Last year when I was playing online poker, I started with a BR of $50, and made it up to $400. I started playing above my stakes, and ended up losing everything by $8.00. This year, I'm trying again, and I'd like to pay more attention to maintaining a bankroll, rather than building one as quickly as possible.

I've read a few different articles on the subject, but there seems to be some conflicting/different "standards," and there are some points need some clarification on. Some articles say 20x-30x the buy-in. Some say anywhere from 300BBs to 2000BBs.

What rules do you follow when managing your money? When articles say 20x buy-ins, is it the max buy-in for those stakes, the minimum buy-in, or whatever you regularly buy in for?

I rarely buy in for the max, but should I still wait until I have 20x the max before I move up to a higher stake?