Poker Shark
Poker Bankroll Management Calculator
Stop guessing how many buy-ins you need. Tell it where you play, your stakes, and your bankroll, and it simulates your real risk of ruin, expected downswings, and when you can move up.
Open the Bankroll CalculatorFree to play. No credit card. No download.
What the Calculator Shows You
Risk of Ruin
The percentage of simulated lifetimes where your bankroll hits zero. See whether your current bankroll is safe — or dangerously thin.
Variance Chart
20 simulated bankroll paths showing how your balance could evolve. Even winning players have brutal downswings — the chart makes that real.
Confidence Intervals
The range of outcomes you should expect. After 100K hands, where will your bankroll be in the best case, median case, and worst case?
Win Rate Sensitivity
How your risk changes if your true win rate is different from what you think. Small differences in win rate can mean huge differences in risk.
Downswing Duration
How long your worst downswing could last, measured in hands, sessions, and weeks. Knowing what to expect helps you survive it.
Stake Ladder
All 9 stake levels from 2NL to 1000NL, showing which ones your bankroll can handle and how many hands to grind to reach the next.
Why Rules of Thumb Don't Work
"Keep 20 buy-ins" ignores your win rate and variance — the two variables that actually determine whether your bankroll survives. A 5 bb/100 winner with low variance might be safe with 15 buy-ins. A 2 bb/100 winner with high variance might need 50. The only way to know is to run the simulation.
Frequently asked questions
How many buy-ins do I need for poker? +
It depends on your win rate and variance. A common guideline is 20-30 buy-ins, but the Bankroll Calculator calculates your exact requirement using Monte Carlo simulation. A player with a 5 bb/100 win rate needs a different bankroll than someone at 2 bb/100.
What is risk of ruin in poker? +
Risk of ruin is the probability your bankroll reaches zero. It's determined by your win rate, standard deviation, and bankroll size relative to the stakes you play. Most serious players target less than 5% risk of ruin.
How do I know if I'm ready to move up in stakes? +
The conservative threshold is 30 buy-ins at the next level. The Bankroll Calculator's stake ladder shows whether you have enough and how many hands you need to grind to get there.
What is poker variance? +
Variance measures how much your results swing from session to session. Even winning players can lose money over thousands of hands. The variance chart in the Bankroll Calculator shows 20 simulated paths so you can see how wild the swings really get.
Is the bankroll calculator free? +
Yes. The Bankroll Calculator is completely free with no signup required. It runs 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations in your browser and shows risk of ruin, confidence intervals, downswing analysis, win rate sensitivity, and a full stake ladder.
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