See if your roll is deep enough for the game — pick a format and risk level, enter your bankroll and buy-in, and get a straight verdict. No account needed.
Even a big winner goes through long losing stretches — that's variance, and it's brutal enough to bust a roll that's too thin no matter how well you play. Bankroll management is the buffer that keeps a downswing from ending your poker: enough buy-ins that you can lose a pile and still sit in the same game tomorrow. Higher-variance formats — tournaments most of all — need far more buy-ins than steady cash games, which is why the recommendation jumps when you switch format above.
Good players go broke not from bad play but from playing too high for their roll. The right number of buy-ins is what turns a downswing into a bad week, not the end.
Variance means even a clear winner will hit stretches of running 20, 30, sometimes 50 buy-ins below expectation. Bankroll management is the cushion that lets you ride those out without going broke: keep enough buy-ins that a bad run costs you a move down in stakes, not your seat at the table. The bigger the swings a format produces, the deeper that cushion has to be.
A steady cash game might be fine on 30–50 buy-ins; a large-field tournament, where you can go a hundred games between big scores, can need 200–300. That's not caution for its own sake — it's matched to how wild each format's variance is. Set the format and risk level above and the recommendation moves with it, then pressure-test your win rate against those swings with the variance simulator.
Pick format and risk, enter your numbers, read the verdict.
Choose cash, MTT or Sit & Go, then how conservative you want to be — the safer the setting, the more buy-ins it asks for.
Put in your total bankroll and the buy-in of the game you want to play, both in dollars.
See how many buy-ins you're carrying, how many the level recommends, and the biggest buy-in your roll can safely handle.
You've got a $3,000 bankroll and you want to sit in a $2/$5 cash game, where a full buy-in is $500. Divide it out: $3,000 ÷ $500 = just 6 buy-ins. For cash, where you want 30–50 buy-ins behind you, that's dangerously thin — a single ordinary downswing could wipe you out before your edge ever shows. Work it the other way and the game your roll actually supports at 50 buy-ins is about $3,000 ÷ 50 = a $60 buy-in. Play within the roll now, and move down a level the moment a downswing thins it out rather than trying to hold your seat.
Verdict — far too thin for cash; play a ~$60 buy-in for 50 buy-ins and drop down on a downswingFix Jumping up in stakes during a downswing is how bad weeks become busted rolls. Move down, not up — rebuild your roll in a game you can afford.
Fix Ego keeps players stuck at a level their roll no longer covers. Dropping a stake isn't a demotion; it's the discipline that keeps you in the game.
Fix MTTs swing far harder and can go 100+ games between scores. Thirty buy-ins is fine for cash but far too few for tournaments — they want 100–300.
Fix Playing great and still losing for a stretch is completely normal. Bankroll rules exist for exactly those runs — size the roll to the swings, not to your confidence.
Three quick calls. Decide, then check the reasoning.
How many buy-ins is a sensible cushion for cash games?
Cash results come in relatively smoothly, so 30–50 buy-ins (100 for the cautious) is the common guideline. 200–300 is tournament territory.
Why do tournaments call for far more buy-ins than cash games?
Most of a tournament's money sits at the very top, so you can lose many buy-ins in a row waiting for a deep run. That higher variance demands a much deeper cushion.
A downswing drops you below the recommended buy-ins for your level. What should you do?
Moving down protects the roll and lets you rebuild in a softer game. The discipline to drop a level is what separates lasting winners from busted players.
You scored 0 / 3. The more you drill this, the faster the maths becomes instinct.
For cash games, a common guideline is 30–50 buy-ins (100 for the cautious). Tournaments swing far harder and often want 100–300 buy-ins. Set the format and risk level in the tool to see the exact recommendation and whether your roll clears it.
Because tournament results are far more top-heavy — you can lose many buy-ins in a row while waiting for a deep run or a win. That higher variance demands a much bigger cushion than a cash game, where results come in smoother and more often.
It's your bankroll divided by the buy-in of the game you play. A $3,000 roll playing $50 games is 60 buy-ins. Thinking in buy-ins rather than dollars is what lets a single rule cover every stake.
When a downswing drops you below the recommended number of buy-ins for your level. Moving down protects the roll and lets you rebuild in a softer game — the discipline to do it is what separates lasting winners from busted ones.
A strong, proven win rate lets you run a little thinner, since you recover faster. But a smaller sample or a marginal edge means you should stick to the fuller guideline — variance doesn't care how good you feel you're playing.