Trying a Chris Ferguson

[Masterplan]

Originally Posted by spireitedaz

I believe Chris's next challenge, is to do it with a $0 bankroll, and win his stake money for his first cash games through freerolls. If he's doing it solely through Full Tilt, I'd be impressed, their freerolls can hardly be classed as generous.

iirc (if i remember correctly) he has turned this into almost $500 last time of reading. so he must be able to do something with those 27 payout places

[libbert]

I have finally passed the $1000 mark. I find it a bit unlikely that I will reach the $10000 point in 2007, but who knows.... I might be lucky.

I have changed the tactic, from playing with full buy in to a low stack, 15 times big blind at NL $100. I chance table when I have doubled.

I find this strategy very effective mainly because people are biased towards low stacks. They believe that low stack = bad fishy player. So you will get extreme value when going all in with quite a large range of cards.



I do not consider it cheating if you loose the initial amount and start again. This is my third attempt.

A good place to begin is the ipoker network because they have 0.01-0.02 tables.

/Michael

[spireitedaz]

Originally Posted by Masterplan

iirc (if i remember correctly) he has turned this into almost $500 last time of reading. so he must be able to do something with those 27 payout places

Bloody hell, he really ought to consider turning pro. That's a lot of top 1% finishes just for a cash, assuming he did win it all on freerolls, 1st prize is only $15 !!!

[Jimany]

Originally Posted by spireitedaz

Bloody hell, he really ought to consider turning pro. That's a lot of top 1% finishes just for a cash, assuming he did win it all on freerolls, 1st prize is only $15 !!!

Not sure if you were being sarcastic, but he is a pro. Won the WSOP main event a few years back.

[GaF]

100

Ferguson Goes From Zero to Hero

Chris Ferguson

April 27th, 2007

I'm almost a year into an experiment on Full Tilt Poker. I'm attempting to turn $0 into a $10,000 bankroll. With no money to start with, I had no choice but to start out playing Freerolls. Starting out, I'd often manage to win a dollar or two, but I'd quickly get busted and have to start over again. It took some time but, after awhile, I was eventually able to graduate to games that required an actual buy-in.
Even today, people don't believe it's really me when I sit down at Full Tilt's small stakes games. They ask what I'm doing down here, and often tell me stories about how they turned $5 into $500 or $100 into $1,000. Usually, these stories end with the person telling me that they went broke. There's no surprise there. These folks tried to quickly build a bankroll by gambling. They'd play in a game that was beyond their bankroll and, if they happened to win, they'd move up to a higher limit and risk it all one more time. Inevitably, they'd lose a few big hands and go broke.
For me, this experiment isn't about the money. It's about showing how, with proper bankroll management, you can start from nothing and move up to the point where you're playing in some pretty big games. I know it's possible because I did it once before, turning $1 into $20,000.
To ensure that I keep my bankroll intact, I've adopted some key rules:

• I'll never buy into a cash game or a Sit & Go with more than 5 percent of my total bankroll (there is an exception for the lowest limits: I'm allowed to buy into any game with a buy-in of $2.50 or less).
• I won't buy into a multi-table tournament for more than 2 percent of my total bankroll and I'm allowed to buy into any multi-table tournament that costs $1.
• If at any time during a No-Limit or Pot-Limit cash-game session the money on the table represents more than 10 percent of my total bankroll, I must leave the game when the blinds reach me.

