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lilzeus · High Card Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 4

Not that anybody cares but I won a freeroll the other day. Added $15 to my account. Of course I still play at the other sites with nearly all of my bankroll but this will be a good challenge to see if I can accomplish it again.

Image looks like garbage here in the forum. Not sure why. Also, I cant seem to create links. The [url][/url] doesnt seem to work. Even for a simple text link. Strange. Otherwise I would link it.

adelaidecrows02 · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 3:05 am Post subject:

How long did it take you to win that Freeroll? - see someone is intereted!

clussman · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 4:38 am Post subject:

clussman · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 4:59 am Post subject:

Since were sharing our freeroll experiments, here's a long one that'll bore you to tears. It has good examples of bad BR management though, so maybe it can serve as a cautionary tale.

I started playing poker last April. I downloaded FTP and played playchips. Discovered the freerolls and never looked back. My first attempt at freerolling a BR made it as high as $50 before I went busto due to tilt and poor BR management.

My second attempt made it much farther. I made it all the way up to $650 before I took a huge downswing for a variety of reasons: I took shots above my BR that didn't work, I spent a lot of time learning new games and paying the 'learning tax' that went with that, and I tried playing different styles (LAG instead of TAG) that I wasn't comfortable with. But the biggest thing that did me in the second time around was the most insidious form of bad BR management: not stepping down in levels when I should have.

I knew all about proper BR management. Thought I could adhere to it. Admonished others to follow it or suffer the consequences. But when it came time to move down in levels because of my losses I couldn't do it.

In Novemeber and December of last year I hit a five week horrendous downswing. The beats were horrible. Nothing would hold up. It was God Awful. When everything was said and done, I was left with about $150. That held steady until about two months ago when I gave $50 away. I turned the $100 into $200 and then gave and traded $100 away. I'm now at $170 and I'm not giving any more away.

It used to hurt that I had lost 3/4ths of my BR, but it was a while ago and I'm over it now. I'm still a winning player having started from 0 and after only a year of playing poker I'm still a n00b. So I feel like there's no place to go but up.

ManilaDog · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 5:10 am Post subject:

Interesting post ,clussman,thanks.

JokerStars · Royal Flush Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 720

I'm actually very surprised how long it is taking him to get through this low-stakes part.

Take away the 9 months that it took him to get 22$ from freerolls etc, he has had 5 months to work 22$ into 365$.

Maybe he just doesn't play very often and that would easily explain it, but I don't play that often either and I play mostly the stakes he is on now and taking 5 months to turn 22$ into 365 just does not impress me whatsoever. I follow basically the exact same bankroll management as him and have never gone broke and I'm just surprised it's taken him that long at the low stakes.

I'd expect the more he has the quicker he will get to 10k though.

Spigwish · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 9:27 am Post subject:

Not to belittle your accomplishment Jokerstars, but the question is are you following his rules to the letter? Are you leaving a table when your chipstack there represents more than 10% of your total bankroll? Do you mulit-table and have more than 5% of your roll in play at any one time? Do you buy in to MTTs for more than 2% of your bankroll?

It would be interesting to know how many hours per week on average he can dedicate to his experiment. I would wager that any of us attempting this have more time to dedicate to it.

BBCOACH44 · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 10:56 am Post subject:

Good post Clussman.
And good points Spig.
It pays to read things thru and understand them. 8)

_7_Kings_ · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 12:46 pm Post subject:

Hello everyone,

Ive been playing online for 8 months now and have learned the hard way. I started with 50$ in the bank and played 10$ 6 player tournys. I made it to 150$ and started playing 20$ tournys. I made it to 275$ and then dropped to 0$ by staying in the 20$ buyins. I didnt want to go back to lower limits cause my ego got in the way.

So I started again with 50$ and made it up to 150$ playing just cash games(0.05\0.10). But then lost a couple big pots in the 0.10\0.25 and got ruined.(always no-limit I play what I'm comfortable at).

BankRoll management is by far the most important part of poker if you ask me. I think Im a decent player but had no sense on managing my bankroll. And careful for tilt, it can anhilate your bankroll.

I then saw chris's post and decided to follow it by the book. I started with 30$ and as of today, 80 days later, I'm at 560$. I really want to thank chris for making me realize that I wasnt playing wrong, but not respecting my bankroll.

Hope I can catch you at a table Chris, and thanks again for the advice!

lilzeus · High Card Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 4

Its a difficult balance taking a challenge like this. You still have to bring home the bacon so to speak, while trying to accomplish something very difficult and somewhat demeaning to your ego. When I took that $10 and ran it up I #1, played only cash game. #2 played EXTREMELY tight. #3 used a bankroll management scheme where I would not play up until I had close to 20 max buy-ins for the next level. Yes, this approach is more risky than Ferguson's. But as I moved up further and further I snowballed it a bit, requiring more like 25-30 buy-ins for the next level and trying to maintain 30 or so as my working BR. The highest levels may require more as the players up there are more creative and you can take hits easier.

JokerStars · Royal Flush Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 720

The more I think about it the more I see how it could be very slow-going at this stage.

However, I still believe alot of it is dependant on how often he is actually playing online.

Gypsydc · Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 9:54 am Post subject:

In the article I read I believe he said he plays ~10 hours a week for this experiment.

ekdikeo · High Card Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 6

Hi all!

I started playing online in 2002, where I deposited about $400 to Paradise. About a year later, I was forced to cash out the $5000 that I had in there, to cover some emergencies after I lost my job. I left myself with $50 on my poker account, and shortly thereafter, went busto. December 2005, I picked up on Everest Poker, and their Freeroll Sit-n-Gos where you could win 5cents in a free sit n go. October 2006, I cashed out $4000 when they closed to U.S. players.

November 2006, I picked up on Cake Poker. I won some cash in one of the Hold 'Em Radio freerolls, and a little more in a few of their freerolls. I have not gone -busto- on that site, but about a month ago, I was at $2. (I had withdrawn $400 of my $800, and transferred it to Absolute)

A slight bit less than a month, I think (I'd have to go look up the epassporte records to be sure), after splitting my $800 to 400 on Cake and 400 on Absolute, I now have $500 in my cash account, $900 on Cake, $300 on Absolute, and $500 on Full Tilt. (yes, you could say I'm bonus whoring.. shrug) I have yet to actually deposit anything on Cake, but have withdrawn several times to finance Absolute and Full Tilt. It's been an absolutely incredible month - I just won my first single $450 pot on Cake a bit earlier today, playing $2 NL. Followed that up with a $250 about 3 hands later. (course, those were both two player pots, so half of that was money i put in to begin with)

I kinda wish I had records of everything, but I don't. Oh well. Maybe someone will believe me Very Happy

Followup: I just won a $100 SnG too Very Happy

today's been awesome

lilzeus · High Card Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 4

ekdikeo,

Good work! I wouldn't change your game or style of play, it is successful for you.

I squeaked out a cash in one of "The Ferguson" tournaments recently. Some day I will be able to play cash games. :)

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