Learn Texas Holdem

Question: Hey My name is Guido and I've read your page and keep reading it. Its helping me a lot.

I play in the internet Absolute poker and its been hard for me but after i read your tips i found my way to build up $70 starting from 0.

I won some money in few tournies and then went to the NL $0.10 and won what i have.

I read on one of your articles or maybe answers that to move up in limits u need bankroll to do it. I was wondering if u could tell me how much do u think its the lowest bankroll you need for this:

NL$0.25

NL$0.50

NL$1

NL$2

NL$4

Thank you!

Answer:

There are two different kinds of no limit games, ones that you have a limit to how much you can buy-in for and those that don't. I'll assume you mean the games that you have a set buy-in for.

Most of the advice you get regarding bankrolls will be that you need X amount times the big blind. As you know, the reason you need the money is to buffer you from the unavoidable ups and downs of cards. I would feel comfortable with 10x the buy-in. Say it is a $100 game, $1000 would be fine for me. With that said though, if I were to lose a couple sessions and half the $1k was gone, I wouldn't keep playing the $100 buy-in. I'd have to drop down and play a smaller game to build it back up. Your individual situation may be different though. The less edge you have over your opponents, the more bankroll you need.

That's the safe advice. The reality is that most players don't follow bankroll guidelines. If you are trying to move up the ranks, I would suggest doing what I and other players do. Given that you can beat the game and you can afford to lose what you invest, play at a limit that you have half the bankroll for, or even less in some cases. This is strictly taking a shot, knowing full good and well that you may run badly and just bust.

The point for this is so you don't have to grind it out through each limit. If you do run well and beat the game a few sessions then you can drop back a bit and have a working bankroll for the lower limit. Granted this isn't the safest way to go, but it can save some time (at the cost of some $$$). You'll see players do this when a big game is particularly juicy; they don't have the rolls for the game, but the game is too good to pass up so they sit-in. It's a measured risk.