Building your bankroll from $10 to $10,000
By James Worth

One of the beautiful things about playing online poker is the ability, if you are patient, to build your bankroll up from a minimal starting point to a very nice bankroll. The wide variety of games online gives the average starting player the chance to make very good money without investing what they can not afford. There are games as low as 1cent 2 cent games and up from there for players to choose from. Again, if a player is patient and can handle playing small, it will give you the opportunity to build a substantial bank roll from what seems like nothing.

The reality is though that if you are just starting out investing $10.00 online probably won't be a reasonable way to expect to make $10 000.00 right out of the gate. I would go as far to say that you will need to work on your game before you can reasonably expect to make money at poker. I would say that for the beginner, the $10.00 investment should come with the expectation to lose it and learn from it at first. Now, in saying that it doesn't mean that it has to be a totally expected loss. In fact, because there are games that are so small online, you can get a wealth of experience and loads of playing time with as small of a starting bank roll as $10.00. You can work on your game, see thousands of hands potentially and improve your game for as little as $10.00 online as long as you are patient and can handle playing for very small stakes.

Now, for the intermediate or advanced player the end result could be much more profitable. The reality is that you do not have to play high stakes to make VERY good money at online poker. Again, the motto has to be Patience Patience Patience. To start your internet world of poker on a small bankroll and build it to something substantial will take time, effort, patience and discipline. Being a full time professional poker player with no other back up for income has found me many times with a short bank roll situation for various reasons. I have to be able to play through that shorter bank roll and profit from it. The only reasonable way of doing so successfully I'll outline below.

Many players will take the $10.00 and play either a $10.00 tournament, or a couple of $5.00 tournaments with hopes of a good score. If that works, great, but it is not a reasonable or usually successful way of achieving a large bank roll. Unless you get really lucky in that tournament, you will almost inevitably go broke. What you will have to do is lower your sights, be disciplined in your play and in time build your roll slowly with as little risk as you can possibly achieve. If I was taking $10.00 to build I would stick to the games that I was best at and not waver from them. At most, I'd risk a dollar in a sitngo for example, to try and double to quintuple my buy in. My sitngo games are my strongest games and I have the highest expectation of achieving my goal by sticking to them. I am a very good tournament player, but I know that variance can wreck havoc on you and your bank roll. I would not move up in buy ins to a $5.00 buy in game for example, until I had achieved approximately a $50.00 to $70.00 bankroll. Only then would I move up and only then would I risk a larger amount. I would slowly but surely increase the buy ins, or the stakes as my bankroll built but would not put a large portion of it at risk trying to achieve a bigger higher risk score.

Building your bank roll and making money takes a lot of discipline. I came up with a system for myself a few years ago that has worked very well for me and I really have not wavered all that much from it to this day. If you have a daily goal on what you want to make, you have to set up a plan and stick to it. You can not waver from it and you can not let your patience run dry. What is critical is that you can not let your ego come into play. Playing the bigger games most certainly works to help many player's egos but does not do wonders for their success or their bank rolls. The system that I use is somewhat regimented and can be a little boring but it works for me and at the end of a typical day/month/year I am very happy with the results.

Picking a minimum starting point.

One of the best tactics I have employed to build my bank roll is picking a starting point to play at each morning and not changing it regardless of how good my previous day was. I start fresh everyday and use the same strategy as I used the days before. I will usually start at a $100.00 sitngo, whether that is a heads up match or a 6 to 10 handed sitngo. I will stay at the same buy in level until I have made at least 4 times the original buy in amount. Once I have achieved that $400.00+ mark, only then will I step up to a $200.00 buy in sitngo or heads up match. If I win the match, or cash I will play another. If I lose that match I step back down to the $100.00 matches and rebuild. The competition is usually easier the lower you play and the expectation to make money is higher. If I have done well at the $200.00 matches I will eventually step up to the $500.00 buy in matches but only when I'm up about twice the higher buy in amount. If I lose, then I start over again at the lower buy in amounts. I apply the same principal to ring games. I will buy into one to three $.50 / $1.00 NL ring games which the buy ins are capped at $100.00 and build from there. Not until I'm up about 5 times the original buy ins will I increase the stakes to $1 / $2 NL. I apply the same principle to raising the stakes during the day. The higher you see me playing in a day, the better my day is going and not vice versa as many players do to chase back losses. I think that is the biggest mistake you can make in trying to build your healthy bank roll is to chase after losses in bigger games. I usually have an approximate daily goal to make which includes the tournaments that I want to play at night. I usually play the bulk of my multi table tournaments at nighttime when I can concentrate the most. Over the course of the day I try and make my goal for the day which will include any and all buy ins to the tournaments that I want to play at night. That way, if I don't cash in the night time tournaments I have still made my goal for the day. If I cash in the tournaments at night, I have basically free rolled into them with my winnings during the day and it is like a bonus to me. I learned a long time ago that every time I let my ego come into play and I sit in bigger games I almost inevitably get clobbered. When I have built up my winnings during the day, I seem to play better at the table as well as play with much less fear. If you ever see me in a $1000.00 buy in game, be that ring or sitngo, you can rest assured that I have been having a very successful day.

Avoiding chasing your rush the next day

One of the keys to being disciplined is not starting off in bigger games the day after a very successful day. A good run does not last forever and you have to be prepared to start over again with your grind and stick to it. By starting each day fresh, regardless of the previous day's results, you decrease your risk and increase your win expectation. After winning big amounts online in some tournaments I have let my ego out at times and stepped up to bigger games and usually have lost more than I would ever deem reasonable. Sure, by stepping up you can have big days, but you can also have big losing swings too. By controlling the betting amounts that you start each day with you can help control the nasty swings that seem to accompany playing poker. The reality is that I do not swing very much at all by sticking to my game strategy. In fact, I stay very consistent overall over long periods of time. I set my goal, I stick to my tactics and strategy and I see consistent results. Some players have huge wins in each day numbering into the thousands or tens of thousands but they have as many losing days over time with the swings being mind numbing. I do not like that drama or the feeling of such huge swings so my strategy tries to reduce those swings at minimal risk. My point is, over time, if my goal was let's say $500.00 a day and by sticking to my system I usually achieve that. That $500.00 a day adds up to giant amounts over time. Some players who play very high may have days that eclipse my daily goal but they will have losing days that and jarring. Over time, the consistency will make you more money than taking big risks and playing over your head and bank roll abilities.

Stick to what you know. If you are in the bank roll building stage of your online poker career you have to pick the games that you are best at and stick to them. Personally, when I have to rebuild my bankroll, I will play 90% heads up matches as they are my best game. When I really need to rebuild, that is what I stick to. I move to the higher variance games when I am comfortable with my bankroll and comfortable in my confidence level. My being patient and disciplined you will be able to take a very small bankroll and turn it into a healthy one in time. Just do not waver from your plan and do not take big risks regardless of how soft you think a table is. Bad beats can happen and at that level, on a small bankroll it can be crippling. If you are going to play tournaments, make sure that you satellite into them and not just direct buy in. That alone over time will save you a lot of money.

Create a plan, stick to it and in time you will see your bankroll grow. Decrease risk, maximize return expectation and be patient. It will work!

Jim *KrazyKanuck* Worth