Chris Ferguson's "turning $1 into $20,000 playing online" project

[Aceshigh7]

Read in "Aces and Kings" about a project of Chris Ferguson's to take one dollar and start out playing micro limit online poker and turn it into 20 grand. This is only briefly mentioned in the book, but I would really like to read more about this. Does anyone know any articles or resources online that detail how this was done or if he succeeded? Thanks.

[Sully]

I thought this was interesting as well. I don't doubt that he could do it, but I seriously question whether or not a "world class" player would really find this a good use of his time.

[kevstreet]

[ QUOTE ]
... a good use of his time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless, of course, he decided to keep a journal and turn it in to a book.

[M2d]

It's not that tough unless he gives himeself a time limit or confines himself to microlimits (makes the entire 20K at micro)

[fnurt]

not that tough? sounds like a bit of hyperbole there.

It's not hard, just time consuming. I'm pretty sure 50BBs is fine if you start at .01/.02 limit or NL.

not that hard to make 20k off $1 starting at microlimit? who are you ppl kidding???

[A_Junglen]

[ QUOTE ]
It's not hard, just time consuming. I'm pretty sure 50BBs is fine if you start at .01/.02 limit or NL.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure it would be quite difficult....

[drewjustdrew]

Do you know if he was concerned with going broke at any point and reloading? Otherwise, I could see him sitting at the .01/.02 level for upwards of 100 hours before increasing his limits. If he started at .05/.10, getting his stack to 20-40 big bets before increasing limits and could reload if broke, that would make some sense. Especially since he is a tourney player exclusively/primarily.

[YTV]

I dont think it would be that tough at all. I started with $10 and turned it into $12,000 in the last 8 months, I didnt play microlimits to start though, I played $1 STT, and moved up from there. Also 75% of the time Im only playing 1 game at a time, due to other work, so Im sure playing 4+ tables at once he could do it in 2 months or so.

[Karak567]

I turned 85 dollars into 5 grand within a month of when I started playing a while back.

Of course I started out on a heater (best way to build a roll, eh?)

[M2d]

[ QUOTE ]
not that hard to make 20k off $1 starting at microlimit? who are you ppl kidding???

[/ QUOTE ]
with no time constraints and a decently playing subject, it's pretty easy, I think.

[cwsiggy]

Seems like a big waste of his time. I suppose if he just does this in his spare time with no overall time limits - eh I suppose it's interesting.

[TaoTe]

I just turned .01 into four billion dollars in three minutes /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Alex/Mugaaz]

He doesn't need any increases in skill level in order to optimally beat any of the limits on the way to $20k. This is why other winning players don't find it impressive, it is simply a function of time.

[ChrisAJ]

Maybe he's bored and wants to do something completely different. He'd probably make a killing (relatively speaking, of course) off all the other microlimit players trying to be the one who busted Jesus.

I wonder if he'd like me to bankroll him???

[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
He'd probably make a killing (relatively speaking, of course) off all the other microlimit players trying to be the one who busted Jesus.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't care that you added the qualifier "relatively speaking", this is still damned funny.

I wouldn't call it easy. But it is definitely doable. The .01/.02 tables are loose. It would be pretty easy (for him) to turn $1 into $10 within a couple of days. Then just keep moving up in levels.

If you throw in tournaments, it becomes easier: Turn the $1 into $10-15 playing cash games , then enter a few $1 to $3 tourneys. If he doesn't cash, go back to ring games until $10-15. If he plays well enough, he'll have over $100. Then enter $10 tourneys. Then $100 tourneys once he's at $2-3k.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In Antwort auf:</font><hr />
I wouldn't call it easy. But it is definitely doable. The .01/.02 tables are loose. It would be pretty easy (for him) to turn $1 into $10 within a couple of days. Then just keep moving up in levels.

[/ QUOTE ]

I actually needed 9 days (playtime 71h 4table) to make 500BB at 0.02/0.04$ Tables.

I think it is easier to make 500BB in higher limits then nano/micro limit!

[J_V]

I think I could turn 1 dollar into 20k no problem. And I'd take a large bet that I could turn it into 100k in a year.

[BackhandLob]

How about trying to turn $20,000 into $1 playing micro-limit? Now that would really be impressive....

[cwsiggy]

Seems he's doing better turning 10k into bigger money as he is at the final table (again!) of the WSOP Circuit Harrah's main event.

1 Chad Layne $ 287,500
2 Gregg Fund $ 175,000
3 Kevin Song $ 174,500
4 Tom Pniak $ 161,500
5 Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson $ 136,500
6 An Tran $ 134,000

[Oluwafemi]

from what i read, he gave himself a time limit: 6 months.

No need to turn $1 into $20 all at the same limit. Once you turn $1 into $5, increase limits. Once you gets to $20, start the tourneys with half the roll and keep plugging away at ring games. Considering that he's probably an above average tournament player /images/graemlins/wink.gif, he could probably cash in a few tourneys. At a $1 tourney, he needs to be top 5 to get $100.

If he gets on a good roll, he can start at the $2 and $3 tourneys. Before long, he's at the $20 tourneys, and winning hundreds when he cashes.

[Quicksilvre]

[ QUOTE ]
Seems like a big waste of his time. I suppose if he just does this in his spare time with no overall time limits - eh I suppose it's interesting.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure he must have some sort of prop bet going along with it. Otherwise, it doesn't seem worth it (except for maybe some personal research or amusement).

[tdp]

I actually did turn exactly $1 into exactly $20K but it wasn't entirely online.Prima gave me $10 free to try thier site.I invested $1 in the level 1 qualifier for the Bay 101 Shooting Star sattelite.I won my way through levels 1,2 and 3 no problem.Then I won a seat to the big game in the sattelite.I placed 39th out of 437 for $15K and a $5k bounty.So yes,it can be done.
Not bad on a free dollar.

