Hi everyone!! I would really like to know how much is needed to play mtt microlimites without risking the bankroll. I have been playing games for a long time and programs that calculate that tell me that I need almost 500 dollars, but I know that this is not successful because I have not played only tournaments with low buy in. I am trying to start my bank from 0 and I know that I probably have to play something where the variance does not influence so much in the beginning, I will probably start in sit and go when I have something, but I feel comfortable and I really like to play mtt tournaments, that's why when I have enough money I want to play only mtt. THANKS!!

Its not about how much you have but the amount of Buy ins you have and the size of the tournaments on average you play. If you are playing say 180 man SNG style ones with 500 you would be able to play $2.00 ones comfortably and maybe even $3.00 if you feel you are a very good winning player. Now let say you are playing tournament with 2000 players, you should be playing $0.50 or lower if you dont want to risk going broke.

I like you prefer MTT tournaments. If you start at the 45 man ones or bigger ones they do play like a MTT Tournament. This is how I built up my bankroll with 45 man then 90 and 180 ones.

Good luck to you.

Originally Posted by BRANCASLIM

Hi everyone!! I would really like to know how much is needed to play mtt microlimites without risking the bankroll. I have been playing games for a long time and programs that calculate that tell me that I need almost 500 dollars, but I know that this is not successful because I have not played only tournaments with low buy in. I am trying to start my bank from 0 and I know that I probably have to play something where the variance does not influence so much in the beginning, I will probably start in sit and go when I have something, but I feel comfortable and I really like to play mtt tournaments, that's why when I have enough money I want to play only mtt. THANKS!!

The standard recommendation for tournament players is at least 100 buy-ins of the working limit. Thus, if you intend to play in tournaments with a buy-in of $ 200 to counter their swings, your bankroll should have at least $ 20,000, that is, much more than the necessary bankroll for a cash player of the same limit. If you are stuck in tournaments for $ 5, then $ 500, of course, you can make rare attacks on tournaments for $ 10 or $ 20. and to fill it, I recommend a CIS with a standard structure of 10 minutes, for 6 and 9 people. Yes, it may not be so fast, but stable enough. at micro limits they beat very easily

I would recommend a minimum of 100 buy-ins. very high dispersion in MTT

Originally Posted by BRANCASLIM

I am trying to start my bank from 0

If you have played poker before, this makes no sense, since there are much faster ways to earn for instance 500$ for a poker bankroll than to start with freerolls or 25c SnGs or whatever.

If you don't have experience then how in the world you will build your bankroll from 0 ? If you deposit cash then I would recommend strongly that your tournament buy in should be 100 times lower then your full bankroll. ex: 1$ buy in = 100$ in your total bankroll. Even if you lose 99 tournaments you can win that remaining 1 and get almost your starting balance. You will get a lot of experience from 100 tour. but you need to be with very strong focus what are you doing and stay with clear mind even after so much loosing. I really want to believe that you would get 500$ form 0 its not impossible, but its really really hard. Good Luck

thanks to everyone !! If I have experience, but I don't have enough money to win at poker, I would rather have poker help me in the future economically as well. I have already managed to build my bank at another time, and if it is really difficult, but it is more difficult to maintain it over time. greetings to all! You are very useful tips!

If you want mtt I suggest the 45man SnG.
The smaller the field size the better the chances that you 'll see some light xD.

For these games I think you should go with a bankroll of 100 buy-ins.
So if, for example, you want to play the 1$ ones you shall have 80-100$.
The biggest the field the more buy-ins you need to add to your bankroll.
Maybe 200$ for the 90man or 300$ or more for the 180man
.
The size of a bankroll is relative of course and depends on the player. There are more aggressive styles and even more conservative than the ones that I mention to my example.
Although a large bankroll will help you psychologically to withstand the big downswings when they 'll come and it 'll keep you to play fearless your best game.

Edit: if you don't have enough money try to deposit 10$-20$ and play the 0.25$ 45man SnG. Try to improve and beat that and most of all have fun.
Edit2: I believe that when you had troubles to maintain your bankroll, that was mainly because of bad BR management. Am I right? :P

If you're good enough I think you can start with 25$ and play 1.10 or 2.20 tournaments, if you'll see that it goes well and you're cashing money - you can move on to higher buy-ins such as 5.50 and others.

Originally Posted by maksonios

If you're good enough I think you can start with 25$ and play 1.10 or 2.20 tournaments, if you'll see that it goes well and you're cashing money - you can move on to higher buy-ins such as 5.50 and others.

