How much bankroll do you need for PLO5 ($0.02/$0.05)?
PLO5 is the lowest common pot-limit Omaha stake online and the cheapest way to learn the game. Opponents play far too many hands and overvalue weak draws, but rake is a big share of each pot.
| Approach | With $5 buy-ins (100bb) |
|---|---|
| Aggressive (50 buy-ins) | $250 |
| Moderate (75 buy-ins) | $375 |
| Conservative (100 buy-ins) | $500 |
Online games are faster and more volatile per hour, so we recommend more buy-ins than for live play. Pot-limit Omaha has roughly double the variance of hold’em, which is why the buy-in counts here are higher than for the same hold’em stake. 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 4–10 bb/100, which is $0.20–$0.50 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 PLO5
- Move down if your bankroll drops below 50 buy-ins ($250).
- 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 PLO5 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.