Having trouble staying within my bankroll...

Hi, I have been playing online poker for about two years. I have never really played with a ''bankroll'' mentality, and have always just put small amounts ($50, $100) on various sites to play .25/.50 nl texas hold em. Now, I understand this is completely out of my bankroll, but I do not have the money to cover a .25/.50 legitimate bankroll. Now while this can be fun, I have decided I want to get serious with poker and develop a bankroll so I am not constantly putting on $50 at a time when I want to play. Lately, I have been doing really well playing heads up, 9, and 18 man $5.50 tournaments. I am just curious as to what a good bankroll would be for these $5.50 tournaments, and what I should be playing if I have $100 for it to be considered ''safe''. Thanks!

Read the BR management thread in Beginner's section.

I pretty much started out playing $5.50 (or $6 on Party) SnGs with a $100 BR - I would say that $100 for this is just fine.

20 x the buyins is alright at the lower level SnGs. When you get to higher levels, you will probably want to have more buyins behind you because the players get better as you move on up.

20 buy-ins should be sufficient for a SnG at that level. I would recommend at least 20-30 buy-ins for 50NL. I like to play with only 2% of my bankroll at any given table. kind of decreases tilt...

With $100 you should play 10nl or $5.50 9 man S&Gs. Don't play heads-up or 18 man S&Gs, you're not rolled to support their higher variance.

Alright, thanks a lot.. I think I will just stick with the 9 man $5.50's. I will let you know how it works out.