I think a lot of players would do well to apply these rules. One great benefit from this approach to bankroll management is that it ensures you'll be playing in games you can afford. You'll never play for very long in a game that's over your head because, when you're losing, you'll have no choice but to drop down to a smaller game. You can continue to sharpen your game at that lower limit until your bankroll allows you to move up and take another shot. These rules also prevent you from being completely decimated by a bad run of cards.
Dropping down and playing lower limits is difficult for a lot of players. They view it as a failure and their egos get in the way. Many want to remain at the level they'd been playing and win back their losses. But this can lead to some pretty severe tilt - and that can go through a bankroll in a hurry. I know that dropping down was difficult for me in my run from $1 to $20,000. When I first played in the $25/$50 game, I lost. Sticking to my rules, I dropped down to the $10/$25 game. I had a losing streak there and had to go down to $5/$10. That was tough. After playing $25/$50, a $5/$10 game was boring to me.
But I had the discipline to stick to my rules, and that motivated me to play better at the lower levels. I really didn't want to lose any more because I knew the consequences: I'd have to play even lower and work even harder to get back to where I'd been, which could take as long as a month. If you ever find yourself bored or frustrated playing at the lower limits, you're obviously not playing well. Take a break from the game. Often, stepping away can give you a fresh perspective and heightened motivation to play well when you return.
There are a couple of more tips I'd like to share regarding bankroll management. First, you should never play in a game that is beyond your bankroll simply because the game seems to be soft that day. It's never soft enough to risk money that puts your bankroll in jeopardy. The other point is that you should avoid playing in games that are at the top of your bankroll limits, when a lower game offers more opportunity for profit.
I'm confident that by sticking to these sound bankroll management rules, I'll make it to my $10,000 goal. These rules are sure to help you as well, as you pursue your own poker ambitions. So, if you want to start your own quest - or play against me while I'm continuing with mine - come open a free account at Full Tilt Poker and look for me online. But hurry, because I'm hoping I won't be in the lower limits for too much longer.

Chris Ferguson

[Valiant23]

What he's trying to do is nothing new.


IF I were a millionaire like him I would be able to say that in my 18mths of low level poker I've won about £2,500, or $5,000. As it is I've used the money I won and put it to good use.

[GaF]

I think the message he's trying to get across is great And an advocation of the approach we have pushed on PL (i.e. no need to risk your own money - build a bankroll through freerolls, then use that....) .... indeed, I think my mate Chris started this after reading that legendary post of yours Mr V

[slapdash]

I'm going to try this again, starting from zero.

I'll do it exclusively on UltimateBet. I've never deposited there (only played
the play money Royal Holdem and Roshambo), which makes it easy to keep
track.

So first step is to win some money in a freeroll. May take a while. Then I
may try the low-limit Royal Holdem tables, if there's any action there, as on
the play money tables most of the players really didn't get it.

[Crouch Potato]

I am playing on a table with Chris Ferguson at the moment. He says he's up to $800 in his new challenge, with about 6 months and 100 hours of play.

[robsterling]

Originally Posted by GotaFancy?

To ensure that I keep my bankroll intact, I've adopted some key rules:

• I'll never buy into a cash game or a Sit & Go with more than 5 percent of my total bankroll (there is an exception for the lowest limits: I'm allowed to buy into any game with a buy-in of $2.50 or less).
• I won't buy into a multi-table tournament for more than 2 percent of my total bankroll and I'm allowed to buy into any multi-table tournament that costs $1.
• If at any time during a No-Limit or Pot-Limit cash-game session the money on the table represents more than 10 percent of my total bankroll, I must leave the game when the blinds reach me.

As I am doing something a bit similar - trying to increase my bankroll sensibly, mainly as im a young beginner poker player with not a lot of money (so far from $20 to $140) - I was wondering a couple of things.

Does anyone knows what buy-in Chris Ferguson uses on his tables as a multiple of BBs by any chance. And also when he says the money on the table, I am assuming he means his own stack? Or else I don't see how he could ever start. This is something I think I need to luck at myself as I often see myself getting to about $35 on a $5 buy in and then losing a couple of bit pots and being left with half my stack. Does anyone else use this rule?

Thanks, Rob

[GaF]

I'm not sure, but my assumption is that he would buy in for 100xBB (usually the maximum on a NL table). So if you have a $140 bankroll, then 5% is $7 - divide that by 100 is 7c - I think there are a number of sites that have 2c/5c games - that sounds like where you should be now

Yes money on the table is his money only

[slapdash]

Originally Posted by slapdash

I'm going to try this again, starting from zero.

I'll do it exclusively on UltimateBet. I've never deposited there (only played
the play money Royal Holdem and Roshambo), which makes it easy to keep
track.

So first step is to win some money in a freeroll. May take a while. Then I
may try the low-limit Royal Holdem tables, if there's any action there, as on
the play money tables most of the players really didn't get it.

