Chris Ferguson Bankroll Management Guide. Chris Ferguson is a popular professional online poker player, which is part of the Full Tilt Team. One of his major achievements was to turn $0 into $10,000 with his “from 0 to Hero online poker challenge” by playing poker at Full Tilt Poker. Two Plus Two Poker Forums Poker News & Discussion Twitch - Watch and Discuss Live Online Poker: 2020 Bankroll Challenge on Twitch @ 7PM Mtn Time. Some people make the mistake of thinking that their bankroll is simply the money in their online poker account, but this is not the case. You might, for example, decide that you have a $100 limit.

Now, this is a switch.
For as long I've been playing poker, I've held my own at the home games, but been very inconsistent at the casinos. Part of the reason is that I've played most of my casino play in Minnesota, where the cash games are limit poker only. That's the only time I ever play limit poker, and I've never been a winning player in that game.
Lately my issue has been losing in home games. I'm afraid my play has become too predictable. Am I running bad? Playing too many hands? I've focused on not playing out of position. I'm really confused about why my results have changed over the past several months. I think the remedy is some time off.
Maybe I'll hone my skills online at low stakes for a while, and go back to the live game refreshed and less confused.
It's not good to play poker confused.18:54
15 Aug

I could not answer you if you asked me why I love following professional poker players as they embark on bankroll challenges, yet I follow them closely. Maybe it’s because they temporarily come into my zone of trying to run up a small bankroll, perhaps that’s it, but I know that if I see a “bankroll challenge” announcement, I always read it. Maybe that’s why you’re here too!

I imagine you are, like me, currently following Doug Polk’s latest bankroll challenge, which he is playing exclusively in Nevada on WSOP.com and live streaming via his popular Twitch channel, Upswing Poker. His self-imposed task is to turn an initial $100 into a much larger $10,000 and the poker world has been speculating on how long this will take him, with estimates ranging from a few days to a few months. Polk could even fail the challenge if he busts the $100...

I think part of the reason I am so interested in the challenge is because, like so many others, I can copy the challenge right now and I would love to turn that amount into a life-changing bankroll. I’ve marked time for years, never quite breaking through. Also, we hear so much about the online games being so tough to beat and that the poker boom is long gone that we know we can win but maybe we struggle to really believe it sometimes. Perhaps it takes a pro like Doug Polk to demonstrate to us that opportunities do still exist and it is more about us than the games as to why we remain at the lower stakes.

Polk was asked why he was doing the challenge and said this:

Where I give Polk huge praise is his conservative approach to bankroll management as he embarks on this challenge. He will maintain 50 to 100 times his buy-in for tournaments and 30 to 40 buy-ins for cash games. You can copy the “Polk Challenge” and use this strategy with your own $100 and give yourself a good chance of success. This is not a reckless “run it up or die” challenge. Polk is doing it properly.

Polk will be playing micro-stakes games like $1 SNGs, $1 MTTs, small cash games, and even a bit of Pot Limit Omaha thrown in for good measure to begin with as he tries to reach $10,000. Only when he has won money will he be able to play in larger tournaments and cash games.

Progress has been slow so far and in the early sessions his bankroll fluctuated wildly, at one point falling under $50 before a comeback saw him end the fourth day of play at around $110. Without using a conservative bankroll management strategy he would have busted by now, which shows the power of being careful. It has kept him in the game and he has returned to his starting bankroll where he can now hopefully kick on towards his goal. There’s a lesson straight away for us all to note and emulate.

Poker Bankroll Chart

A bankroll challenge offers you a number of advantages from standard play. I struggle to find purpose when I play other than the obvious enjoyment of making tough decisions and (wherever possible) winning, so having a bankroll target helps me play with a goal in mind and gives my poker play structure.

Online Poker Bankroll Challenge Free

In reality we are all constantly in a “bankroll challenge” because who does not start with a smaller amount of money seeking to run it up without busting? However, I think the “game” element to a challenge makes it fun and interesting and I think that is why I enjoy watching professional players embark on these challenges. I can also relate better to a player playing with a smaller bankroll. As fun as it is to watch a pro multi-table with a combined buy-in amount of $500 in play at a time, I cannot personally relate to this sort of risk. Seeing a player run up a small roll reminds me that I can or should be able to do that and there is no excuses if I fail to do it.

Building A Poker Bankroll

Follow Polk’s challenge on his Upswing Poker Twitch Channel and see what you can learn before you embark on a similar challenge yourself. Check out the various PokerTube offers on our deals page as depending on which offer you take up, you can increase your starting stack before you even start.