» How to build a bankroll
One of the most popular goals of many newer poker players is to build a bankroll from nothing. These newer players dream of replicating the famous path Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson took of going from nothing to $10k, or as I like to call it from "zero to hero". These players are typically reluctant to deposit money for fear of losing it quickly in real money games against more experienced players, thus discouraging their ongoing play.
To accomplish this feat, the obvious first step is to start playing freerolls. There are literally hundreds of them available each week. Each poker room sponsors some, while many affiliates and poker communities, like Poker Curious, do the same. But beyond playing freerolls, what else must you do to accomplish your ambitious goal? Without a concrete plan, even if you succeed in winning some money in freerolls, you will flounder around and make little progress.
In order to illustrate my thoughts on the subject, I thought I would focus on one poker room to give details of the value added offerings and step to take in achieving your goal. Each poker room has distinct set of promotions and benefits to best develop your profitable plan.
I selected FatBetPoker to feature for my example because they are a smaller poker room. My advice to seek out the value in a particular poker room easily applies to most other poker rooms. Although FatBetPoker doesn't accept U.S. based players, I have become familiar with FatBetPoker through working with their staff on our weekly freerolls that Poker Curious runs on their site. Playing on a smaller traffic poker room comes with some advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage I see in working with a smaller poker room is their willingness to focus on creating value for newer players. They need to work harder to attract players and thus will offer much better deals than many larger poker rooms. What they lack in player volume and large guarantees, they make up for in added incentives and smaller player fields to navigate. I will lay out a ten point plan to help you build value and help reach your goal of going from zero to hero.
*** If you don't already have an account on FatBetPoker, download FatBetPoker from Poker Curious ***
1. FatBetPoker openly offer 40% rakeback paid weekly, unlike many sites which don't make it easy or apparent they offer rakeback. This is at the very highest end of the range you can expect to receive in rakeback at any poker room. It will make a huge difference once you start playing raked hands or real money tournaments. Relating my own personal experience, there are many weeks where I play break even or slightly losing poker where receiving rakeback is the sole reason I make money and my bankroll grows.
2. Play in the weekly Poker Curious €50 freeroll on Saturdays at 19:00 GMT
3. Play in their several daily €10 and €15 freerolls
4. Every Friday and Saturday at 18:00 GMT, FatBetPoker hosts €500 FPP freerolls. You can buy in for 50FPP's or €0.50 with unlimited re-buys at €0.50 during the first two hours. There is an add-on during the first break and there is usually an overlay.
5. Once you have won some money in the various freerolls, you can explore their low buyin MTT schedule and cash games options. FatBetPoker gears their schedule and levels offered to cater to newer players with most MTT options from €1 to €10 buyins. It is important now to factor in bankroll management heavily as you move to the real money phase of your "from zero to hero" climb. For tournaments, you don't ever want to buy in for more than 1/20th of your current bankroll to ensure if you don't cash, you can keep playing for a while before depleting your built up bankroll. If you are playing cash games, I would suggest an even more conservative bankroll management of not risking more than 1/30th to 1/40th of your bankroll as a buyin at the table; to ensure you can play confidently and rebuy if necessary on those occasions that you do poorly.
6. Many tournaments on a site like FatBetPoker will have an "overlay". This is a great value situation for you. For instance, they may guarantee a €100 prize pool but if only 50 players buy in for the €1 tournament, then FatBetPoker is putting in the other €50 of the prizepool, or €1 for every player in it that is extra free money for you to play for.
7. When you play in real money tournaments or cash games, you generate FPP's (frequent player points) at the rate of 30 FPP for every €1 of rake generated. These FPP's can be used to buy in to tournaments in lieu of cash.
8. SnG's (Sit 'n Go's) are another great way to build a new bankroll. These single table satellites have a consistent structure and formula that a newer player can master and do well in. They are offered in 4, 6, and 10 person versions with regular, turbo and speed blind structure versions. FatBetPoker offers SnG races where the the top 10 places will split an extra €550 each month, for playing SnG's as low as €1+€0.10.
9. Every Sunday at 17:00 GMT, FatBetPoker runs a €2,500 guaranteed tournament. The buy in is only €5+€1, or you can buy in with FPP's or qualify from satellites. It often has an overlay of €500 to €1,500, so there is tremendous value in it.
10. If you play cash games, FatBetPoker offers up to €9,400 in special FPP races. There are five winners in each of five level races (e.g.€0.01/€0.02 through €0.25/€0.50 and above) each week, with a total of 25 winners each week. The monthly cumulative top 3 win an extra combined cash prize of €1750! . As with all prize money, for a player to be entitled to a prize, they must accumulate the equivalent of 30FPPs for each €1 in prize money before they can claim and withdraw it.
Once you are comfortable with the site and the various options to build your bankroll, you should consider depositing to take advantage of the great deposit bonuses available and accelerate the growth of your bankroll.
1. On FatBetPoker they offer a 1000% bonus up to €500! That means you can deposit €50 and if you play enough, you will clear up to ten times that amount in your bonus.
2. If you are reloading, you can get a 200% bonus up to €300 (by using bonus code - RELOAD200)
3. If you factor in your standard 40% rakeback and the deposit bonuses FatBetPoker is offering, you are making an extra 15% rakeback during the clearing period for an amazing total of 55% rakeback.
Keep in mind that you should always play at a level that your small but growing bankroll allows. You should never risk too much of your bankroll at any one time. Incorporating a stop loss limit, so you won't lose more than 3-5 buyins in a session is also wise. Once you have firmly established bankroll management practices, and become familiar with the various games you prefer and promotions available, you can begin to seriously customize your ascent from 'zero to hero".
I wish you much luck and skill along the way. Let us know when you get there!
