How can Chris Ferguson turn $1 into $20,000?

I read that before he did the $0 to $10,000 he turned $1 into $20,000. How is this possible? I have $1 on fulltilt right now and there is no sng or cash game i can buy into.

yes you can, daily there are i think 2 tourneys that cost $1. the fergusson and another one.

just look around.

go to the tournaments section and order by buy-in.

Yes but he said he started in 1c 2c cash games, and does the Ferguson tourney have an entry fee?

The Ferguson tourney does not have an entry fee, just 1$.

Looks like a good little tourney. Shame it starts at 5am uk time.

Are you sure about the cash games? I don't play on FT, but on PS they have limit ring games where it costs under a $1 to enter.

Obviously, you need to be playing at a different site to get 1c/2c games. I started on such a site until the great U.S. funds fiasco. They even gave me $5 after I had played play money for a while. I guess Chris can't count that or endorsements fees he might get.

I'm sure, the smallest stakes on full tilt are, 5c 10c with a min buy-in of $2 for no limit, and 25c 50c for limit. I definitely heard Chris Ferguson say himself on a podcast that he started out playing 1c 2c PLO hi/low.

i think he uses magic

He made a statement saying he built his first bankroll all from the freerolls on FTP, which is very hard if you've ever tryed. Anyway I think he won at least $20 before moving onto $1 tournaments and small sit n go's. It must have taken a lot of discipline to be able to win that much.

Good luck at your tables

Where is his story?

well the story is here:
Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker - All Promotions: Chris Ferguson Challenge

I have been trying the freerolls for about a month now and last week I managed to get a 3rd place finish. That gave me $9 to start with. Eventually i built up to $25 in a couple of days. Then i have started playing heads up tourneys and went to 50c in one horrible day. =/

back to freerolls now

I'm still amazed that he can pull that off. That takes a motherload of patience - not just waiting for cards and to make moves - but also to put up and compete with the players/donkeys that play in these freerolls and the micro-levels. That is some serious grinding-it-out work there.

Has anyone even come remotely close to this feat (eg. turning freerolls into a thousand dollars or more)? Major props to you if you've done anything like that. Would be interesting to know the time frame it took to accumulate whatever amount you're at as well.

Chris knows when to hold em and when to fold em. That is what we are all looking for. Turning $0 into $20,000 is amazing. I wonder what he'll do next. I think all of his winnings are going to charity.

I have turned $30 into $3000. Took about 6 months. I could tell you more accurately, were I at home with my notes (I`m at the office at the mo`).

I actually think that is much easier than Chris Ferguson`s feat, though. As others have said, the toughest bit is the first bit. By starting with a deposit of $30, I skipped the really difficult part.

I've started playing freerolls on poker4ever. After a while I build up a couple of bucks, started grinding limit tables (0.1 blinds). Got 2nd in a frequent player event which got me about 25 bucks. After about 2 or 3 weeks I've build up my roll to 50 bucks. Started bonus whoring and playing NL 10. Now, about 5 or 6 months later my BR is over 1500. So yeah, it is possible, but you'll have to be willing to grind it out, specially at the start. (Had 28 bucks build up from freerolls before the above happened, but lost it all when I went on tilt once, that sucked)

Was four months. I`m home now.

Ive done this, i usually build up a BR to about $150 from scratch. I have definitely made over $1000 online and i have never put my own money on. I don't see the point of me depositing, because if i did deposit, i would only put on like $30 and that can be reached by playing free rolls.


Exactly, once i am up to like $20-$30 its easy beating those $2 sng's and micro limit games. But when you cash in a freeroll for about $3, you only have on chance or your back to free rolls again.

its possible! You know how i know?? BECUASE IVE DONE IT! And then some. I began playing freerolls on cardschat and other pokerforums mostly at Full Tilt. This began in probably late spring early summer 2005. I think i won a freeroll cant remember but i started to build my bank. After alot of trial and error i found my niche and began to make steady income. By fall of 2005 i placed 4th in 50k gar. on Full Tilt that paid $6600, which was my biggest cash to date. Since then ive made well over $20,000 online(possibly over $30k, its hard to keep track nowdays). I play now on Pokerstars. unfortunately thepokerdb.com didnt start keeping data for FullTILT untill 2006. You can see some of my results there. It wasnt easy. It did require alot of self analysis and patience and grinding and all those good things. I can know say im a constant winning poker player.

