[Emperor]

Everyone must be as lazy as me! Proving Ed wrong is cake.

Here is the Algorithm.

Take your Risk of Ruin equation and plug in your unacceptable loss. 500BB?

Plug in confidence level 95% (3 Simgmas or whatever)

Solve for Standard Deviation.

Square it.

Wa La!

If you are playing a game where your variance is higher than this number then you are at risk of losing your bankroll.

Sklansky/Mason?? in some OLD articles talks about optimum SD for LIMIT poker.

Jim Brier (Middle Limit Hold'em) coached a PRO B&M player who Jim says was playing winning poker who not only lost +300BB but was DOWN over a 1yr period!

We all know there are plenty of marginal plays that can be based on math or reads or how many tamales you ate. Whether or not your BR can handle them is easy to calculate. (I'm too lazy for easy)

These questions also are a LOT more relevant in No Limit games, Omaha, Casino whoring, etc... I know that we aren't talking about those, but its the same math.

Get a calulator.

See you at the tables!