Building Your Bankroll

I ran across a great little article called How People Build Poker Bankrolls that I thought was really interesting. Bankroll management is the downfall of many players. How many guys do you know that can play the game well but always seem to be begging for a buy-in or asking you if you'll stake them? For me, it's far too many.

It's easy to learn about bankroll management but being disciplined enough to stick to it is the tough part. The first step is to put together a plan on how to build up your bankroll. You need to figure out how you'll use bonuses, winnings, etc to move up in stakes and how to know when you've moved up past your abilities.

You have to remember that if you want to be in it for the long-haul you have to plan like you would anything else worth doing. You need to figure out how much risk you're willing to accept and what you're going to do if your results at the table don't pan out.

I think a good rule of thumb for NL cash games is having at least 20 buy-ins. That isn't 20 big-bets, that's 20x the buy-in. If the buy-in is $1 you should be sitting down with about 100BB so $100. And 20 x $100 = $2,000.

For limit players there is less variance so you can get away with only sitting down with 25BB but you should still have 20 x that in your bankroll.

For Sit and Go's around 40 or 50 buy-ins will be needed to cover the variance. So if you play $10 SnG's you would want to have $400 - $500 in your bankroll to help absorb any downswings.

Multi-table tournaments are very tough because you can go long streaks without cashing. I don't really recommend multi-table tournaments for trying to build up a bankroll though. Unless you have the cash to start fairly high you'll need to start off playing lots of tournaments with huge fields which increases your variance. You would probably be better off playing SnG's or cash games and play in freerolls or wait around for low buy-in events.

But the most important part in all of this is knowing not just when to move up but when you need to move down. If you lose more than 25% of your bankroll your best bet is to move down in limits and work your way back up. There's no shame in that. It's the sign of someone with good bankroll discipline.

So make your plan, work your plan, and prosper!

Moneymaker and Farha Going Head-Up Again?

Who would not enjoy a strong rematch? Funny enough , the WSOP is convinced poker fanatics will love to watch former adversaries go at it once more. The World Series of Poker launched a series of rematches from previous Main Event showdowns.

The WSOP has done a great job deciding on the matchups, Chris Moneymaker vs. Sammy Farha (2003), Johnny Chan vs. Phil Hellmuth (1989), and the final they are leaving up to the supporters. You can vote for the third match up over at the WSOP Facebook fan page.

The fan choices will be:

1988 WSOP: Johnny Chan vs. Erik Seidel
2004 WSOP: Greg Raymer vs. David Williams
2006 WSOP: Jamie Gold vs. Paul Wasicka
2010 WSOP: Jonathan Duhamel vs. John Racener

My particular favourite is 2004 WSOP: Greg Raymer vs. David Williams

The WSOP will do something a bit different with each one of the contests which should be extremely exciting.

Moneymaker vs. Farha is going to be best two out of three. The initial match-up is going to have both players with the same actual chip count that they had going heads up in 2003. The second rematch will reverse the chip stacks. And if there is a need for another game it'll be arranged with even chip stacks.

Chan vs. Hellmuth will be a straight-up one match with even chip stacks.

Zero details have been offered for the structure of the third, fan chosen, event.

The Moneymaker vs. Farha event will be a popular one. It was Moneymaker's win of the 2003 WSOP Main Event championship that is recognized as the beginning of the online poker boom. The tale of a normal guy playing a $40 online qualifier and making his way through some of the best poker players on earth to win poker's most presitgious prize in poker was virtually too good to be real.

In the same way, Raymer vs. Williams was another tale of relatively undiscovered but particularly personable players making it a lot further than some folks imagined probable.

The events will be shot for ESPN on June 2 in the Rio in Sin City. If you're in town the rematches are open to everyone and free to watch.

Full Tilt's Lastet Software Release Let's Your Schedule Your Own Tournaments

Just in time for their Take 2 promotion Full Tilt Poker has unveiled the latest update consisting of several extra features, such as the ability to ask for non-public tourneys and your account history.

The biggest change in the upgrade could be the private tournament functionality. Although Full Tilt has previously offered personal tournaments these were only available by getting in touch with support. Now, private tournaments are much more comparable to the PokerStars Home Games feature that enables players to schedule their own tourneys whenever they want without the involvement of a customer support representative.

