakes you can't afford when tilted — Tilt + wrong stakes = disaster. Set session loss limits.

How Rakeback Affects Your Bankroll

This is the secret weapon. At 50% rakeback, a marginally losing player (e.g., -1bb/100 before rakeback) becomes a winning player. Rakeback is essentially free money added to your bankroll every week. Over a year, this can add up to thousands of dollars.

Check your exact rakeback earnings with our Rakeback Calculator and factor it into your bankroll management plan.