You have the dough and you want to take your shot? Who am I to stop you? Go for it. Technically, all you need to play in a game is the minimum buy in. I'm just saying that there's a difference between playing at a level full-time as a professional who only derives his income from poker and taking a shot at a higher game when you have a renewable supply of poker money or when you only plan on playing for a short time. I'm not recommending that you make a steady diet of that kind of action without the by-the-book proper stake. I think that's much too conservative.ĭon't get me wrong. That being said, I think that it's a mistake to limit yourself to just those games where you are able to play with the full bankroll described above. I don't enjoy the sensation of having the money riding on the turn of a card. Given a choice of playing big and playing tiny I'd normally choose tiny. I like to play well within my bankroll - and have a natural playing style that is quite tight - if aggressive when I think I have an edge. Let me start by telling you that I'm a very conservative player.

Who are we to disagree?īut does everyone who plays poker really need that much money just to play? And what if you don't have it? Are there any steps you can take to compensate for being caught short? If you want to play $75/150 you should have no less than $45,000. If you want to play $20/40 you're suppose to have a bankroll of no less than $12,000. The poker pundits peg your playing bankroll at 300 or so times the big bet. There are conventional guidelines for figuring this out. The conventional poker wisdom is to never play in a game where you can't afford the stakes.

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