A while back I talked about Chris Ferguson, a well known poker professional that is sponsored by the Full Tilt Poker download. That article mentioned something interesting that he had done: he turned $0 into $10k just to prove a point. This accomplishment is notable since it is common to hear someone complain that they cannot “afford” to gamble. The Chris Ferguson Challenge shows that anyone can earn thousands of dollars on their Full Tilt Poker download by working hard and following some key rules.
The steps of the Chris Ferguson Challenge were straightforward: open an account on the Full Tilt Poker download, start with an empty account, and one day end up with $10,000. Ferguson made public that he would donate the entire $10k to the Save the Children Foundation when it was said and done.
It is very important to know that to succeed on the top Texas Holdem sites, a player must adhere to strict bankroll management guidelines. In order to protect his bankroll, Ferguson had a few rules for his challenge:
1) Download Full Tilt Poker and participate in freerolls until a real money bankroll is established.
2) Never enter a STT for over 5% of the total bankroll except for $2.50 stakes.
3) Do not enter an MTT for greater than 2% of the total bankroll. The one exception is for $1 buy-ins.
The Chris Ferguson Challenge went on for a very long time because earning money via freerolls on money poker sites requires a lot of good variance. The fact that it took Ferguson over seven months to keep a $6.50 bankroll should demonstrate this point quite clearly! Understanding the need for patience, Ferguson simply continued with what he was doing. He finally boosted the bankroll in a significant way when he placed 2/683 in a $1 tournament and won $104 in prize money.
This huge boost for the bankroll meant no more freerolls, but there was still plenty of work ahead. To make a lot of money fast you must be incredibly lucky, even on the best US poker sites. It took him an additional nine months before he finally had $10,000 and brought the challenge to an end.
The most important thing to note about the Chris Ferguson Challenge is that it is nearly impossible to succeed at such a challenge with poor bankroll management skills. For tips on this, I strongly suggest you consult an applicable poker video. It is impossible to be a long term winner otherwise.
