Wow — playing poker for a living is not glamorous 24/7. This opening thought is the gut reaction most new pros have after their first losing month, and it matters because your bankroll is the only thing separating a long career from a short one. The next section shows the core rules I use every month to survive variance and scale up responsibly.
Start with the simplest rule: define your stake-relative bankroll and never bet a game that can bust you in one session. For cash games that means a session buy-in cap expressed as a percentage of your total bankroll (I use 1–2% for higher-variance formats), and for tournaments it means counting the buy-in as a risked unit in a multi-month plan. Below I break down how to calculate those percentages, how to track them, and why the same numeric rule changes when you switch formats or move countries.
Hold on — why percentages instead of fixed limits? Percentages scale with your success and protect you from sudden downswings, and they can be automated into tracking tools so you never forget. I’ll show two simple spreadsheets and a short handheld method that I used when travelling between home games and casino sessions, which makes shift changes and travel days much less stressful at the table.
Practical Bankroll Rules: Numbers You Can Use
Here’s the thing. Rules have to be simple or you won’t use them when tired late at night; I boil everything down to three numbers: BR (bankroll), S (session risk), and R (risk tolerance factor). For cash: S = BR × 0.01–0.02 (1–2%). For MTTs: buy-in exposure should be no more than 1–2% for regular players, 0.5–1% for pros who play big fields; for SNGs use 2–5% depending on variance. These raw numbers are flexible, and I explain how to tweak them by game type in the next section.
At first glance that feels conservative, but long stretches of breakeven + variance break many careers, so conservatism buys optionality and patience. In the next paragraph I’ll show an example calculation for a player moving from $2/$5 NL cash games into $50 MTT entries, and you’ll see why bankroll segmentation matters.
Mini Case: Real Numbers, Real Decisions
My mate Dan once had a BR of $10,000 and wanted to jump into bigger fields; he planned to play $50 MTTs and $5/$10 cash. He used S = 1% for MTTs (so $100 per buy-in exposure) and S = 2% for cash sessions (so $200 max session risk), which kept him in play while chasing higher ROI. After a five-month variance-heavy stretch he cut MTT volume by half and shifted to more value-rich cash sessions because the smaller bets protected his BR. This story leads into the next section where I generalise how to segment your bankroll by activity and time horizon.
Segmentation: Dedicated Pots for Cash, MTTs, and Study
Split your bankroll into dedicated pots: BR_cash, BR_mtt, BR_study. Why? Because goals and variance differ between formats — cash is steady, MTTs are spiky, study is an investment. I recommend 50% for cash, 30% for MTTs, and 20% reserved for study/expenses when starting out, but adjust these based on expected ROI and lifestyle. This segmentation prevents you using study funds to chase losses, which is a common rookie mistake I’ll cover in the mistakes section next.
Tracking Systems: From Paper to Automated
At first I used a $2 notebook and a pen. Simple wins: record date, game, stake, buy-in, result, and running BR. That manual habit helped me internalise patterns quickly, but spreadsheets beat notebooks for trends. Use columns for BR_cash, BR_mtt, monthly winrate, ROI per buy-in, and max drawdown; visualise with a rolling 30/90-day moving average. If you prefer apps, pick trackers that export CSV so you can audit your numbers later and keep control — quick tools let you check on a phone between sessions, which saves stress before you sit in.
One more practical tip: back up weekly. A lost device or corrupted file has ended careers; the next paragraph describes automation and simple formulas you can paste into any spreadsheet.
Key Formulas (Copy-Paste Friendly)
These are the core calculations I paste into a tracking sheet: BR_new = BR_old + net_result; session_risk_pct = session_max_loss / BR_old; required_rollover_for_withdrawal = deposit × WR (if you use casino-style promos) — note, this last one is useful only if you actually use promotional offers. Use EV_estimate = (avg_win × hit_rate) − (avg_bet × (1 − hit_rate)) for quick sanity checks on game choices. These formulas will help you decide when to move up/down stakes, which I discuss in the following section.
When to Move Up or Down: Signal-Based Decisions
On the one hand you might feel confident after a heater, but on the other hand tilt and recency bias will lie to you; that’s why I use rules: move up only after a sustained run (e.g., +25% BR over 60 days with stable win rates) and move down if you hit a 20% drawdown from your peak BR or your monthly winrate drops below long-term average. These objective signals reduce emotional mistakes and set clear action thresholds — keep reading for common mistakes that happen when players ignore those thresholds.
