Growing your bankroll
December 21, 2008
An example of Growing your bankroll
One of the most popular poker stories of 2007 centered around Full Tilt professional Chris Ferguson who announced that he was going to attempt to build a bankroll of $10,000 without any starting capital.
After a slow start where Ferguson was working his way through a number of freerolls, he managed to complete his challenge nine months later and went on to donate all his winnings to a popular Children’s charity. Chris ferguson is playing at Full Tilt Poker where you can also play the pros.
His success got a lot of poker players talking about whether they might be able to do the same thing, which ultimately led to discussions about the best way to really maximize your bank roll when playing online poker.
A lot of players were of the opinion that the average player would find it very hard to match Ferguson’s achievement based on the fact that he’s a full time professional and one of the best players in the world.
However, I’d like to point out that the average poker player has an advantage that Ferguson didn’t have … and that’s the ability to be able to use poker bonus codes when you first sign up to a room. With so many online poker rooms now offering large amounts of cash to new players, you don’t have to be a full time professional to build up a fair amount of cash from a fairly modest starting position.
The key thing to bare in mind is that you need to be patient when trying to achieve something similar. As Ferguson discovered, you’re going to be spending a fair bit of time at the beginning playing freerolls and low stake games where the cash prizes are relatively small.
You really need to make sure that you’re not tempted to move up to higher levels too soon where one small mistake or just a bit of bad luck can really hurt your bankroll.
Instead, when you’re just starting out make sure you pick your games carefully. Only play at those tables that you feel suit your style and resist paying more than $1 for a game until you’ve added around $50 to the value of your bankroll. Once you’ve reached that point, you can start to think about moving your game up to the $5 tables.
Whatever limits you’re playing at though, make sure you continue to set yourself boundaries. Even when you have moved on from the freerolls and the dollar games, keep an eye on your account balance. Resist the urge to move up to the next level until you’ve at least tripled your bankroll at the level you’re currently playing at.
The reason for this is that you need to make sure that your game grows as your bank balance does. It’s important that you don’t find yourself out of your depth in terms of the players you’re playing against, as that’s a great way to find your hard work being undone very quickly.
Whenever you try to follow a strategy such as this, there are going to be slightly rough times when you find your bankroll going down. It’s hugely important during these times that you stick to your boundaries. For example, if you find yourself dropping below $50 again, then make sure you adjust your game by returning to the dollar games until your bankroll starts to grow again.
However tempted you are though, don’t start using money that you can’t afford to lose. There’s just no reason for it, especially with so many online poker rooms offering such large bonuses. If you feel that luck is deserting, then simply turn off the computer and stop playing. Don’t even think about chasing the cash you’ve lost by getting your credit card out again or by playing at higher-level tables.
Things will change. After all, even Chris Ferguson went through a couple of slow times. He just knew he had to be patient … and that is the main lesson to be learned here!
I am doing this challenge myself, and you can follow my journey here:
The freeroll challenge
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