Absolute "Zero Cash" Poker

Well, I am certainly getting better at playing against 2000, 3000, 4000 or even 5000 people at NL Hold 'em (or any other poker games) online tables. Last night I played on Absolute Poker Texas Hold 'em NL freeroll. About 4800 people registered and after about 4 hours of playing I managed to get down to 68th place with 63th place being the start of a cash payout, albeit a very small one. But it was my goal to finally break the "100 barrier" with 99 people left at the tables. I've been consistently getting close to the 100 mark and now I've gone below that. A matter of time til I start adding cash to my account for free. And it's also a matter of me improving my bankroll managment as well and when to bluff, call, raise or all-in. I'm doing the same thing like Chris "Jesus" Ferguson's challenge of starting at zero ca$h.

I'm almost a year into an experiment on Full Tilt Poker. I'm attempting to turn $0 into a $10,000 bankroll. With no money to start with, I had no choice but to start out playing Freerolls. Starting out, I'd often manage to win a dollar or two, but I'd quickly get busted and have to start over again. It took some time but, after awhile, I was eventually able to graduate to games that required an actual buy-in.

Even today, people don't believe it's really me when I sit down at Full Tilt's small stakes games. They ask what I'm doing down here, and often tell me stories about how they turned $5 into $500 or $100 into $1,000. Usually, these stories end with the person telling me that they went broke. There's no surprise there. These folks tried to quickly build a bankroll by gambling. They'd play in a game that was beyond their bankroll and, if they happened to win, they'd move up to a higher limit and risk it all one more time. Inevitably, they'd lose a few big hands and go broke.

So, I know I can get some cash game going. I just need stay consistent with my own rules and have been doing so but I've gotten reckless one too many times. But if you have gone past after the first break, then you are probably on the right track doing something right. Or just plain lucky. I realize that my own rules is working well and so I need to stick by it much more consistently. It may take 5 hours just to earn fifty cents to start off with. And it may sound like a small earning, which it is, but by being diligent with my own strict rules it should actually help me when I finally get into small cash games. From there once I hit my stride I could actually see nice jumps but I am prepared for setbacks. It's all a part of the learning process that began in 2002 for me.

My own freeroll challenge starting at zero cash began on August 4, 2007. We'll see how well I do one year from now. Right now, I'm going to play two freerolls poker at the same time to increase my odds of winning some cash to start out with.