FULL TILT POKER BLOG

Posted by Editor | Filed under Bankroll Management, Chris Ferguson, Strategy

Because I have needed to withdraw substantial amounts from my Full Tilt account these last few months (and because I haven’t been winning much), I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on bankroll management – playing lower, exercising patience, and generally at least simulating the condition of not having the money to play big.

Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of sources to help navigate these waters. There doesn’t seem to be much out there between Chris Ferguson’s monk-like conservatism and the bet-it-all philosophy practiced by degenerate gamblers. I am writing this not so much to help figure it out as to share the diametrically opposed points of view. Apparently, we have to choose one of these or somehow find our own way.

PARABLE #1 – THE FERGUSON IDEAL

Chris Ferguson has never gone broke and never will. Apart from his years of big-money tournament success, investing acumen, and frugal habits, he has always treated his money with tremendous respect. This started when he first began traveling from LA to Vegas with friends while in college. His goal was to cover expenses and to make a profit of at least one dollar. As he told me in a 2006 interview for a magazine article, “I wanted to prove that I could be self sufficient, that I could earn a living and survive in a very competitive environment.”

Therefore, it wasn’t enough to simply beat the $1-$4 Stud game. He had to win enough to exceed expenses. As a result, they jammed into cars and hotels rooms and scoured the strip for coupons and buffets. If the guys wanted to see a show, Ferguson turned that down as an unnecessary expense. “It wasn’t about the money. I considered it my transition to becoming man.”

More than twenty years later, wealthy from investing, wealthy from poker success, and world famous, little about his approach had changed. After winning the World Championship in 2000, Ferguson’s “splurge” was to purchase a car – a middle-of-the-line Acura that took him eight months to choose and that he still drives. As far as casino gambling, “It kills me to put a nickel in a slot machine.”

Before Chris became involved in the development of Full Tilt Poker, he asked Annie Duke to deposit one dollar in his account on Ultimate Bet so he could conduct an experiment. He lost the dollar and asked for a second. Six months later, he had $20,000 in the account.

Chris repeated the experiment on Full Tilt starting with no money. Starting by playing freerolls, he won a few dollars and began playing for the smallest stakes possible on Full Tilt. Once he built his bankroll to $50, he had enough money and games to select that he could begin implementing his now-famous rules for bankroll management:

• No more than 5% of the bankroll should be used at one time in buy-ins for cash games or sit-n-gos;
• No more than 2% of the bankroll should be spent on tournament buy-ins at any one time;
• If, due to winnings, 10% of the bankroll is on the table during the cash games, exit the game; and
• Implied in these rules is that you have  to play for lower stakes if you are losing and your bankroll falls beneath the level that will allow you to play the more expensive game.

It took Ferguson a month to win $2, which lasted him less than one round in the smallest game on Full Tilt. After sixteen months, however, he achieved his goal and soared past $10,000 on August 14, 2007. (Here are links to Part I, Part II], and Part III of the series I wrote about this feat, “Chris Ferguson and the Art of Bankroll Maintenance.”)

This feat is phenomenally difficult, and not just because of the poker skill you need to succeed. Chris Ferguson bankroll management rules require a level of discipline probably more difficult to sustain that in his level of skill. Almost nobody would be willing to start that low, play that low for an extended period, move up in stakes only slowly after great success, and move DOWN in stakes upon losing. In fact, central to most gamblers’ DNA is the impulse to recover from losses by RAISING the stakes. Although this is a sure-fire way to avoid going broke, Chris might be the only person in poker who wouldn’t rather go broke.

But what’s the alternative?

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3.

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9 Responses to “#957 – Three Parables on Bankroll Management, Part I”

1. Steve Says:
   February 3rd, 2010 at 9:20 am

   Michael,

   It’s off subject but I was hoping this post may spur your interest. I’ve read your book, “The professor, the banker and the suicide king” at least 3 or 4 times. Since it doesn’t look like were going to see a sequel, how about this project? I posted this on a popular poker forum:

   Re: isildur1 seen online !! Is he back?

   ——————————————————————————–

   This is certainly an opportunity for another good book. The entire story of his rise and fall is pretty dramatic.

   A guy comes out of nowhere, takes on the biggest names in poker history and then loses a dramatic portion of his bankroll to a conspiracy of those who couldn’t beat him fairly.

   Maybe we can get Michael Craig to do another “The professor, the banker and the suicide king” type of book? Anyone?

2. littletwos Says:
   February 3rd, 2010 at 9:17 pm

   do you think you good or just luckly, and went you on a ready bad run that just wont end WHAT CAN A MAN DO. ANY READY GOOD ADVISE WILL BE HELPFUL,

3. James Tomshay Says:
   February 4th, 2010 at 12:24 pm

   I think that’s very good strategy for managing your poker bankroll. Well I’m sure it is. Chris is very frugal and very successful. I’ll take his poker tips anyday! Good post.

4. Cake Blog Says:
   February 9th, 2010 at 7:29 pm

   You know what, Yes Fergusson is overly nitty but it suits him. I think we need to realise there is not just 1 way to manage your bankroll, the correct way to manage your bankroll is if it makes you happy If your always depressed cause swings, nit it up If your happy with swings, go wild

5. ren player Says:
   September 8th, 2010 at 12:30 pm

   i starting my Fergusson challange today starting with 0$… if u see me playing for real money it working for me…

6. Scoala Poker Says:
   September 13th, 2010 at 5:36 pm

   I think you play poker better when you play for the challenge and not the money. With his little “experiments”, Ferguson did exactly that.
   I really admire him and i do hope to find as many tips as possible from him in the FTP Academy.

7. Roy Says:
   November 30th, 2010 at 9:06 am

   Well im playing with the bankroll management for a while now, ive started with 50 dollars, now in 3 days im up to 200.

   i just keep playing 0.10-0.25 NL Holdem with 4 tabels.

8. Jim Says:
   December 13th, 2010 at 10:20 pm

   Hey Roy, first…congrats on increasing your bankroll 4X. However, I’m not understanding how you can play at these tables with any type of bankroll management (BRM). Using Ferguson’s guidelines, you could only buyin for 10 BBs per table at .10-.20 NL Holdem. That’s simply not enough to play successfully. I hope your luck continues, but I would suggest implementing some real BRM as soon as possible.

9. poker Says:
   June 17th, 2011 at 4:33 pm

   I think Chris Ferguson is the master when it comes to bankroll management and he proved this when he did his 0-10k challenge. Although I don’t think I would have the patience to turn 0 into 10k

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