In the old days when the game of choice was big blind Texas Hold'em for professional players the benchmark was 300 big blinds was a adequate bankroll that would allow a player a 95% margin for not going broke with standard deviation. (Big Blind hold'em is games like 10/20, 20/40 where the bets are structured and the big blind is the size of the first two rounds of betting.)

This three hundred big blind thing was figured out using a standard deviation formula by someone writing a book. I think it was Mason or David Sklansky. What makes it so silly is not that it is bad math, it is just bad math for you and me. It does not account for variables outside of random distribution. The flaw being that when someone saved up their 6000 bankroll and headed to Las Vegas to become a professional poker player they went broke 95% of the time thus heading home with their tail between their legs.

It does not take into account so many other things that are relevant and important to your bankroll. One of those things is perhaps the cost of living. Another one of those things is that minimum bankroll is typically calculated on the assumption that the player is playing optimal and making their two big blinds an hour. Things like what kind of tipper he is, how much rake he is playing and how many drinks he buys, don't really fit in the equation and yet they are bankroll negative factors.

I don't know why they did not try to figure these things out, it might be that the answer was different for everyone or perhaps they did not want to discourage people from taking a shot at professional poker. Maybe players feared that people would figure out that they could make a much better living using a $6000 bankroll to buy a hotdog cart.

Few players have successfully figured out bankroll requirements. Few player ever will. I say this because in my casual observation of poker players, they almost all go broke at one time or the other. The ones that do not, have seemed to have something besides just poker to keep them going. Chris Moneymaker might be a good example of this. I am sure that with out all the endorsement funds that he has had coming in over the years, and perhaps his wisdom of investing in other things besides himself in a poker seat, he would more likely then not have been busted. Jonny Chan went broke after his back to back wins, as other if not most of the WSOP main event winners have.

It has dawned on me over the years of watching many of my bankrolls come and go, and many others bankrolls come and go, that bankroll is really a silly little subject and that the answer is not really build a bankroll, stay within it and you will be in chips forever. You more likely then not will lose your bankroll and be sleeping in your car for to many nights.

When you consider your bankroll I think the question is really more about how much you can play with what you got, and how easily can you replace what you have. If your talking about a bank roll to play online in with micro limits then bankroll question is do I have an extra twenty to screw around with, and will I care if I loose it?

If your on the other extreme, you play high limits, your main income is going to be from poker, or you think you are a great player and your leaving the wife and quitting the job to become a fulltime poker player you have a whole new set of problems, and if you do not address them you will be going home.

I have only met a few successful poke players in the sense of bankroll. I will tell you about one, he is a famous poker player with a dad that is even a bigger name in the poker world. The first time I saw this guy who was just a kid that was playing 3/6 limit. He moved up and has never been busted out. But build a bank roll is not all he did, he built a portfolio. Now I am sure that his BR has fluctuated, I would even be willing to bet he has lost a bankroll or two. But his portfolio is huge, many times bigger then any bankroll he would ever need. He built his portfolio playing poker. Smart kid. Only guy I really heard of that grinded his way to the top. I think has formula is correct and perhaps the best to follow. Build your bankroll from your winnings, invest your winning, when your investments can sustain you, become a poker professional, repeat get really rich and secure.

In the old days when the game of choice was big blind Texas Hold'em for professional players, the benchmark was 300 big blinds was an adequate bankroll that would allow a player a 95% margin for not going broke with standard deviation. (Big Blind hold'em is games like 10/20, 20/40 where the bets are structured and the big blind is the size of the first two rounds of betting.)

This three hundred big blind thing was figured out using a standard deviation formula by someone writing a book. I think it was Mason or David Sklansky. What makes it so silly is not that it is bad math, it is just bad math for you and me. It does not account for variables outside of random distribution. The flaw being that when someone saved up their 6000 bankroll and headed to Las Vegas to become a professional poker player they went broke 95% of the time, thus heading home with their tail between their legs.

It does not take into account so many other things that are relevant and important to your bankroll. One of those things is perhaps the cost of living. Another one of those things is that minimum bankroll is typically calculated on the assumption that the player is playing optimally and making their two big blinds an hour. Things like what kind of tipper he is, how much rake he is playing, and how many drinks he buys don't really fit in the equation, and yet they are bankroll negative factors.

I don't know why they did not try to figure these things out, it might be that the answer was different for everyone, or perhaps they did not want to discourage people from taking a shot at professional poker. Maybe players feared that people would figure out that they could make a much better living using a $6000 bankroll to buy a hotdog cart.

Few players have successfully figured out bankroll requirements. Few players ever will. I say this because in my casual observation of poker players, they almost all go broke at one time or the other. The ones that do not have seemed to have something besides just poker to keep them going. Chris Moneymaker might be a good example of this. I am sure that without all the endorsement funds that he has had coming in over the years, and perhaps his wisdom of investing in other things besides himself in a poker seat, he would more likely than not have been busted. Jonny Chan went broke after his back to back wins, as other if not most of the WSOP main event winners have.

It has dawned on me over the years of watching many of my bankrolls come and go, and many others' bankrolls come and go, that bankroll is really a silly little subject and that the answer is not really build a bankroll, stay within it and you will be in chips forever. You more likely than not will lose your bankroll and be sleeping in your car for too many nights.

When you consider your bankroll, I think the question is really more about how much you can play with what you got, and how easily can you replace what you have. If you're talking about a bank roll to play online in with micro limits then bankroll question is do I have an extra twenty to screw around with, and will I care if I loose it?

If you're on the other extreme, you play high limits, your main income is going to be from poker, or you think you are a great player and you're leaving the wife and quitting the job to become a fulltime poker player you have a whole new set of problems, and if you do not address them you will be going home.

I have only met a few successful poke players in the sense of bankroll. I will tell you about one, he is a famous poker player with a dad that is even a bigger name in the poker world. The first time I saw this guy who was just a kid that was playing 3/6 limit. He moved up and has never been busted out. But build a bank roll is not all he did, he built a portfolio. Now I am sure that his BR has fluctuated, I would even be willing to bet he has lost a bankroll or two. But his portfolio is huge, many times bigger than any bankroll he would ever need. He built his portfolio playing poker. Smart kid. Only guy I really heard of that grinded his way to the top. I think his formula is correct and perhaps the best to follow. Build your bankroll from your winnings, invest your winning, when your investments can sustain you, become a poker professional, repeat; get really rich and secure.