It's been over a month, but I'm finally off the mark. I won $2 for coming 9th
in a 2419 player stud hi/lo freeroll.

I'm hoping that since I've made it so hard on myself to get started, I'll be
really motivated to preserve that bankroll.

I'll let you all know in a couple of weeks when I'm a millionaire.

[aimar21]

I started with 3 dollars (won from a freeroll) now I'm at 64 dollars but I'm still stuck on the 3 STTs at Boss, I wish I could post one of my tourneys here so you could see why I'm still at the 3 dollar STTs. It might be because I lose 70% of my coin flips or %40-%60 matchups but I might be doing wrong plays too. I still study them a lot and post some hands here but couldn't move on.

[slapdash]

Originally Posted by slapdash

It's been over a month, but I'm finally off the mark. I won $2 for coming 9th
in a 2419 player stud hi/lo freeroll.

I'm hoping that since I've made it so hard on myself to get started, I'll be
really motivated to preserve that bankroll.

I'll let you all know in a couple of weeks when I'm a millionaire.

I've been playing $0.50 STTs (and a few micro-stake cash games) and I've
turned my $2 into a little over $11. So according to the Ferguson rule of only
buying in to a STT for 5% of your bankroll, I can now afford to play the
$0.50 STTs I've been playing in!

At this level, I think my edge is big enough that I can reasonably safely
buy in to a STT for a bit more than 5%, so I'll probably step up to $1 if and
when I'm up to around $15. I think STTs are what I'm best at, so I'll
probably mainly stick to those for the time being.

[slapdash]

Originally Posted by slapdash

I've been playing $0.50 STTs (and a few micro-stake cash games) and I've
turned my $2 into a little over $11. So according to the Ferguson rule of only
buying in to a STT for 5% of your bankroll, I can now afford to play the
$0.50 STTs I've been playing in!

At this level, I think my edge is big enough that I can reasonably safely
buy in to a STT for a bit more than 5%, so I'll probably step up to $1 if and
when I'm up to around $15. I think STTs are what I'm best at, so I'll
probably mainly stick to those for the time being.

Up to $15.66 now. I'll step up to the $1 STTs, but I'll go back down to the
$0.50 ones if I drop below $14. If things go well, I'll decide when to go up
further once I see how well I'm doing at $1.

[aimar21]

that's great gl mate

where are you playing the STT's at?

[slapdash]

Originally Posted by aimar21

that's great gl mate

where are you playing the STT's at?

I'm doing this all at Ultimate Bet. Mainly because it's easier to keep track if
I do it on just one site where I started with nothing. Also because it's quite
hard to get started there (their freerolls pay 18 places and get about 2500
players), and I'm hoping that will be an incentive to preserve my bankroll now
I have got going.

[gazabroad]

Ok, gonna try this one myself. Decided to follow Chris´rules as far as possible.
Will use Eurosuper poker as I´ve never deposited there and have a zero balance to start from.

Could be fun!

[slapdash]

Originally Posted by slapdash

Up to $15.66 now. I'll step up to the $1 STTs, but I'll go back down to the
$0.50 ones if I drop below $14. If things go well, I'll decide when to go up
further once I see how well I'm doing at $1.

Up to $31.86.

I lost my first two $1 games, dropped down to $0.50, came first in my first
game at that level, stepped back up to $1 and had a good run. Hovered
around $20-$25 for a bit and finally got above $30 this evening.

I still feel the games at this level are very soft, so I'll step up to $2, but I'll
drop back to $1 whenever I'm below $30. If the $2 games seem significantly
tougher than the $1 ones, I may reconsider.

After $2, the next jump is a fairly significant one, to $5. I'll probably stick to
the Ferguson 5% rule at that stage (though I may ignore the rake), so I won't
step up to $5 until my bank is above $100. But again, ... I may reconsider.

[gazabroad]

Ok was gonna give this a go on Eurosuper, (see post above) but they dont have enough freerolls to get me started.

Would like to deposit $20 and then start from there.

Is this cheating?

Will play $1 mtts to start????