How to build a poker bankroll
Everything you need to know about building a bankroll
Building a poker bankroll is one of the most important and often overlooked parts of the game.
Being able to play poker knowing that you have enough behind you if you hit a run of bad luck, and that your bankroll is safe, secure, and ideally made up of winnings, will free you to play your best.
But how do you get there? How do you reach the stage where you have a deep and solid bankroll?
Here's how to build a poker bankroll and how to keep it.
Why you need a bankroll
You've probably heard that "Money gives you freedom", "Money gives you control over your time", and "Money makes the world go round."
Well, in poker, money is how we keep score, and it's what keeps us in the game.
It's a weapon we wield against our opponents. And if we run out of bullets, we're in trouble.
That's why you need a bankroll.
While poker is a skill game it is also a game built on luck. In the short-term, the game is dominated by good and bad luck. It's over the longer term that good play overcomes luck.
But you need to have a bankroll to cope with the ups and downs in the short-term.
To avoid going broke, you need to have enough buy-ins in your bankroll to cope with a period of not winning.
If you have a bankroll of £100 and sit down in £20 games, you can only miss out on cashing five times before you have no money left and no means to play.
After that point, you can quit or put in more of your own money.
But if you do put that extra money in, you again give yourself a high chance of losing it if you continue to play in stakes higher than your bankroll allows.
If you take the same example of playing £20 games, but you have a bankroll of £1000 instead of £100, you would need to lose 50 times in a row to go broke.
If you're a bad player and can't win consistently at the level you are playing at, you will need to work on your game, as no size of bankroll can beat bad play.
But if you're a winner who is down on your luck, those extra buy-ins will keep you playing so that you're ready to capitalise when your luck changes.
That's why you need a poker bankroll.
How much money do you need in your poker bankroll?
The golden rule of poker bankroll management is to have between 50 and 100 buy-ins.
The closer to 100 you are, the better.
And the closer to 50, the better a player you need to be, as the margin of safety is narrower.
This can be difficult when people are starting to build that bankroll - how do you get that 50-100 buy-ins when you need those 50-100 buy-ins to play and build that bankroll in the first place?
There are a few options open to you - all of which are explained below.
Different strategies to building a poker bankroll
There are four approaches to take to building a bankroll. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and your circumstances, patience, and time at important factors here.
We are listing them below in terms of the level of risk so that you make an informed decision about which is right for you.
“The Micro move-up” Model
Risk level: low
Patience needed: high
Time required: high
Personal investment required: low
If you play very low stakes, it is possible to set up a bankroll with a single deposit.
Depending on your financial situation and how much money you are willing to put into your bankroll, you could set up a modest bankroll which will allow you to play immediately.
For a good bankroll at online micro stakes , you may need only £100.
That would give you 50 buy-ins into 1p-2p (or the currency equivalent) cash game online, or 100 buy-ins to £1 tournaments.
From here you can build your bankroll through winnings at the lowest level of online poker.
It is the slowest way to do it, and the rakes at lower levels of poker make it more difficult.
But provided you play in a way suited to beating the worst players at the tables (definitely no GTO game theory optimal play here), you'll move up and be playing higher stakes with other people's money over time.
Strengths: very low risk. Playing weak players and moving through the limits.
Weaknesses: you could lose interest. Micros require extreme patience and discipline. This won't work for live games unless you can put a higher amount of your own money down. High rake at low limits.
“The Monthly top-up” Model
Risk level: medium
Patience needed: medium
Time required: high
Personal investment required: medium
This is the halfway house of bankroll building.
Create a poker bank account and then set up a direct debit of a set amount each month that goes into your that fund. Over time that fund will build and the regular payments and winnings will increase, creating the bankroll you need for the stakes you want to play.
The advantage of this approach is that you build up to your bankroll over time.
The downside is that it can hide losses.
For this approach to work, you need to keep close track of how much money you are putting into your account and how much you are winning or losing.
Failure to track your bankroll will mean you don't know whether you are playing profitably over time or not as your bankroll will be growing whether you are winning or not.
