If you are starting out with a small bankroll you will want to try to maximise your chances of increasing your bankroll with the least risk possible. The difficulty comes in finding the most efficient way to build your bankroll. Different folks advocate different methods and of course your particular playing style with dictate which works best for you. I’ll let you into a little tip if you are starting out, have a reasonably solid game and you play at PokerStars. Go look for the Sunday Quarter Million $2.20 cash satellites (avoid the 6 seat tourneys and go for the set time tourney). You can find them by logging into your PokerStars account and clicking the following tabs – Tourney –> Satellite –> Cash
A Little Background into What You Will Be Playing
When you sign up to one of these $2.20 satellites you’ll be playing for entry into the popular Sunday Quarter Million tournament which has a standard $11 entry. Now you can play one of these satellites and actually play in the Sunday Quarter Million along with the other 40,000 hopefuls or you can do the smart thing and win entry to the tournament via the satellite and cash the price of the $11 ticket back to your PokerStars balance for a rainy day. Rinse and repeat. I advocate that you opt for the Sunday Quarter Million $2.20 satellite that has a fixed start time as opposed to the fixed 36 entrants. If you go for the fixed start time you will be playing against anywhere from 70-130 players and you will have an average a 1 in 5.5 ratio of getting in the money. These tournaments are no-rebuy and no-addon tourneys that have an extended 10 minute registration time. Do yourself a favour and sign up towards the end of the late registration period (just before the entry closes), that way you will have already lost between 5-10 players and the average stack will only be 50-100 more than what you will start with. In fact when you start, your position will inevitably be halfway through the (already reduced) field.
Sunday Quarter Million $2.20 Satellite Strategy
If you’ve taken the late entry route you’ll probably be playing against 90 or so players depending on the time of day you have decided to play and your ratio of getting to the money will be around 1 in 4. These are very good odds considering the weakness of the field and the small initial $2.20 outlay. The good news is that these particular satellites are extremely easy to dominate. Alternate between a TAG (tight aggressive) and a LAG (loose aggressive) style and you shouldn’t have any problems making the paid places in this satellite. After about 1.5 hours when the blinds start to get steep and the antes kick in, the other players will inevitably start the risky plays so if you have a healthy stack you can sit back and watch the carnage. If you’re mid placed you will still need to play aggressively where appropriate as the blinds will swallow you up. If you’re shortstacked deep into the tourney, you know that other shortstacked players are going to be making misjudged steals at some point so stay alert and hold your nerve. Go after players that appear to be stealing in late position by making big raises to shake them off the pot. Typically these satellites last around 2 hours, so you will be getting an $11 return from your $2.20 entry. Clearly this method for increasing bankroll isn’t for everybody as we are taking very small change here, but if you are starting out and have a small bankroll to begin with you could very easily play 4 or 5 of these daily and win through at least 4 times making you $44 to add to your bankroll. Do this for the whole month and you’ll make over $1,300.