Even if he 's the best, he can lose those 25$ in a day this way, unless he runs good which will teach him nothing about BR management.

moulan7. if when I lost it was because I did not respect my bankrroll, I was doing well in mtt with buy in less than $ 5 and I played tournaments with buy in more frequently looking to generate a bank to be able to move to medium levels, because I think that is where I better play with the strategy I apply. I always knew that I risked too much, but I also knew that I could be given in a tournament. But for doing this, I started my bank from a very short time in more than one opportunity and broke it haha. I know that the variance is very large in mtt, but there are many examples of players who have had luck in the short term, for example Chris Moneymaker, if he had not entered charges in the world series of poker when he qualified with less than $ 100 would be another its history, the best of all that not only went into collections, but also won it haha. If I had a bit of his luck when I didn't respect my banking today, my story would be different too haha.

Originally Posted by BRANCASLIM

moulan7. if when I lost it was because I did not respect my bankrroll, I was doing well in mtt with buy in less than $ 5 and I played tournaments with buy in more frequently looking to generate a bank to be able to move to medium levels, because I think that is where I better play with the strategy I apply. I always knew that I risked too much, but I also knew that I could be given in a tournament. But for doing this, I started my bank from a very short time in more than one opportunity and broke it haha. I know that the variance is very large in mtt, but there are many examples of players who have had luck in the short term, for example Chris Moneymaker, if he had not entered charges in the world series of poker when he qualified with less than $ 100 would be another its history, the best of all that not only went into collections, but also won it haha. If I had a bit of his luck when I didn't respect my banking today, my story would be different too haha.

Well, this is something that you will decide.
Do you want ''luck'' to play a major role to your success? And even if you want that, it's not guaranteed. It's like you want to win the lottery.
Or do you want to improve and enjoy with the game, and any income is very welcome. Something that is much more possible to happen.

I have friends who occasionally deposit 20$ and they sit at a 10nl cash game.
Sometimes they lose within an hour, sometimes they make it 100$ and they lose it the next day.
But that's it, they don't care to continue playing.

My worst downswing in 10nl cash was 7buy-ins in a session, rip.
A downswing of 50buyins for a mtt format is very likely to happen for everyone.
Do you want to take your chances and if you lose you give up? or do you want to stay and play the game for as long as you enjoy it, without risking heart attack? xD

You mention micros and SNGs so the buy in could be anywhere from 25 cents to 3 dollars based on that information. I think the absolute minimum to start with (assuming you never want to have reload and if you run out you would be quitting and not reloading again) is 50 buy ins but the better answer is 100 buy ins.

I mention about the running out and not reloading as since 100 buy ins will most likely be something like $100, which you can always reload since it is not too difficult to come by. You could always start with $20 and play $1 whatever and if you need to, reload another $20. Just depends on how you want to look at it. You sound like you want to deposit only once so my suggestion is 50 times buy in minimum and it really should be more like 100 buy ins.

If you are starting your Bankroll from 0 it's going to be very tough to stick to any form of bankroll management.
At Stars there are soft $0.10-360man sngs, I would try those at the beginning and later move to 0.25 and 0.50 buy in sngs.
Stay away from large mtts until you built your bankroll because the variance is too high in those.
If you like mtts too much, you can satellite your way into them since there are micro stakes satellites.

Bankroll management and discipline is key to profitability and financial survival in this game. As the roll grows and you experience swings - know when to move down in stakes until the roll comes back up - know and recognize the difference between running bad and playing bad! This is a rough game, bankroll management is probably one of the biggest factors most players are not successful at this game.

All this being said - general rule of thumb is to have between 100-150 buy ins at the level of MTTs you plan to play. For me if you are just starting out, I wouldn't play many games above .50c - reason being is that you have TONS of buy ins for $100 or so at these levels, and you want to be sure you are beating the stakes you are playing before you move up. Everyone can hit a decent score for their game size if they play long enough - knowing when you are ready to move up will save you countless buy ins vs jumping into games you are going to be beaten up in. Hope this helps

Originally Posted by Jon Poker

All this being said - general rule of thumb is to have between 100-150 buy ins at the level of MTTs you plan to play. For me if you are just starting out, I wouldn't play many games above .50c - reason being is that you have TONS of buy ins for $100 or so at these levels, and you want to be sure you are beating the stakes you are playing before you move up.

