Bankroll Tips

How to build a solid bankroll

The competition online is tough, here is a few tips to get you started before you deposit too much.

Let freerolls get you started
A poker tournament with 0$ buy-in is known as a freeroll. You can only win. Generally freerolls are played by many people and the action is extremely loose, the reason for this is obvious. However, do not underestimate what you can learn from a freeroll. They can give you experience in the field of poker, let you try different strategies and give you that unlikely bad beat on the river, just before you enter the money. All poker rooms have freerolls some better than others. Most often, the best freerolls are announced in local papers and restricted to people in specific locations. But, the big poker rooms generally have good freerolls for everybody.

Learn from micro stake cash tables
Poker tables with blinds as low as $0.10/0.20 are know as micro stakes poker tables. It is strongly recommended that you play in the micro games before moving up. Many professional players claim that they lose money when they try the micro games, this is because people do not respect a raise and will call you with anything and eventually get a miracle card. Do not think that you can win in poker if you can not beat the micro games. The competition surly gets harder on the medium stakes tables. A general advice when playing micro stake is to play very tight (which is most likely the opposite of the table). You will get a bad beat from time to time, but it is a good thing, since a bad beat is defined by you being a big favorite and your opponent gets a miracle card. Do not let this effect you! Bad beats on micro stakes tables are nice, because they are cheap, and may teach you a lesson. A month losing in micro games can be won back in a few hours when you move up.

Bankroll management, go from $0 to $10.000 in 16 months!
It sounds like a joke; however it is a well known story. Chris Ferguson (Full Tilt) did go from a bankroll with a big zero and finished with $10K after 16 months. Of cause he is an exceptional good player, and most importantly he has experience in medium and high stakes poker. So when he finally reached a bankroll of $1000 his winnings run fast. But, the main reason why he did succeed was because of extreme bankroll management. He (only) took 2% of his total bankroll into a tournament or sit&go, and he (only) took 5% of his total bankroll into any cash game.

This approach gives you the margin needed in case of a downswing. Who hasn't played on a cash table with a buyin of $10 and you bankroll says about $50, according to Ferguson this is a losing strategy (unless you are lucky). Try this bankroll management yourself, and maybe use the deposit bonus as a kick start.