Some of the additional features rolled out in the upgrade:

- Ring game tickets: Building from the notion of tourney tickets now you can purchase buy-ins for cash games.

- Customized bet buttons: Go on and arrange customizable buttons depending on how you play pre and post flop.

- Request account history: Have to have an review of your recent history? Well, Tilt has finally unveiled the capability for you get at this info without the need to contact customer support.

Click here to download the latest version of Full Tilt Poker.

Win a seat to the WSOP on Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt Poker has recently announced its schedule of 2011 WSOP Qualifiers, many different ways players to get their seat at the world’s largest poker contest.

Besides their itinerary of Direct Qualifiers, Full Tilt Poker offers the following approaches to win WSOP seats:

$1 Main Event Seats
Daily Shootouts
150 Seat Main Event Guarantee
Race to the Main Event
Steps to the Main Event

What's more, players are being furnished 10 million good reasons to win their 2011 WSOP Main Event seat at Full Tilt Poker with $10 Million Main Event Mania. If players earn their Main Event seat on the internet at Full Tilt Poker and go on to win, they're going to be qualified for a $10,000,000 added bonus in addition to their first-place prize money!

Beyond the $10 million bonus, if participating players finish in the money at this year's Main Event, Full Tilt will give to them a free of charge seat to the 2012 Main Event.

Full Tilt is also holding yet another carrot in front of the players who win a minumum of one WSOP Main Event seat at Full Tilt Poker; players which win numerous seats to this year’s Main Event gain an entry to a special $35K Multi-Entry Freeroll Tournament for each and every seat won.

Click here and be on your way to the 2011 WSOP!

Onyx Cup Series

Qualifier tournaments are now running to Onyx Cup Series, which includes half a dozen impressive high-stakes live events with buy-ins from $100K to $300K. The six-event prize pool is predicted to get to $30 million - and you could possibly be there.

Full Tilt's Onyx Cup Series Qualifier tourneys award $105K Onyx Cup Series Event 1 Prize Packages - that include the $100K buy-in plus $5K for expenses. Onyx Cup Series Event 1 Qualifier tourneys are scheduled for the below times:

March 27th at 18:30 ET - $600+$40 buy-in

April 10th at 18:30 ET - $1,000+$60 buy-in

May 1st at 18:30 ET - $2,000+$100 buy-in

You may buy-in directly as well as win a seat for a small fraction of the price tag via Full Tilt's satellite tourneys. Players may also win their Event 1 seat through part in the Onyx Cup Series Freeroll tourneys.

The Onyx Cup Series is a series of live tourneys in the USA, Europe, and Asia. The players collect points in every tourney they participate in in and the player who accumulates the most points will be awarded a sports vehicle.

The Onyx Cup Series consists of:

Six major events with tournaments ranging from $100,000 - $300,000

Only the top 3 winners of each event acquire points that are then totaled

Prize pool expected at $30 million

See Full Tilt for more info on qualifiers

Mike Matusow Bio

Mike Matusow, also known as The Mouth, was born April 30, 1968 in Los Angeles California. Today Mike is a professional poker player residing in Henderson, Nevada. His nickname originates from the fact that he has acquired a reputation for trash talking at the tables. He is equally well-known for destroying hours or even days of good play with a single spectacular misjudgment, (known as a "Mike Matusow Blow-up" or "Mike Matusow Meltdown"). In fact, he caught the attention of the mainstream poker world while on a featured table during the 2004 WSOP Main Event when he taunted the relatively unknown Greg Raymer. He quickly went from a very comfortable chip position to busting out of the tournament crying. Greg Raymer, obviously, went on to win the WSOP Main Event having the ultimate last laugh.

Even as a kid Matusow was always an avid competitor from shooting pool to building racecars to excelling at bowling. He was first introduced to the game at 18 years of age by way of video poker, which he played at the Maxim Casino. He played so often that he suffered from repetitive strain injury in his shoulders and arms. He learned Texas Hold’Em from Steve Samaroff in 1989, and proceeded to hone his skills at Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, also in Las Vegas.