Tools Comparison: Paper vs Spreadsheet vs App
| Tool | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Paper notebook | Simple, low friction, builds habits | No trends/backup, manual maths |
| Spreadsheet (Excel/Google) | Custom formulas, charts, exportable | Requires setup, occasional maintenance |
| Mobile apps | Quick input, notifications, sync | Proprietary formats, privacy concerns |
Pick a primary and a backup tool — for example, a spreadsheet synced to cloud storage plus a small notebook for session notes — and the next paragraph shows how to incorporate gaming promos and off-table distractions without breaking your rules.
Promos, Side-Bets, and Off-Table Income
Don’t confuse promotional bonus money with your BR unless you have clear wagering rules; in poker the analog is staking deals and affiliate income. Allocate any irregular income (stakings, coaching payouts) to BR_growth only after it’s cleared and documented, and keep a separate ledger for partner deals and debts. If you’re unfamiliar with promotional trapdoors, consider reading house rules carefully or consult a dedicated page like goldenreels.games for how wagering requirements and cashout conditions can skew apparent bankroll health — the next section gives a quick checklist to keep you operationally tidy.
Also, remember to adjust your playstyle when using staked money — different psychology applies, which I expand on under common mistakes below and in the FAQ.
Quick Checklist: Essential Daily/Weekly Tasks
- Daily: log session (stake, hours, result, notes) and update BR running total — then set the next session’s stake cap.
- Weekly: compute weekly winrate, 30-day moving average, and max drawdown; back up files to cloud and local drive.
- Monthly: review segmentation percentages, adjust for upcoming travel or big series, and set study budget.
- Pre-session: check sleep, nutrition, and stake cap; skip play if emotional or sleep-deprived.
Follow this checklist like basic hygiene; the next part explains common mistakes I’ve seen wreck new professionals who skip these steps.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
- Chasing losses by increasing stake — avoid by enforcing session caps that you commit to before the first hand. This leads to better discipline which I detail next.
- Mixing study and play money — use distinct pots so you don’t cannibalise long-term growth for short-term thrills and the following mini-FAQ addresses how to handle staking and splits.
- Ignoring small leakages (rake, subscription fees) — track ROI net of all fees or you’ll misread performance trends and mis-time moves up.
- Not documenting staking agreements — always have written terms (share, duration, stop-loss) and log mirrored results back to the staker to avoid disputes later.
Fix these mistakes by building habit scaffolds and by using the FAQs and examples that follow to guide decisions under pressure.
Mini-FAQ
How big should my initial bankroll be to play professionally?
Short answer: it depends on format and location. For a disciplined cash-game pro in modest stakes, target 100–200 buy-ins at your chosen limit; for MTTs aim for 200–500 buy-ins because of variance. Use segmentation to make this actionable and the next question explains drawdown management.
When should I accept staking or sell action?
Accept staking when it improves your risk-adjusted growth and you keep at least 20–30% of long-term upside; write clear terms and account for psychological effects — staked players often relax tilt control, so build extra anti-tilt rules as part of that agreement, which I describe earlier.
How do I handle massive swings mentally?
Use noise filters: 30/90-day averages, enforced session limits, and scheduled breaks. If a downswing exceeds your plan thresholds, switch to study mode and smaller stakes until statistics normalise — the examples above show how others applied this successfully.
18+ only. Responsible play: set deposit and loss limits, use self-exclusion if needed, and seek local support if gambling causes harm. Manage your bankroll to protect your finances and wellbeing, and always play within legal regulations in your jurisdiction.
Sources
My advice is drawn from ten years at the tables, coaching pros in AU, and multiple audited bankroll tracking cycles; for related terms on wagering rules and practical cash management you can consult operational guides and casino promo pages like goldenreels.games for examples of how wagering conditions affect apparent bankrolls.
About the Author
I’m a former full-time poker pro from Australia with a decade of live and online experience, a coach to aspiring grinders, and a habitual spreadsheet tinkerer; I built the systems above to survive several prolonged downswings and to help students avoid common bankruptcy traps, and I continue to refine these procedures as games and economies shift.