Strengths: Gets you started. Sets aside money in a planned way and builds the bankroll gradually with a mix of your money and winnings from opponents.
Weaknesses: By topping up regularly, it could mask losses. You need to closely track how much you are winning or losing. Doesn't protect you from downswings
The “Strike it lucky and keep going” Model
Risk level: high
Patience needed: high
Time required: high
Personal investment required: medium
We don't recommend this approach, but it is another route that players can take.
Ignore building a bankroll and just play until you have a decent win. Then set that aside as your bankroll.
There's a high degree of luck involved with this approach but a low level of planning.
You're basically not bothering with a bankroll but promising yourself that when you have a decent win you will suddenly have the discipline to set it aside.
It can work and we have seen it work, but we've also witnessed players never getting what they see as a big enough win, and we've seen plenty of people bemoan their misfortune at losing their bankroll because of "run-bad" which has really been down to poor bankroll management.
Strengths: You can keep playing without the burden of thinking about your bankroll until you have a big win.
Weaknesses: That win may never come. You could find yourself endlessly putting money into a blackhole. You need discipline to start managing your bankroll once you win, when you may be overconfident after a victory, leading to complacency.
The “Bite the bullet and load up” Model
Risk level: low
Patience needed: low
Time required: low
Personal investment required: high
Put down the money for a full bankroll at the stakes you want to play.
This could involve setting aside over £1000 if your game of choice is £1-£1 cash or £20 sit-and-go tournaments.
If you have the money spare to set it all aside for your bankroll, this is definitely the most time-efficient way of doing it.
If you're lucky enough to have this money to hand, this approach does have a number of advantages.
It will limit the risk of boredom and gets you straight into the game at the stakes you want without any fuss.
The downside is that many people don't have that set aside and it's important to be able to keep it separate from other finances.
There is also the disadvantage that you're not playing with winnings. But if you're a good player, that problem will sort itself out over time.
Strengths: You can start playing right away at the level your play is best suited to.
Weaknesses: It's all your own money. Only suitable to people with deep pockets.
Set a bankroll plan
Once you've decided on your strategy, it's important to create a poker bankroll plan.
This will keep you on track and on target.
Your goal could be to win enough money to remove your own initial investment, it could be to double your bankroll, or just to be a profitable player over a period of time.
Your plan should include which stakes you want to play at in the short, medium and long term. That stake could be the same throughout, but it's important to be clear with yourself about what you want.
Once you have a plan in place, it's time to start using a poker bankroll tracker.
How a poker bankroll tracker can help you
Once you are on the road to building your own poker bankroll, it's very important to measure your progress.
Many poker players only pay attention to their big wins and forget about their loses because the nature of tournament poker is that you lose more often than you win.
But it's crucial to keep a close eye on every result so that you can track which direction your poker finances are going in.
It gives you a great feeling of achievement to see your bankroll growing, and you can look back on all of your poker results fondly.
We recommend Poker Bankroll Tracker as our app of choice.
The app is easy to use and allows you to input all of the key information about your poker sessions and gives you a great snap shot of your progress.
The free version gives you enough functionality to do what most people need, and the paid version allows you to drill down further if you need more detailed data.
Set up a separate bank account
It's important to keep your poker bankroll separate from the rest of your finances.
It can be very tempting to dip into the fund when you see something you want to buy, so keep it separate and protect it.
You'll find that if it's lumped into the same account as other things it will become a lower priority and you'll start dipping into it if you're having a lean month.
Withdrawing from your poker account
One ambition you may have for your bankroll is to win enough money to remove your initial investment.
This is a rewarding goal which can give you a real sense of freedom at the table.
Knowing that you are only ever playing with other people's money is a liberating experience and should be the ultimate goal of any poker player.
How to protect your bankroll - bankroll management principles
Once you've built your poker bankroll, you'll find it's both very precious and important to you.
And you need to protect it.
Find out the steps to take to keep your bankroll in good shape and safe from harm with our guide to poker bankroll management.