Mike came bursting out of the gates at the WSOP when in his first year playing the event he finshed second in the Omaha 8/Better. Two years later Mike won the $3,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em. In 2001 Mike finished in six place at the WSOP Main Event. And the following year he won the $5,000 Omaha 8/Better WSOP tournament. He's been called one of the best Omaha players in the world.

As Mike became increasingly successful at the poker tables his personal life started taking a toll. In 2004 he was sentenced to six months in Clark County jail on cocaine related charges. He had befriended someone who turned out to be an undercover police officer and agreed to help him buy some coke. Mike took a long hard look at his lifestyle and rededicated himself to becoming the best poker player he could be once he was released from jail.

Only three months after his release from jail he made the final table of the WSOP Main Event and finished in ninth-place winning $1 million. He stunned many by also winning the WSOP Tournament of Champions and taking home another $1 million.

Despite lifetime tournament winnings of over $7.25 million rumors constantly circulate about whether or not Mike is financially solvent. In 2010 he infamously bet fellow poker player Ted Forrest $2 million that Ted could not slim down from 188 lbs to 140 lbs in only two months. Forrest did in fact drop the weight but Mike was quoted as saying that he coudln't afford to pay up. There was some controversy surrounding that quote with Matusow later claiming he was only joking but Forrest has kept mum on whether or not he every was paid. Some speculate that Matusow has worked out a payment plan with Forrest which is why Forrest has not been very clear on whether or not the bet was paid.

Take 2 - Make as much as $25 and Double Points

Take 2 with Full Tilt Poker to earn up to $25 Together with double the Full Tilt Points which you’d usually be given for playing within your preferred ring games.

Going from Friday, April 8th to Sunday, April 17th, play at least two normal ring-game tables simultaneously or any sort of Rush Poker* table in the course of Take 2 to obtain double the Full Tilt Points. Play as often that you can throughout Take 2 and they’ll also reward you with up to $25 in cash money, based upon just how many days you play the game.

Be paid up to $25 in Cash

The more you play in the course of Take 2, the more you will take home. Make at the very least five Take 2 bonus points on any five days for the period of Take 2 to obtain $5 in cash. Accomplish this on 9 of the ten days to gain a further $20, for a total of $25:

Level 1: Play on any 5 days all through Take 2 and receive $5
Level 2: Play on nine of the 10 days throughout Take 2 and be awarded a further $20, for a cumulative total of $25

Earn Double the Full Tilt Points

You'll find 2 ways to generate double the Full Tilt Points all through Take 2:

Play Two normal ring-game tables together and get double points at BOTH tables. For instance, in the event you earn 60 points whilst playing on one table and forty points while playing on the other, you’d usually pick up 100 Full Tilt Points for your play. During Take 2, you’ll get an overall total of two hundred points - 100 points on your play as well as an added 100 bonus points.

Play any existing table of Rush Poker* - the world’s speediest poker game - and earn double points. For instance, in the event you make 100 points whilst playing in a Rush Poker* table during Take 2, you’ll get an extra 100 bonus points for a total of 200 Full Tilt Points. Rush Poker* stands out as the quickest approach to get paid double points during Take 2.

You can utilize your bonus points to receive some terrific items from the Full Tilt Poker Store, including plasma TVs, iPods, custom Full Tilt Poker jerseys plus much more. You can even make use of your points to enter awesome Full Tilt Points Sit & Gos and Multi-Table Tournaments.

The best ways to Take part in Take 2

Follow these steps to be involved in Take 2 and pick up your hard earned money and bonus points:

For those who haven’t done so by now, download Full Tilt Poker and set up an account.

Log in to Full Tilt Poker and click on the red Cashier button in the game lobby.

Click the My Promotions box and then the Take 2 link.

That will send you to your own Take 2 page. Do as instructed on this page - it's important to decide to participate in this promotion or you'll not earn cash or double points for your play through Take 2.

Keep track of how many bonus points along with the amount of money you’ve received during Take 2 by visiting your own special Take 2 page in My Promotions. Your bonus points are going to be put into your player account after just one hour of being achieved; any cash money earned during Take 2 are going to be awarded right after the promo has terminated.