What's a recommended bankroll to start with?

TwoShedsJackson

How many BB's do you reckon a person needs to start off a bankroll at a certain level? Mason Malmuth seems to reckon you should start off with 300 BB's at a given level, i.e. $300 if you're playing .50/1, in order to ensure you won't go broke during the inevitable horrendous losing streak.

Would you regard this as too much, not enough etc. - I need to give some proper consideration to an amount of money set aside for playing poker (mostly online), so I need to settle on a figure.

Lafortezza

Sklansky said that your ideal bankroll is always more than you think you'll need. If you start with a run of good winning streaks then there's no problems but if you start on a bad streak then you'll need the cash to absorb it before you find your feet and begin to recoup.

If you take up poker for a living, you apparently need to have a years salary put aside to live on, as you can't live off your winnings, they have to feed your bankroll and eventually let you move up limits.

Marq

300 times the big blind is nice, yes, but not absolutely necessary. Many would recommend starting at 50 times the big blind when you sit down at a table, with at least double that for your total bankroll. You should never sit down at a table with your entire bankroll. When you're playing No-Limit online, there's usually a limit of either 50 or 100 times the BB anyway when you sit down at a table. Most people will start with that or near that, so it's a good idea for you to do so too. If you're playing Limit, often there's no restriction.

If I were starting to play for cash I'd probably start with 150 - 200 times the BB of whatever tables I intended to play.

DeVore

If you consider the 100 euro game they give you 4000 chips and the blinds are 25/50 so thats what, 80 times the BB.

Cash game, I guess 100-150 would be best.

DeV.

careca

I'd agree with Marq. If i was going to sit down again in the Fitz cash game (1/2 no limit) I would sit down with €200. The only problems I could see are related to discipline. Eg If you sat down with 200 and had more in your pocket would you use it ? Secondly, how long is the bankroll intended for ? If its for a month or two and you lose it all in the first week, would you be happy to play no poker for the remainder of that time ? Don't think I would be able for that.

Lafortezza

Originally posted by careca
Secondly, how long is the bankroll intended for ? If its for a month or two and you lose it all in the first week, would you be happy to play no poker for the remainder of that time ? Don't think I would be able for that.

Your bankroll is all the money you use to be a 'winning poker player'.
The €200 you use to sit down and play in the Fitz cash game would be a very small part of your overall bankroll. If you sit and lose €200 over a couple of hours, then do the same 3 nights a week for a couple of weeks you would need a big enough bankroll (€5000 maybe?) to be able to bounce back from this once the cards start going your way again.
This is assuming that overall you are a winning player in cash games. There's less of these than you might think.

Decker

Hi,

for what it's worth I've heard/read (mainly on 2+2) for SnG games you need 20 to 30 the buyin.

For cash games I've seen the figure 300BB, I'm not sure what BB means, my initial guess would be 'Big Blind' but then 300 times it wouldn't be that much, if you get involved in 15 big hands and lost 20BB per hand which is unlikely but possible, you're broke. Perhaps it means Big Bets, so your bankroll would be 3000-6000 the big blind (assuming a big bet is 10-20BB), seems like a lot? I suppose it depends on your attitude to risk.

Alex

kipple

The 300 BB number assumines you are a proven Winning player. If you are not a winning player then does it matter how big your BR is?

If you are a proven Winning player then at some time a 100 BB swings will happen to you. Such is poker.

There is a big difference between bankroll and the amount you sit down at a table with.

T.

MrPudding

I seem to have a different idea of bankroll. I was thinking about it from a tournie point of view, given that that is what most of us play. I think this is also easier to work out. If I was going to play poker in a serious way I would decide which tournies I wanted to play, eg. the 2 €20 games in the Fitz, the €20game in the Merrion and the €100 games in the Fitz & Merrion. If it was me I would want a bankroll big enough to cover entry into all these games for a least a month. Realistically I think you would want several months to cover possible dry spells.

MrP

Lafortezza

Originally posted by MrPudding
I seem to have a different idea of bankroll. I was thinking about it from a tournie point of view, given that that is what most of us play. I think this is also easier to work out. If I was going to play poker in a serious way I would decide which tournies I wanted to play, eg. the 2 €20 games in the Fitz, the €20game in the Merrion and the €100 games in the Fitz & Merrion. If it was me I would want a bankroll big enough to cover entry into all these games for a least a month. Realistically I think you would want several months to cover possible dry spells.
MrP

Personally I think you'd need to cover buy-ins for at least 18 months. Dry spells can last longer than a couple of months, and even if you place in the money you might only make enough to cover the previous couple of months of buy-ins. Much more difficult to play poker seriously when you're only playing tournaments.

bohsman

Playing Sunday Monday Tuesday and Wednesday nights bankroll for 18 months your looking at 386x78=€30,108 then youre going to need living costs for a year and a half put aside aswell say another €10,000 seems a bit of an unrealistic bankroll to me but would agree that only playing tournaments wont work

Hectorjelly

This question doesnt really make much sense without more information,

what type of games will you be playing? Sng's, Ring Games, Tournaments? If its cash games then you need to take into account wether its limit, pot limit or no limit.

Are you prepared to top it up with extra cash when you lose?

How seriously are you planning to take poker?

Also as mentioned above, if you dont usually win, it makes no difference how big/small your bankroll is.