This article features tips on how to build a poker bankroll online. Playing properly bankrolled is one of the most basic factors in successful online poker. It is so important that being under-bankrolled alone can turn an otherwise successful poker player into a loser.

If you only play with money you can't afford to lose, you'll probably never have an appropriate bankroll early in your career. But it's possible to play poker online for real money with no investment of all on your part.

How Much is an Appropriate Poker Bankroll?

An appropriate poker bankroll is enough money to avoid the risk of ruin. (The risk of ruin is just the chance that you'll go broke before your long term edge makes you a winner.) An appropriate bankroll is generally considered to be about 300 big bets, so if you want to play $3/$6 limit holdem, you need a bankroll of about $1800. (No limit holdem is a totally different beast, since you can wind up with your entire bankroll on the line in a single hand. So obviously you need a bigger bankroll for that.)

An appropriate bankroll for a sit-n-go poker tournament player is between 25 and 50 buy-in's, so if you want to play in the $30 buy-in SnG's, you'll need a bankroll of between $750 and $1500. And of course, any time someone talks about having a proper bankroll, she's assuming you're a winning poker player. A losing poker player needs an infinite bankroll in order to avoid going broke.

Good players who are tight and know what they're doing might need a smaller bankroll, since they take fewer risks.

No Deposit Poker Bonuses

Competition between online cardrooms has resulted in multiple generous promotions to attract new poker players. Some online poker cardrooms will give new player as their site free chips to play with, just to get them started in the real money poker games. (All of them give free chips to depositing players as a bonus, but a few poker sites offer free, no deposit required bonuses.)

No deposit bonuses are always small, between $10 and $50 at the most. This small amount only bankrolls you for microlimit poker games. Building a real bankroll playing at those limits is tough and time-consuming. But if you want to play real money poker online without an investment of your own money, then it can be done. Especially if you play well and have patience and self-control.

You can count on having to play Texas holdem at these limits, as that's the most popular game online, and players at that level will be found mostly at that level.

Poker Signup Deposit Bonuses

Another approach to building an online poker bankroll is to deposit money and take advantage of one of the generous signup bonuses that are offered by online poker sites. If you can deposit $600, Full Tilt Poker will provide you with an extra $600 in chips as a bonus. This provides you with an appropriate bankroll to play $3/$6 limit, or to play in SnG (sit-n-go) single table tournaments with buy-ins of $30 - $50.

Playing in SnG tournaments is a great way to build up your online poker bankroll. The tournaments are generally pretty easy to place in, and even a beginner poker player can generate a positive ROI if she pays attention and plays tight and aggressive.

Freerolls and Freeroll Tournaments

Another approach to building a poker bankroll is to play in freerolls, which are poker tournaments with cash prizes but no buy-in. The fields in these freerolls are generally large enough that your chances of winning a significant amount of cash is minimal. Freerolls can be fun, but as a tool for building a poker bankroll, they're probably one of the least effective. Playing in single table tournaments with low buy-in's is a much more effective way to build a poker bankroll.

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