» What are proper bankroll management guidelines?

Without proper bankroll management skills, every poker player would eventually go broke due to the natural swings of the game.   While we provide some suggestions, it is a subjective decision that should err on the safe side and your ability to re-fund your account if you ever depleted it significantly.

• 40 buyins for NL Hold'em
• 300 Big Blinds for Limit Hold'em
• 40 buyins for SnG and MTT's
• 60 buyins for Pot Limit Omaha

The idea of bankroll management is to play at the right limits for the amount of money you have online to avoid losing all your funds due to bad runs of cards or play (often called variance). Your style of play can affect recommended levels as well.  If you play a very aggressive, high risk, variance laden style, it is recommended you increase your bankroll to withstand your bigger swings.  If you are a very cautious and tight player, you could get away with reducing your number of buy ins to as little as 20 buy ins.  Another factor influencing recommended bankrolls is how many tables you play simultaneously.  The more you play, the greater you should increase your bankroll so such a large percentage of your bankroll isn't on the tables at the same time.

Many professionals have bankrolls much larger than these suggested levels to prevent any disruption in their play when 'running bad', living expenses, and general peace of mind.  Poker is their main source of income and they regularly make withdrawals decreasing their bankrolls.

In an article on pocketfives.com, Grapsfan added more detail his bankroll requirements by putting in different categories for different players.  Select the Pro column if going bust would be devastating because you derive your income from poker, Protected column if replacing your bankroll would be difficult, and Unprotected if your taking a shot and your bankroll is easily replaced.