One of the big moments in the challenge was placing 2nd in a $1 tournament for $104. It took him 9 months to make his first $100. It took Ferguson many weeks to make his first $2. There were typically 2,700 entries and the tournaments would fill up in just 90 seconds. There was no buy-in and you could win money by placing in the top 27 spots. Full Tilt ran a few tournaments each day called freerolls which is where Ferguson started his challenge. Ferguson believed that by adhering to strict bankroll management rules he could achieve this feat. One of the things that made him so popular, other than his multiple WSOP wins, was his 0 to hero online poker challenge. My introduction to bankroll management was sparked by Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, one of Full Tilt’s co-founders. I played exclusively on Full Tilt for a number of years until the government shutdown of online poker on April 15th, 2011, otherwise known as Black Friday. It was one of 3 major websites in operation at the time, the other two being PokerStars, and Ultimate Bet. In 2006 I joined Full Tilt Poker, an online website represented by a large number of well-known pros. It wasn’t until 2006 that I learned about bankrolls. It gave me a basic understanding of how to play and gave a brief description of poker’s culture as well as the mentality of the professional players. The first book I read was called Ace on the River by Barry Greenstein.

I quickly realized I had a lot to learn so I bought a bunch of poker books at Barnes & Noble and got to work.

I deposited $600 and it was gone in a matter of weeks. I knew relatively little about how to play, and nothing at all about bankrolls. The first site I joined in late 2003 was called Poker Room. He got in on a $40 online satellite to take down poker’s biggest prize which helped create the online poker industry. His victory sparked a poker boom and brought it into the mainstream. I started playing back in 2003 shortly after Chris Moneymaker’ WSOP Main Event win.

It’s been about 17 years now since I played my first hand of No-Limit Hold Em.

How to build online poker bankroll 15