strategy
Bankroll management
Also: BRM, bankroll
The discipline of only playing stakes your bankroll can survive. Rules of thumb: 20–50 buy-ins for cash games, 100 or more for tournaments, and moving down when the roll shrinks.
Example. With a €5,000 bankroll and a 30-buy-in rule, she plays €0.50/€1 cash games rather than €1/€2.
Because variance is unavoidable, a player who is a genuine winner can still go broke by playing too big. Bankroll rules translate your estimated win rate and variance into a stake you can withstand. Tournament players need much bigger bankrolls in buy-ins because their results are more skewed, and many sell action or take backing to reduce risk.