You’ve watched poker on livestreams, possibly on television. You see some players that say they started their poker careers by playing micro stakes and gradually moving up. They say that bankroll management is the key to keep from going broke.

The poker players who risk it all on a tournament and turn a small investment into life-changing money garner more attention. Those stories do happen. What isn’t often reported is the downfall that follows because they didn’t practice proper poker bankroll management. They saw a risk pay off and kept risking, wanting to ride the wave and continue the upswing. That often results in a short-lived poker career.

By taking a steadier path, you can be the player who starts their poker journey with a small investment and builds it into a sustainable method for funding games for the long run.

Build a Poker Bankroll at Your Comfort Level

The most efficient way to start a poker bankroll is to choose your level of investment. Most casual and recreational poker players, no matter their ultimate goals, start with an amount between $20 and $100.

Consider your starting bankroll as the cost of an entertaining night out. If you want to invest more – maybe poker winnings from a home game or series of home games – that is an option as well. Simply choose an amount that will not seriously cut into your life or family expenses.

No matter the amount, consider it money spent. Gone. That money is not available for any of life’s bills and costs. It is your poker bankroll – period.

Online Poker Is Ideal

Players will then need to think about live vs online poker bankroll management, as one is easier than the other.

For poker players living in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, access to online poker is the very best way to start building a poker bankroll. Play online poker at BetMGM Poker for as little as just a few dollars.

What Is a Good Poker Bankroll?

The overall guideline is to put no more than 5% of your bankroll in play at any given time. That means that a person with a $20 bankroll should risk no more than $1 at a time. On BetMGM Poker, you can find micro stakes No LImit Hold’em cash games at the $0.01/$0.02 level with a minimum buy-in of $0.60 and maximum buy-in of $2. Sitting down with $1 in that game requires some caution, but it is very realistic to play that game and run up your bankroll. 

Online poker tournaments are also an option. BetMGM Poker offers a wide range of tournament buy-ins, though satellites are going to be the best way to start with a micro bankroll. Satellites start at just $0.01 to win $5 tournament tickets.

Live poker doesn’t have those options. There are no micro stakes live poker games in any casino, which makes it very difficult to start with a bankroll of less than $100. 

When To Increase Stakes or Buy-ins

There is no perfect amount of time that you should stay at a certain level of play, nor is there a magic bankroll number to hit that gives permission to move up in stakes. There are some general tips, however, that can help guide you as you navigate building a poker bankroll.

50 Buy-ins

There is an industry standard that serves as a guideline when moving up in poker bankroll level. That is to build a bankroll of at least 50 buy-ins for the next stage. While that is more than what is necessary to play, it provides some flexibility, room for a learning curve to adapt to strategies and styles that go with a higher level of play.

Yes, there are differences between play at the $0.01/$0.02 and $0.50/$1 levels. Every level comes with a new set of challenges. You need to watch for changes in opponents’ play, especially if they have watched you increase your stakes, as they may try to take advantage of your newness to that level.

Check Yourself When Building Your Poker Bankroll

It can feel freeing to have more money in your bankroll and be able to bet more, raise more, and experience some larger swings. But beware that those larger upswings can be met by equally large downswings. Proper bankroll management can help manage those swings, but it’s important to watch your own betting and risk-taking trends.

When you move up in buy-ins or stakes, it is even more important to track your progress, or lack thereof, and maintain some discipline.

Monitor Yourself

If there is a learning curve when adjusting your poker tournament bankroll or cash game bankroll, recognize that you’re playing a new level of a game. Stakes matter, and if it takes some time to adjust, that’s okay.

Take comfort in the fact that you paid attention to how to build poker bankroll basics, and a step back simply means that you are able to maintain said bankroll. Poker pros with longevity in the game are able to step back when necessary. They can lower their stakes for the sake of that pro poker bankroll. 

It’s always better to reduce your stakes than to go broke. 

Padding Your Poker Bankroll

Remember that bankroll management guidelines for poker are suggestions. Granted, these suggestions have developed over time with input from poker players of all professional statuses and experiences. The 5% rule has proven that it works.

To build a poker bankroll carefully is to be able to see the bigger picture. There are reasons to build one with more than 50 buy-ins before moving up. 

Consider Poker Coaching

Some poker players invest personally into poker coaching, considering it an investment in increasing their poker bankroll. However, if you pad your bankroll properly before moving up in stakes, you can afford to pay for a poker coach with 5% of your bankroll. This normally occurs at higher stakes, but there is coaching at various levels of the game.

Investing in poker coaching from bankroll funds can be as simple as paying for a subscription to a poker training site or buying one poker coaching session to address some questions or concerns about your game. Players at all levels of the game obtain coaching from time to time.

Consider Traveling To Play

One of the best things about playing poker can be the travel and the global possibilities in poker. There are cash games and tournaments at locations around your country and the world. Following a poker tour or the cash games that accompany certain tours or events can be the perfect opportunity to work on building a live poker bankroll.

For players who don’t have many opportunities to play online poker, it can be beneficial to take a trip to a state like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or Michigan just to play online at BetMGM Poker. These trips can be very inexpensive, as the location to play at BetMGM can be anywhere inside the state’s border, as detected by geolocation technology.

Your poker bankroll isn’t just for playing poker. It should be able to cover most (ideally, all) of your expenses related to traveling for poker. Whether feeling comfortable with your current poker strategies or feeling in a rut, a change of scenery can change the trajectory of your game.