A while back I talked about Chris Ferguson, a well known poker professional that makes a living off his Full Tilt Poker download. In that entry I briefly mentioned that he had once turned $0 into $ 10k. I really enjoy this story as there are a lot of people out there that are not willing to wager any of their own money playing a card game. The Chris Ferguson Challenge shows that a normal person can go from zero to hero on their Full Tilt Poker download by working hard and following some key rules.

The Chris Ferguson Challenge was easy to understand: use the Full Tilt Poker download, begin with $0, and one day finish with a $ 10k bankroll. Ferguson promised that he would donate the entire $ 10k to the Save the Children Foundation when he was finished.

A smart player will know that if they wish to conquer the top Texas Holdem sites, they will have to be cautious with their bankroll. With this in mind, Ferguson had a few rules for his challenge:

1) Download Full Tilt Poker and play freerolls until there is a enough real money in the bankroll.
2) Never enter a STT for more than five percent of the total bankroll (except for $2.50 and below).
3) Refrain from entering a multi-table tournament for more than two percent of the total bankroll (except for $ 1 and below).

The Chris Ferguson Challenge ended up taking a long time because cashing in freerolls on money poker sites is a daunting challenge. In fact, it took more than seven months before Ferguson had his bankroll steady at $6.50! Understanding the need for patience, Ferguson simply continued with what he was doing. His first major breakthrough came after placing 2nd in a $ 1 MTT and winning $ 104.

This relatively large increase for the bankroll did not mean that Ferguson could relax, however. It requires a huge amount of luck to turn $ 100 into thousands in a short time period, even on the best US poker sites. It wasn't until 9 months after his $ 1 MTT score that he finally succeeded and had $ 10,000.

An important fact to note from the Chris Ferguson Challenge is that it is highly unlikely to succeed at such a challenge with poor bankroll management skills. If you want to learn a couple things about bankroll management, go ahead and search for a free poker video on the Internet. If you have been in the game for a while, you probably know that protecting your bankroll is essential for long term success.