Simple Bankroll Question

[JDMcNugent7]

SInce i havent played Cash tables in forever and am now going to devote myself to get better at them, i was wondering what limits i should be playing. I have around $500 on pokerstars so what limits does that leave me to be playing ? Is it like 300 BB, 30 min./max. buy ins for that table ? what i dn ?
It's NL by the way. and by min or max buy ins for the table i mean the minium and max. u can sit at the table with.

[Zybomb]

The standard answer to this question is a minimum of 10-20 Max buy ins for the table so that no more than 5% - 10 % of your roll is ever in play at once (some make even consider this low and think of 5% as the maximum amount of your roll that should be in play) -- however Im going to give an answer that technically is not correct here.

Play at whatever limit you can:

1) buy in for the full amount and have money to reload if you lose a hand
2) play comfortably at (meaning risking your entire stack without hesitation if you feel you have the best hand)
3) feel you can consistantly win at (and be honest with yourself)

How did I start my online poker career? Well after investing 50 bucks and playing some 10 dollar SnGs the next time I invested money I was serious, and put 200 dollars into PokerStars. I played at the .50/1.00 tables (100 max buy in) won like 40 dollars and then played both .50/1.00 and the 1/2 tables (200 max buy in) Technically I was in no way bankrolled for either of these tables, however it wasnt like I had only 200 dollars. I took 200 dollars that I had and put it into poker. If I won, I won, if I lost I lost. Using the formula I should of been playing at the .05/.10 tables -- but I couldnt do that, winning or losing 5 dollars a session was pointless to me.

Its funny though, I found .50/1.00 ($100) and 1/2 ($200) to be a similiar style of play and players -- once I moved up to 2/4 something really strange happened....I started winning a lot more money. There were good players yes, but a fish could almost always be found, just dying to give his money away. In fact everyday at least once I think I told myself wow I hope its me who gets the hand when he does somethin that stupid again.

Sure the losses are much bigger as well, which is something to keep in mind, but imo I did significantly better at the 2/4 (and sometimes 3/6 which is the highest ive played) NL tables than the 1/2 or .50/1.00

I technically didnt follow the rules and turned out ok -- so I think its more important to choose a game that 1) you are comfortable with and 2) you honestly believe you can beat

Now PLEASE dont let this be something to make you bring your roll to a game you are not ready for and blow it (like we've seen certain other usual suspects do) -- Im just giving you a point of view outside of the standard and correct answer to your question.

Remember if you want the correct answer it is a minimum of 10 if not 20 Max buy ins for the table.

[Talking Poker]

JD, haven't we talked about this before? And I don't me "we" as in this site, I mean "we" as in "you" asking this exact same question.

As I believe I told you before, like it or not, the guidelines you should follow are 300 big bets for limit and 20 buy ins (always buy in for the max) for NL cash games.

So, if your roll is $500, you can almost play $1/$2 limit (250 BBs), and $25 NL.

Sure, you can play above these limits if you want, but only if you are willing to back down if things don't go well right off the bat, or if you are prepared to reload if you lose your entire bankroll. If you have $500 online, but wouldn't mind ponying up another $500 if you bust out, then I have no problem with you using $1000 as your bankroll number when doing the above calculations... but if that $500 is all of your poker money in the world and once it's gone you are out of the game, then I would most definitely stick to those guidelines.

[JDMcNugent7]

thx dudes