O8 Bankroll Size?

[MasterShakes]

What is a safe bankroll for playing tight, safe, Omaha 8 at PP at the lower levels? $1/$2, $2/$4, $3/$6 are all I want to venture into right now. Given my experience thus far, I'd likely be safe at $3/$6, but I want to be sure.

[Gahnia radula]

300 Big Bets

1/2 300*2 = $600
2/4 300*4 = $1200
3/6 300*6 = $1800

However this assumes that your bankroll is NOT replaceable

I suggest starting at a lower limit and then building your bankroll, and then moving up limits

[El Dukie]

The 300 BB number, which is widely used, is from Mason's calculations in Gambling Theory and Other Topics. It's applicable if your expectation is around 1 BB/hr. In the lower-limit O/8 games, you might very well have a higher expectation, and may be able to get by with a smaller bankroll. In live games with a kill, you'd probably want to stick to the 300 BB number, since you'll sometimes be playing for higher stakes.

[MasterShakes]

Since I asked this question, I went ahead and researched it. I came across an essay in the "Poker Essays" book that I hadn't read yet about bankroll size. While 300BB seems to be the recommendation for hold 'em and stud, Mason doesn't require nearly as much for Omaha 8. He says that the information in the charts in the book is based on reasoning from his "Gambling Theory..." book. For an "OK" player at the $3/$6 level for Omaha 8, he only requires $600 - 100 BB, and much less for better players. Given this, if I wanted to play with $500 at the $2/$4 level, I should be safe.

I can understand needing higher numbers if you plan to play multiple tables, but until I fine-tune my strategy at one table, I won't be trying for two.

If there is disagreement here, please let me know, as my main concern is not losing my stack.

[bigpooch]

You are right in saying that a solid winning player doesn't
need nearly the BR for limit O8 as compared with limit HE.
You are not exactly right that you would need a bigger BR
in multitabling; in fact, if you are playing essentially the
same way at two tables as one table of O8 for the same win
rate and same SD, your required BR is exactly the same. It
simply depends on your win rate, SD and risk of ruin. If
you play two tables, you are simply just playing twice as
many hands per hour.

[Poker blog]

This isn't quite right, but close enough.

Do you see why?

[Big Dave D]

A key point that most people seem to miss in the size of BR equation was that this maths was ONLY for starting BR. So if u have 300BB, run it up to 1000BB, spend it down to 300BB, ad nausem, your chances of EVENTUALLY going broke actually become quite high. So if by BR you mean money that is in effect your business's working capital, then 300 is ok to start with but you should ideally keep it comfortably high b4 making withdrawls.

gl

dd

[ike]

I certainly don't. This seems exactly right to me...

[FredJones888]

playing a hi/lo game makes a big difference in your money management. A good omaha hi/lo player is about twice as likely to win at lesat some money any given hand than an equally skilled holdem player. This reduces the amount of money fluctuation due to random chance alone. The 300BB is to compensate for random chance in holdem. Based on that I would think that 150BB would be enough to compensate for random chance in omaha8 and if you have good table selection you could get by with a lot less because you will be up in chips most of the time.

I don't have a bankroll and just buyin for 30 big bets every single session regardless of what happened during the previous session. If I lose 30 BB then I am either being outplayed or taking bad beats, and either way I would rather quit for the day.