Poker Shark
How much bankroll do you need for 10NL?
A solid winner (5bb/100) needs about $160 (16 buy-ins) to play 10NL with less than 5% risk of going broke. A modest winner (2bb/100) needs about $310 (31 buy-ins).
Solid winner (5 bb/100)
16 buy-ins of $10
Modest winner (2 bb/100)
31 buy-ins of $10
For less than 5% risk of ruin over 100,000 hands at 75 bb/100 standard deviation. Numbers come from the same Monte Carlo engine as the calculator.
10NL is the first stake where bankroll thinking starts to matter, and also the stake where it is cheapest to get it wrong. The whole roll is a few hundred dollars, so treat it as tuition: if the worst happens, a rebuild costs less than a night out. That is why aggressive bankroll rules are defensible here in a way they are not at 100NL.
One thing that surprises new 10NL players is how much rake compresses win rates at the micros. A player with the skill of a 5bb/100 winner at 50NL often shows a smaller win rate at 10NL simply because a bigger share of every pot goes to the site. If your results look thinner than your play feels, that gap is usually rake, not variance.
The move-up target is 25NL. At 5bb/100 the simulator puts a safe 25NL roll at $400, which is close enough that many 10NL winners take the shot early and simply drop back down if it misses. With buy-ins this small, shot-taking is cheap and the experience is worth more than the money.
Opens the calculator preloaded for 10NL. Adjust your bankroll and win rate for a personal verdict.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is $100 enough to play 10NL?
$100 is 10 buy-ins. Our simulations put a solid winner's safe threshold at $160 (16 buy-ins), so $100 carries real risk of going broke on a normal downswing. At these stakes many players accept that risk because a reload is cheap, but call it what it is: a shot, not a bankroll.
When should I move up from 10NL to 25NL?
A conservative trigger is 30 buy-ins at the next stake, which is $750 for 25NL. If you are beating 10NL clearly, taking a shot earlier is fine as long as you have a firm rule to move back down if the shot loses a few buy-ins.
Why is my win rate at 10NL lower than I expected?
Rake takes a proportionally bigger bite at the micros than at any other stake, so identical play produces a smaller measured win rate at 10NL than it would at 50NL. Judge your play by decisions, not just by bb/100, and expect the number to improve as you move up.
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