There are many qualities you need to be a successful, elite, poker player. While the latter goal is unattainable for most mere mortals, the former is a very realistic prospect.

You need to have a thorough understanding of the game, of how to get the best value for money from site, game, table, seat and bonus selection. Most of all, however, you need a sound knowledge of how to best manage your bankroll.

Bad bankroll management in poker online has been the downfall of many a burgeoning poker beginner. It is very easy to underestimate how much money you need in your bankroll to play your chosen limits – even at microstakes that you may find very easy to beat.

The amount of money you need in your bankroll varies from game to game, as well as on the type of player you are. For No-Limit and Pot-Limit games, consider one buy-in to be 100x the big blind (NL100, for example is a $0.50/$1 No-Limit Hold ‘em game with a $100 buy-in).

For Fixed Limit games, a buy-in is 25x the big bet, so a $1/$2 Limit Holdem game has a buy-in of $50.

Tournaments carry a buy-in of $X + $X, representing the prize pool contribution and rake. The entire sum is considered one buy-in.

With this in mind, here are some bankroll management rules that you can tailor according to your game of choice, your style of play and the relevance your bankroll has to you.

Fixed Limit Holdem Cash Games

Due to the nature of No-Limit – the ability to win and lose several buy-ins in one hand – it has a lot more variance than Limit Hold ‘em. In addition, the buy-ins are larger. Therefore, a competent Limit player can play far higher stakes than the same bankroll at No-Limit would afford.

A tight-aggressive player at Everest Poker would need only around 300 big bets – that is 12 buy-ins. Compare this to No-Limit Hold ‘em: a $1/$2 Limit Hold ‘em player could survive on a $600 bankroll, which a No-Limit player could only really afford $0.1/$0.25 games! Of course, with lesser variance comes a lesser win rate.

A loose-aggressive player would need slightly more, perhaps 15 or more buy-ins. This is still a good deal less than No-Limit games.

No-Limit Hold ‘em Tournaments

Tournament play in No-Limit is incredibly volatile. Even the very best tournament players can play over 30 tournaments in a row and not make a penny. For this reason, you need over 100 buy-ins for tournaments. If you regularly play the 180-seat $4.40 Sit ‘n’ Gos on PokerStars, a bankroll of at least $450 is recommended. A loose player might want to increase this by 50% or even double it.