How long does it take to build a decent bankroll?

Question

I'm trying to build a bankroll from nothing on PokerStars, and I'm up to about $65 without ever depositing a dime. I play mainly single table S'n'G's, and have been doing this since last fall. I never buy into a table for more than 5% of my bankroll, which means that I'm currently playing $3 games. I've been playing the $1.00 games for what feels like forever. I'm just wondering if anybody else (besides Chris Ferguson, who gave me the idea) has done this. And if you have, how long did it take you to build up $1000? That's my goal. I have a 28% ROI according to Sharkscope, if that helps any.

Answer 1

I've done the same thing - $0 start up and I'm currently at just over 2k.  Pretty much.. it takes a while (short answer).  The most difficult part I've had with building bankroll is moving up in levels because the skill level significantly increases and you need to be able to cope with this.  The donks in the $1-$5 games go away pretty quickly upon higher stakes.  A 28% roi is fairly decent / standard for a good player at your level.

For myself, what worked was two things:

-Switching up many different games and playing types to see what worked for me and when.

-Tournaments.  For the beginning I was an exclusive SnG player, mostly on fixed limit HE.  I've branched out into many things like I said earlier to find out where I can profit from.  Tournaments though - especially early on (getting back to the original statement) can be a leap-frog to your bankroll if you win.  Note: IF YOU WIN.  You don't cash in tournaments you attempt to win them.    Tournaments are the riskiest things you can play, but should you succeed you receive a pretty large bankroll padding / boost.

I took some risks, and during the two week period that was probably the biggest two week period of my poker life I won one for $405, another for $270 and two other cashes $200+s.  This made the game a lot less frustrating afterwards once you have something to work with.

I personally don't play that many tournaments any more because I find them too frustrating to bust on the 2nd to final table.. but if I was in your position again I'd recommend doing some.

Answer 2

although this question really cannot be answered, I can give you some advice on what you could be doing that is more profitable.

Instead of grinding your way trying to make it to 1000 at one site, why not bonus w***e a bit and float your roll around different sites while playing for bonuses?

PS is a particularly difficulty site to play at micros since u get no rakeback and such. Why not move your money over to a site like Hollywood poker (i am just using this site as an example cause i am clearing this bonus atm). You can open an acct thru an afffiliate like pokersourceonline or pokersavvy and get the bonus.

I am doing thru savvy. currently u can deposit and clear 400 points for the bonus. The bonus is worth $108 from savvy and $50 more from Hollywood for finishing the bonus. FWIW even at micros and small buyin SNGs this bonus is not that hard to clear. If you feel that it is, try the other offers that they have, some are easier.

Answer 3

Ultimately it depends how good you are, and if you get unlucky a few times.  The smaller your bank roll, the more vulnerable it is.  And low stakes sit and gos tend to take a lot of rake in proportion to the buy in cost.  For example a $1 sit and go has a 20c rake.  20% of your buy in.  Whereas a $10 sit and go has a $1 rake, just 10% of your buy in.  I'm sure that makes a difference at micro stakes.

In reading the Chris Ferguson article, I know it took him a long time to really build his roll.  And unlike you he is a world class player.

So who knows how long or if you'll make $1,000, but good luck!