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As many of you know, the pros at Full Tilt Poker write tips that are published and sent out via email. One tip in particular (Tip #100) intrigued me to no end.

In that tip, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson discusses how he started with literally ZERO dollars and is in the process of turning that into a $10,000 bankroll. Chris gives some pretty good advice and insight into bankroll management. In a nutshell the requirements are:

1. You can never buy into a Cash Game or Single Table Tournament with more than 5% of your total bankroll, except you are permitted to buy in with at least $2.50 at any time
2. You can never buy into a Multi Table Tournament with more than 2% of your bankroll, except, you are permitted to buy into any Multi Table Tournament for $1.00 or less.
3. If at any time, the money you have on the table is 10% or more of your total bankroll, you must leave the table when the blinds get to you.

These guidelines are pretty good. For the cash games, they allow you to have 20 buy-ins at a level. Twenty buy-ins will allow you to ride out the ups and downs that we all get as poker players. Secondly, this advice is pretty close to what the World Poker Tour Ca$h Boot Camp recommends too.

I began to think about this. If Chris Ferguson can build a $10,000 bankroll from nothing, then there is absolutely NO reason why I cannot do it either. I am a decent poker player, capable of playing the mid-level games (5/10 NL, 30/60 Limit) without being over my head. The problem is that I really despise Full Tilt Poker. My worst beats have been on Full Tilt. With the new gaming legislation in the USA, I am pretty much limited to playing on Poker Stars or Full Tilt. Since I have a bankroll on PokerStars, that pretty much leaves me with Full Tilt.

I wanted to give this experiment my best shot. I did not want to cheat, add more money, or do anything outside the guidelines. Hesitantly, I talked myself into doing this project at Full Tilt. Afterall, if you play correct poker, it does not matter how many bad beats you get. As long as you make the correct decisions, and you get your money in the pot with the best hand, you MUST be a winner over the long-term. That is why you have a 20 buy-in cushion.

I logged into my Full Tilt account to somewhat of a surprise. I had $12 sitting there. Well, I guess I do not have to start from ZERO. I get to start with some cash.

In the first days, I decided to play $1 HORSE tournaments. I quickly figured out that the variance in tournaments is too high. I decided to play my strongest game - Holdem. One anomaly that I found with Chris’ guidelines goes like this: Assume you have a $10 bankroll. You buy into a 5/10 cent no limit game for the allowed $2.50. You are already risking 25% of your bankroll right there. According to Rule #3, you must leave the game. It was apparent that some modifications are needed in the lowest limits. My strategy has been to buy into the 5/10 cent no limit tables with $2.00. If I double up, I think about leaving. If I get to $6, then I absolutely MUST leave and bank my profit. $6 on the table is way too much of a percentage of your bankroll to expose to a bad beat.

My Full Tilt bankroll now stands at $31.03. This experiment is going to be FUN indeed. I will of course keep posting updates as I (hopefully) progress up the ranks.

You can see Chris’ entire tip here

This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2007 at 12:39 am and is filed under Online Poker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.