[emerson]

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What figures are the 300BB limit and 20 buy-in no-limit recommendations based on? Considering you can miss draws many times in a row even while being given correct odds (hell, even drop the gloves big, open-ended straight flush draws). And sometimes repeated draw outs take place against your big pairs, two-pairs and sets even after being denied proper odds. Is there some sort of assumption that variance will only step the numbers X amount outside of expectation within a certain number of trials?

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To do any calculations you need to make an approximation of your win rate per hand and SD per hand. If you have per hour or per hundred figures that will do fine also. I play limit holdem and know that my SD per 100 online is about 18 to 20. Live it is about 12 BB per hour.

If you also approximate your win rate then you can figure the likelihood of having certain size downswings within a given period of time. But you need a starting point. Generic figures are not very accurate. An aggressive player who bluffs frequently will need a much bigger bank than a more conservative player.