That's amazing. Are there any good freerolls on pokerstars? I like the full tilt ones a lot, but every time I download it it messes up my computer.

I find this very funny since 90% of your threads are about the freerolls here? why not join us in the real money tournaments then if you have 30k?


not saying you are not telling the truth just find it funny and ironic. You went from like 40 posts about the freerolls to last 3 posts saying you have made tons of money.

the hubble freerolls on pokerstars are not good in my opinion. you start with 10000 players and have to finish in the top 27 just to get a ticket to the paid round 2 tourney. if i were you, i'd stick to the fulltilt or bodog freerolls.

Chris Ferguson's $1 to $20,000 experiment was performed several years ago before he signed his endorsement contract with Full Tilt. I've heard and read the same thing, that he started out playing penny games, but I don't know what site he used. Or even if it was a particular site. It could have been various ones for all I know.

OK, I'll say it. He's totally full of s**t. Anybody who could turn zero bucks into $20,000 to $30,000 in two years would be playing at a level that brings a healthy level of notoriety in the online poker world. I've read the posts and we're not talking Devilfish Ulliott here, boys. Poker and pathology often travel together.

Well, did you actually read the article you linked us to? Your over-stretching of the $9 freeroll winnings is exactly what Chris is stressing NOT to do. His whole emphasis is on Bankroll Management, not on poker skills or luck. The point he's trying to make to all players at any level of expertise or stakes is that you don't have to let this game bust you out. Whether you're a new player making mistakes or an expert player at the big games, proper Bankroll Management will always leave you with money to play with.

IF you actually looked youd notice that my posts about the freerolls were from 2005. I do play real money games. Thats how i make REAL MONEY......i told you you could look me up on thepokerdb.com. Im not a regular poster here. cHECK YOUR FACTS FIRST

ok what is your name?

be happy to post the facts but I wont go to pokerdb to find them.

Im sorry you feel that way. I believe my record stands for itself as do the results. I do feel like im one of the best players now online. But that doesnt necessarily mean recognition. First of all i dont usually play in large buyin games where most of the recognition lies. And despite my success im not rich. 30k dollars is still not alot of money in this world. Another thing is thepokerdb.com does not account for SNG and cash games so its not a completely accurate account of all moneys won.

doctavius is my name

LOL because you won 30k you concider yourself better then players that play for 100k pots LOL. I know this guy that won 65k and his thought process through hands is horrible. As for tracking yes there are programs that track STT and as for cash games give me a day or so to get in touch with some of my friends and see if they have ever heard of you.



I will get back to you on this.

You dont have to believe me i really dont care either way. Im just trying to make a living. And again your twisting it. I NEVER said i was better than anyone. I said i am one of the best most consistant online players. Keep in mind also i have taken a few hiatus from online poker.

yea must of missunderstood that right?


look at your stats online trust me when I say they are very respectful and I do believe you are a good player and I know you can make money from nothing. I know a guy that had $0 online 2 years ago and now he has like over 200k and plays 25/50NL. I know a lot of players online and if you play middle to big games it wouldnt be hard to run your name by them. I will post your stats here so people can actually see yes you are a winning player. I never doubted that at all I just doubted how you came across and the quote I bolded is just silly.

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i dont play big games. I just started playing again from about 7 months off. as of now i play max 11+1 buyins as my bank is not big. I play on Pokerstars so comecheck me out if you want. And like i said in another post the Full Tilt stats are not complete. they only started posting results in 2006 after some big wins i had there.

If you can find some of those SNG results online for me that would be cool. I think you would be impressed with what you see.

again like I have said over and over I never said I didnt believe you even in my 1st post I said it. I just go by the information that is availible to me on the forum and on the net. If you are telling the truth (which again I dont care) then great maybe you could instead of just saying I won this yippie. You can post more about how you did it or in the HA section to help new players to poker that would benifit from your knowledge.

The phrase about you being one of the best players online right now is silly and I think you knew that after you posted it. Seeing as you have never sat at big games. Even the dude I know that made 200k is stopping playing 25/50 because its a very very tough game.

anyway if you are doing that good then I say "way to go" (quoted myself lol), if you arnt then thats pretty sad you would have to lie to us to fit in. AGAIN IM NOT SAYING YOU ARE LYING. So get to the strategy and HA sections sir.