How much bankroll do you need for NL1000 ($5/$10)?
NL1000 is high stakes online. Games run less often, almost every regular uses solvers and trackers, and edges are thin. Professionals at this level usually keep 50 to 100 buy-ins because a downswing of 20 or more buy-ins happens to good players.
| Approach | With $1,000 buy-ins (100bb) |
|---|---|
| Aggressive (50 buy-ins) | $50,000 |
| Moderate (75 buy-ins) | $75,000 |
| Conservative (100 buy-ins) | $100,000 |
Online games are faster and more volatile per hour, so we recommend more buy-ins than for live play. If poker money comes from your salary and you can top it up, the aggressive figure is fine. If your bankroll is all you have, use the conservative one.
What can you expect to win?
A solid winner might make 1–4 bb/100, which is $10–$40 per 100 hands. Results swing a lot in the short term: see how big your swings could be with the variance calculator, and check your chance of going broke with the risk of ruin calculator.
Move-up and move-down rules for NL1000
- Move down if your bankroll drops below 50 buy-ins ($50,000).
- Move up when you have 75 buy-ins for the next level.
- Take shots with a fixed number of buy-ins set aside, and step back down if you lose them.
Open the bankroll calculator for NL1000 to plug in your own bankroll, track your real win rate in the free poker bankroll tracker, or read our full poker bankroll management guide.