Saturday, 06 November 2010

  • The Chris Ferguson Challenge

    Earlier this year I wrote about Chris Ferguson, a well known poker professional that spends a lot of time on a Full Tilt Poker download. That entry skimmed upon the fact that he once went from a $0 bankroll to a $10k bankroll. I find this story very interesting because it is common to hear someone complain that they cannot “afford” to gamble. The Chris Ferguson Challenge proves that it is possible to earn thousands of dollars on their Full Tilt Poker download by working hard and following some key rules.

    The goal of the Chris Ferguson Challenge was simple: open an account on the Full Tilt Poker download, start with an empty account, and one day end up with a $10k bankroll. Ferguson decided that he would donate the entire $10k to the Save the Children Foundation when it was said and done.

    Good players know that in order to succeed on the top Texas Holdem sites, they must manage their bankrolls properly. With this in mind, Ferguson had a few rules for his challenge:

    1) Download Full Tilt Poker and play freerolls until a real money bankroll is established.
    2) Never enter a Sit & Go for more than five percent of the total bankroll. The one exception is for $2.50 buy-ins.
    3) Never enter a multi-table tourney for over 2% of the total bankroll. The one exception is for $1 buy-ins.

    This challenge ended up taking a long time because cashing in freerolls on money poker sites usually means beating massive fields. The fact that it took Ferguson over seven months to keep a $6.50 bankroll should demonstrate this point quite clearly! Ferguson fought through this bad variance like a pro, of course. He finally boosted the bankroll in a significant way with a runner-up finish in a 683 field. It was a $1 tourney and he won $104.

    This relatively large increase for the bankroll did not mean the end was close by, however. It is tough to turn a quick profit, even on the best US poker sites. It took him an additional nine months before he finally had $10,000 and brought the challenge to an end.

    The key lesson to take away from the Chris Ferguson Challenge is that it is highly unlikely to succeed at such a challenge while lacking bankroll management skills. For tips on this, I strongly suggest you consult an applicable poker video. If you have been in the game for a while, you probably know that protecting your bankroll is essential for long term success.

  • Sign in to Comment

  • Give eProps (?)

About this Entry

Who recommended?