[pzhon]

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My personal rule for bankroll management is 2%. I only allow myself to buy in to tournaments for 2% of my bankroll or less.


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That might be fine for you in some context, but it's pretty dangerous as a general rule.

A reasonable guideline is to use

bankroll = comfort * (standard deviation^2)/(win rate).

People typically want a comfort level from 2 (aggressive) to 4 (conservative). The standard deviation for a 200 player tournament depends a bit on your playing style. It may be about 5 buy-ins for a break-even player, and 6 buy-ins for a player with a 50% ROI. Let's call it 6 for this example. What ROI do you need to have a comfort level of 3 with a bankroll of 50 buy-ins?

50 = 3 * 6^2 / ROI
ROI = 108/50 = 2.16 = 216%.

A 216% ROI means you average a prize of $3.16 for every $1 you use to buy in. That's a lot higher than I think anyone can expect to get in all but the softest MTTs of that size. (Also, we underestimated your standard deviation, which should have been about 9 buy-ins.) The MTT FAQ says much lower ROIs are good, so the vast majority of players will not have a high comfort level when playing with 50 MTT buy-ins.

While people repeat 20 buy-ins for NL, and 100 buy-ins for MTTs, the latter is typically much more aggressive. 50 buy-ins is dangerously aggressive.

Playing satellites to bigger tournaments can be fun and profitable. However, if your bankroll is not large enough to buy in directly, then you should view winning a satellite as worth less than the entry fee to the larger event.