[Alex/Mugaaz]

I'll take a prop bet on this feat if anyone is willing to make it worthwhile.

[wegs the wegs]

It really isn't that hard to do. It takes a long while, but it isn't that hard to do. I won a nickel on a site a year and a half ago and that started my real money online poker career. I believe it was in the 12th month when that nickel eventually hit the $20,000 mark. And I sucked. Chris should be able to do it easily in 6 months.

I believe that most good players could do it if they moved passed the "This is the biggest waste of time" phase, something few can do at the penny tables after playing 5/10 or 400NL. As it was mentioned, it's only worth it for Chris if he put everything in a journal and then into a book. Everyone would read it and try to do the same thing.

[KramerTM]

[ QUOTE ]
Read in "Aces and Kings" about a project of Chris Ferguson's to take one dollar and start out playing micro limit online poker and turn it into 20 grand. This is only briefly mentioned in the book, but I would really like to read more about this. Does anyone know any articles or resources online that detail how this was done or if he succeeded? Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tried this myself last year incidentally. Got $1.20 up to $120. Once you get there, the sky is the limit if you stay within your BR. Anyway, I blew it at that point. I'll always wonder though.

[mike4bmp]

[ QUOTE ]
How about trying to turn $20,000 into $1 playing micro-limit? Now that would really be impressive....

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[J-Lo]

I was down to $2 in my stars account (only online poker account at the time). I played penny NL HU games, and penny PLO ring games... i've won over 25k, and now am playing $55 tourneys. I've only made one deposit EVER, and it was for $70

[MicroBob]

Any dedicated, winning player should be able to do this.

One plan via ring-games:
$1 move to .01/.02 - win 50BB's
$2 move to .02/.04 - win 100BB's
$5 move to .05/.10 - win 100BB's
$15 move to .10/.20 - win 100BB's
$40 move to .25/.50 - win 100BB's
$90 move to .50/1 - win 100BB's
$190 move to 1/2 - win 100BB's
$390 move to 2/4 - win 100BB's
$790 move to 3/6 - win 100BB's
$1390 move to 5/10 - win 100BB's
$2390 move to 10/20 - win 100BB's
$4390 move to 15/30 - win 550BB's


So it's really quite similar to just winning 2000BB's over a long stetch of hands.
If your bankroll gets cut in half at a given level that step back and rebuild again.
no problem.

Of course, you could eliminate the need to have to do this by just winning 200BB's at a given limit before moving up...but that will take longer of course...and your time would be better spent just SEEING if it will work out for you at the next limit and THEN dropping back to the previous limit if necessary.



2000 BB's will take awhile to grind-out obviously...especially playing on a constantly short bankroll where you'll have to drop back once or twice in there just due to normal downswings.
But I think it could be done in 150k hands or so (perhaps less if run hot obviously).

[Oluwafemi]

[ QUOTE ]
I was down to $2 in my stars account (only online poker account at the time). I played penny NL HU games, and penny PLO ring games... i've won over 25k, and now am playing $55 tourneys. I've only made one deposit EVER, and it was for $70

[/ QUOTE ]

but did it take you 6 months to go from $2 to $25K?

[lighterjobs]

does $.01/$.02 limit even exist?

[Jordan Olsommer]

[ QUOTE ]
does $.01/$.02 limit even exist?

[/ QUOTE ]

UB spreads it in limit, Pokerstars spreads it in NL.

[deepdowntruth]

I can't even turn $600 into $1000. At least not the last month or so. :-(

[Rudbaeck]

[ QUOTE ]
2000 BB's will take awhile to grind-out obviously...especially playing on a constantly short bankroll where you'll have to drop back once or twice in there just due to normal downswings.
But I think it could be done in 150k hands or so (perhaps less if run hot obviously).

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd estimate that Jesus is more than a 1.33BB/100 winner. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

If he is doing it for some type of book why not just start with $20 or $50 instead? For the average person I doubt seeing him go from $1-$20k would be any more impressive than going from $20-$20k. I also couldn't imagine anyone wanting to read the part where he turned $1 into a $20 bankroll in just three days at the micro limit tables.

[rokstedy]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the fact that he explained his process right there in the book. He said he started with $1 and turned it into 20K but never risked more than 10% of his bankroll. That was a rule. Incidentally, he didn't do this while he was a tourning pro. This early in his career while he was expirimentin with game theory and discovering what kind of player he wanted to be.

[Shaun]

[ QUOTE ]
Read in "Aces and Kings" about a project of Chris Ferguson's to take one dollar and start out playing micro limit online poker and turn it into 20 grand. This is only briefly mentioned in the book, but I would really like to read more about this. Does anyone know any articles or resources online that detail how this was done or if he succeeded? Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

I did this, but not by choice. Three years ago I had to spend most of my bankroll to the point where all I had left for poker was 1 stinking dollar that Stars refunded to me on account of someone colluding against me. (How I got a dollar only is beyond me).

Anyway, so I had that 1$, and entered a 1$ multi-table on Stars. I won 12$ (I was lucky). Then I played a few more of the really small tourneys (1$, 3$) until I got enough to play some 25c blind NL games. While this was going on I played freeroll tourneys at America's Cardroom and won some promotional dollars there. The prizes were usually 50 promo bucks, which I would then take to the .50-1.00 and 1-2 limit games to earn the right to cash them out, and continue building a real money bankroll.

Anyway after a while I had built enough bankroll off of this dollar and the freerolls (which unfortunately no longer exist) to move up to just playing 50$ NL games. Years later that dollar turned into a good bit more than 20 grand and the limits have gone up a good deal too.