Building a bankroll
Mar 18, 2008By: Aaron Hendrix What if I told you there was an easy, relatively risk free way to make $2,000 a month playing poker. All it would take is a starting bankroll of $2,000 and the ability to play 125 hours of poker a month. The only skill set you would need is to be an average to above average heads up player. Sign you up right?
There is a catch involved though. It will require you to play at limits that you probably aren't comfortable playing with and it will require you to treat it like a job. No short cuts. No skipping steps.
If anyone has ever played blackjack and used the Martingale betting system, this will sound moderately familiar to you. The difference here is that as poker players we have control over the outcome of the event. We are playing against another player, not a casino... as such the betting system (which when used in blackjack can lead to going broke quite easily) can work in poker, especially if you do as I do and implement a strict stop loss.
Before you go off thinking this is some ridiculous scheme, I will tell you that I've been using it since November and have won $6,300 in 73 sessions. I had 71 sessions where I won $100 or slightly more and 2 sessions where I lost $400.
Here is how the system works. I start out with a $400 allotment for the session. I play a $10+1 heads up match. If I win it, I play another one at the same level. If I lose it, I move up to the next limit... or in this case $20+2. If I win this one, I move back down to $10+1. If I lose it, I go to the next higher limit that will give me a profit for my losses thus far if I win (which means $50+5). If I lose five straight matches in a row, my day is done. I don't try and get it back. I just get up and come back the next day. You play until you have won $100 for the session. Once you've done that, you start a new session... either that day if you're not done playing for the day... or on a different day.
The reason this works is because in heads up matches, all things being equal, especially if you are a more skilled player than your opponent(s)... it will be very difficult for you to lose five heads up matches in a row, even at the increasing limits and tougher opponents. Only twice in 73 sessions did I actually lose five in a row. I lost four in a row six times but was able to win the fifth match.
Here's how it looks then:
Bankroll $400
$10+.50 HU match: lose $389.50
$20+1 HU match: win $408.50
$10+.50 HU match: win $418
$10+.50 HU match: win $427.50
$10+.50 HU match: lose $417
$20+1 HU match: lose $396
$50+2.50 HU match: win $443.50
$10+.50 HU match: lose $433.00
$20+1 HU match: lose $412
$50+2.50 HU match: lose $359.50
$100+5.00 HU match: lose $254.50
$200+10 HU match: win $444.50
$10+.50 HU match: win $454.00
$10+.50 HU match: lose $443.50
$20+1 HU match: lose $422.50
$50+2.50 HU match: win $470
$10+.50 HU match: win $479.50
$10+.50 HU match: lose $469
$20+1 HU match: win $488
$10+.50 HU match: win $497.50
$10+.50 HU match: lose $487
$20+1 HU match: win $506
At this point I've won $106 and will end the session. Interesting note from this session is that I went 11-11 and still made $100. If I had gone 11-11 in solely $20+1 heads up matches, I would have had a loss of $22.
The stop loss helps to eliminate the risk of ruin (of losing your whole bankroll). If you win 1 out of 2 heads up matches and set a stop gap of 5 losses in a row, you have a 3.1% chance of losing 5 in a row (50%*50%*50%*50%*50%). Over the course of 100 sessions you will lose 5 in a row 3 times. So if you make $100, 97 times, and lose $500, 3 times, you profit $8200. In order to lose your entire $2000 bankroll, you would need to lose five in a row on five different occasions.
This stop loss is the key to this working. If you get frustrated after losing a $200 heads up match and decide to play a $500 heads up match, you could be digging yourself a hole that you can't climb out of. Using this “system” is a grind (usually you can get in 3-4 heads up matches an hour and it typically takes 15-20 matches to get in a full session)... and requires patience... but if you have the patience to do it, it is a fairly safe way to build your bankroll using a risky system.
