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Poker glossary

Bankroll

What it means

A bankroll is the total amount of money you’ve set aside specifically for playing poker. This isn’t your rent money or grocery budget - it’s a dedicated fund that exists solely for poker sessions. Your bankroll determines what stakes you can play safely and how you handle the inevitable swings that come with the game.

How it works at the table

Let’s say you have a $2,000 bankroll and follow standard bankroll management by keeping 20 buy-ins for cash games. This means you can play $0.50/$1.00 stakes (where a full buy-in is $100). You sit down with 100bb and lose a flip with AA vs QQ. You reload another $100. After a few hours, you’re down $250. Your bankroll is now $1,750, but you’re still properly rolled for these stakes. If you hit a rough patch and drop to $1,500, you’d need to move down to $0.25/$0.50 until you rebuild.

Strategic context

Your bankroll acts as a shock absorber against variance. Even winning players experience downswings where they lose 10-20 buy-ins despite playing well. Without proper bankroll cushion, you’ll either go broke or play scared money - both destroy your edge. The size of your bankroll directly impacts your risk of ruin. Professional players often maintain 50-100 buy-ins because their livelihood depends on never going broke. Recreational players can be more aggressive with 20-30 buy-ins since they have other income sources.

Common mistakes

Players constantly make three bankroll errors. First, they play stakes too high for their roll - having $500 and jumping into $1/$2 games where one bad session wipes them out. Second, they mix life money with poker money, using their bankroll to pay bills then redepositing when they want to play. Third, they refuse to move down stakes when their bankroll shrinks, letting ego override proper bankroll management.

Your bankroll connects directly to several key poker concepts. Position and skill edge determine your win rate, which affects how aggressively you can manage your bankroll. Understanding pot odds and making +EV decisions grows your bankroll over time. The stakes you choose based on your bankroll also influence which strategies you can employ - some advanced plays require deep stacks that smaller bankrolls can’t support.