Bankroll

Also known as: roll, br

The money set aside exclusively for playing poker, sized in buy-ins so normal variance can't wipe it out.

Your bankroll is the pool of money dedicated to poker and nothing else — not rent, not your savings. It's measured in buy-ins (bi), not dollars, because the number of buy-ins is what determines your risk of ruin, not the absolute figure.

How many buy-ins you need scales with variance and your edge. Rough working ranges, framed as ranges and not dogma:

• Cash, winning reg: ~30 bi for the stake you regularly play (e.g. $3,000 for 100NL). Aggressive grinders run 20–25; conservative ones 40+.
• MTTs: ~50–100 bi, because tournament variance dwarfs cash. Heavy-field online MTT specialists often want 150–250 bi.
• PLO: higher than NLHE at the same stake — variance is larger.

These are starting points, not laws. A small edge or high variance pushes the count up; a soft pool with a big edge lets you take shots thinner. The discipline is treating the roll as a closed system: deposits in, profits tracked, never reloading from outside funds to chase a stake you're not rolled for.

Track it over time with the Bankroll Tracker so move-up and move-down triggers are based on data, not on how you feel after a session.