Bankroll 101

Buy-in sizing, stop-loss rules, and when to move up or down in stakes.

Your bankroll is your working capital. Even a winning player will go broke if they play stakes too high for their bankroll — the variance in poker is brutal and inevitable downswings happen to everyone.

Standard bankroll guidelines

Cash Games20–25 buy-ins

At $1/$2 ($200 buy-in), keep $4,000–$5,000 bankroll

Tournaments50–100 buy-ins

$10 tournaments → $500–$1,000 bankroll

Sit & Gos30–50 buy-ins

$20 SNGs → $600–$1,000 bankroll

Stop-loss rule: If you lose more than 2–3 buy-ins in a single session, stop. Tilt (emotional decision-making) is a bankroll killer. A missed session costs nothing; a tilted session can cost everything.

Move up in stakes only when you have enough buy-ins for the new level and your win rate is consistently positive. Move down without ego — protecting your bankroll is the job.

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