If you are brand new to poker, this would be a reasonable approach, if nothing else to limit the amount of money, you are losing, while you learn. If however you have played before, maybe you are moving over from cash games, I really think, you should deposit a minimum of 500$, if your intention is to play MTTs.

Sure most sites have MTTs for 1$ or even 50c, but there are not many of those running, so to get any sort of reasonable volume, you have to play 2-4$ events at least, and these are still very soft, so it should not be a problem. If you are not bankrolled for 2-4$ MTTs, then I would stick to the 45-180 man SnGs on Stars. They tend to run all the time, and they are a nice way to build up some experience with tournament play.

The comments and advice they have given me have been really very useful and have cleared many doubts I had. Obviously I already made many mistakes of those mentioned in the management of bankrroll and I don't want to make them again, that's why I want to do things right this time and do a good job. THANK YOU ALL AND GOOD LUCK AT THE TABLES !!

Originally Posted by xrhstos

If you are starting your Bankroll from 0 it's going to be very tough to stick to any form of bankroll management.
At Stars there are soft $0.10-360man sngs, I would try those at the beginning and later move to 0.25 and 0.50 buy in sngs.
Stay away from large mtts until you built your bankroll because the variance is too high in those.
If you like mtts too much, you can satellite your way into them since there are micro stakes satellites.

I agree with you, we collect $ 10 on freerolls and play sng 0.10 360max until the bankroll is $ 25

If the average field is 45 players, you need 69 buy-ins.
If the average field is 90 players, you need 103 buy-ins.
The size of the field (number of players in the event) is incredibly important when determining your bankroll requirements. In fact, it is quite common to have 125 buy-in downswings over 1,000 tournaments played in 1,200 player events. You must be prepared for these downswings so you are not devastated when they occur. As you have a higher win rate, you need fewer buy-ins. and as you have a lower win rate, you need more buy-ins.

Originally Posted by BRANCASLIM

Hi everyone!! I would really like to know how much is needed to play mtt microlimites without risking the bankroll. I have been playing games for a long time and programs that calculate that tell me that I need almost 500 dollars, but I know that this is not successful because I have not played only tournaments with low buy in. I am trying to start my bank from 0 and I know that I probably have to play something where the variance does not influence so much in the beginning, I will probably start in sit and go when I have something, but I feel comfortable and I really like to play mtt tournaments, that's why when I have enough money I want to play only mtt. THANKS!!

Hey, how is your micro-MTT bankroll project going?
What sites did you choose to play micro-MTT?

I am returning to poker after 7+ years of absence, just to find that rake at pokerstars is now way too much expensive to make it profitable... I am not sure where to play micro MTTs now

You should not play in a limit where you do not have at least 50 buy in (being too loose)

For MTT's the general rule of thumb is to have 100 buyins

Originally Posted by moulan7

Even if he 's the best, he can lose those 25$ in a day this way, unless he runs good which will teach him nothing about BR management.

True, but I don't think bankroll management is that important for microstakes. If you can make the same money in another real job in 1 day, you can afford more risk. In higher stakes, bankroll management is an absolute priority

You should not play at a limit where you do not have at least 50 buy in (being too loose)

This is an old thread, but many people are still interested in the subject, so here is my take on it. PokerStars defice micro stakes MTTs as anything with a buyin of 4,4$ or lower. The fields are usually large, and therefore a reasonable starting bankroll is 500$. This allow you to play a mix of 1,1$ to 4,4$ MTTs. You will then have close to 200 times your average buyin, which should be enough, if you are actually a winning player.

A simple and effective system is then to never play for more than 1% of your bankroll. So if you drop below 440$, you stop playing 4,4$ MTTs, and if you rise above 550$, you can start adding some 5,5$ MTTs, but you also still play a lot of 2,2-4,4$ MTTs. In this way you actually have more than 200 "bullets" in the gun, and the worst, which can happen, is, that you temporarely need to move down.

With anything much less than 500$ its really best to start in the SnG lobby, even though to be honest I personally got a bit tired of my "challenge", where I went back to the 45-180 man SnGs on Stars. But if you really only have say 100$, this is still the place to start on PokerStars, unless you choose to play cash games.

All of it just theory. Most of us will lose to variance that is not truly random

Hi everyone . Interesting thread. I'm going to run a marathon with $ 20 soon sng 45-180 people for 1 $. I will only play them and load builders for 0.50 and 1.10. I will stream the whole thing)