Set clear bankroll targets, get data-driven stake recommendations, and track your progress toward financial milestones.
Get started free Free forever — 10 sessions includedEffective bankroll management starts with knowing where you are headed. PokerCharts lets you set concrete bankroll goals — whether that is building up to take a shot at a higher stake, accumulating a travel fund for a tournament series, or reaching a specific dollar amount. Each goal is tied to your current bankroll and tracks automatically as you log sessions. Having a visible target transforms grinding from an abstract activity into a focused pursuit with measurable progress, keeping you motivated through the inevitable swings.
Based on your historical win rate, session frequency, and variance, PokerCharts projects when you are likely to reach your bankroll goal. The projection includes optimistic, expected, and conservative timelines so you can plan with realistic expectations. As you log more sessions, the projections become more accurate, narrowing the range and giving you a clearer picture of your timeline. This feature helps you decide whether to stay the course or adjust your volume to hit a target by a specific date.
Playing at the right stakes is critical for both bankroll preservation and long-term growth. PokerCharts analyzes your current bankroll, win rate, and variance to recommend stakes where you have enough buy-ins to weather normal downswings. The recommendations follow proven bankroll management guidelines and adjust dynamically as your bankroll and results change. If you are overrolled, the tool will suggest you consider moving up; if you are underrolled, it will flag the risk before you take a costly shot.
A visual progress tracker shows how close you are to each of your bankroll milestones with clean charts and percentage indicators. You can see your bankroll growth overlaid against your goal trajectory, making it immediately clear whether you are ahead of pace or falling behind. Celebrating milestones along the way builds positive reinforcement and keeps you committed to your plan. PokerCharts also logs when you achieve each goal, creating a record of your growth as a player over months and years.
General guidance for managing a poker bankroll, not financial or investment advice. Personal circumstances and risk tolerance vary — these rules are starting points, not rules to follow blindly.
Standard cash-game guidance is 20–30 buy-ins for the stake you're playing — so $4,000–$6,000 to comfortably play $1/$2 NL with $200 buy-ins. Tournaments need much more (100+ buy-ins for MTTs) because variance is dramatically higher. PLO needs more than Hold'em. Aggressive players move up at 30 buy-ins; conservative ones wait for 50. PokerCharts personalizes the recommendation based on your actual win rate and variance.
The 30 buy-in rule is bankroll-management shorthand for cash games — keep at least 30 buy-ins for the stake you're playing. At $1/$2 NL ($200 buy-in), that's $6,000. The rule is a starting point; lower-variance, higher-win-rate games can run on fewer buy-ins, while high-variance or marginal-win-rate situations need more. The point is to survive normal downswings without going broke.
Two checks: do you have the bankroll for the higher stake (typically 30+ buy-ins of the new level), and have you proved your win rate at the current stake (10,000+ hands cash, 200+ tournaments). Moving up before both conditions are met is the most common bankroll-killing mistake. PokerCharts flags when you've crossed both thresholds and recommends the move; it also flags when you're underrolled for your current stakes.
Treat each game type as its own bankroll. If you play cash, MTTs, and home games, allocate funds based on your volume and win rate in each. The cash bankroll needs 20–30 buy-ins of your usual stake; the MTT bankroll needs 100+ buy-ins of your typical entry; the home-game bankroll can be smaller (recreational variance). PokerCharts tracks each as a separate goal so you can see if one is bleeding into another.
Free forever with 10 sessions. No credit card required.
Start tracking now Free forever — 10 sessions included