How to Go From $1 to $1000 Fast in Poker

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.

Having a $1000 bankroll is a huge milestone in your poker career. It allows you to start playing more serious games for a more substantial amount of money.

A healthy bankroll is a must if you want to make money at least somewhat consistently in this game.

But what if you don’t have a thousand bucks lying around, or you’re not quite comfortable with depositing that money in a poker site?

Is there a way to build up a $1000 bankroll from scratch?

This article will show you a step-by-step guide on how to build a $1000 bankroll without risking a lot (or any) of your hard-earned money.

Let’s get right into it.

1. Have a Small Starting Bankroll

If you want to build a $1000 bankroll, you can’t build it up out of thin air.

In poker, you need money to make money, so you need to have some sort of a starting bankroll.

Your poker bankroll is an amount of money you specifically set aside for playing poker.

This means you don’t use your bankroll money to pay for groceries. Your bankroll should serve one specific purpose, and that is to use it to buy in the games you decide to play (cash games, tournaments, sit-and-gos etc.)

Of course, once you build up your bankroll, you can take a portion of your money out as payout, while making sure you still have enough buyins for the stakes you’re playing.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First you need to build up that bankroll, so let’s examine the fastest ways to go about it.

The easiest way to start building up your bankroll is to set aside enough buyins for the very lowest stakes.

In most online poker sites, this means NL2, where you can buy in for 2 dollars. 

When talking about buyins, we’re talking about FULL buyin amounts.

While you can technically buy in for less than the table maximum, I wouldn’t recommend it.

When buying in for less than the maximum amount, you’re technically risking less money, but you’re also limiting your upside potential, as well.

For example, let’s say you buy in for a dollar instead of 2 dollars, and you get dealt pocket Aces, the strongest starting hand in no-limit hold’em.

Your opponent shoves all-in, and you snap call. Your pocket Aces hold up, and you double up.

Congratulations, you just won a dollar (minus the rake, of course).

But if you had 2 dollars instead, you would have won 2 dollars.

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Why Having a Tiny Bankroll Costs You Money in Poker

In poker, your chips are your ammunition. Good poker players always want to have as many chips in front of them as possible.

That’s because they want to maximize their potential winnings at any given moment, so they always buyin for the full amount.

Buying in for less than the table maximum is one of the tell-tale signs of recreational poker players, so it should be avoided.

Check out my other article on the 5 common preflop poker mistakes for a much deeper dive on this.

So how many full buyins do you need to start building up that bankroll?

As a general bankroll management rule, it’s advised to have at least 30 full buyins for the stakes you’re playing.

So if you’re playing NL2, you should have a bankroll of no less than $60.

30 buyins is more than enough to weather basic variance and eliminate the risk of going broke.

Granted, there are ways to build up a bankroll without putting down one cent of your own money (more on that below).

But these options are usually way too time-consuming to be worth the hassle.

And since your time is precious, it’s a lot easier to put down a small initial deposit and just hit the tables.

The point of having a decent starting bankroll is to eliminate the chance of going broke and having to reload.

If you do it right the first time, these 60 bucks should be the last time you ever deposit money in a poker site.

Winning poker players should only take the money out of the site, and every single winning poker player will adhere to strict bankroll management rules.

A sufficient bankroll helps you ride out the variance (i.e. the short term fluctuations in your results).

Poker is a game of skill, and the superior players will come out on top more often than not. But poker also has a short term luck element involved, meaning you can sometimes lose for prolonged periods despite playing perfectly.

So a decent bankroll will help you stay afloat even if you run into a particularly vicious run of cards (which will happen sooner or later, trust me).

A healthy bankroll will give you a peace of mind to keep playing your best despite how you’re running session to session.

Check out my ultimate bankroll management guide for more info on the topic.

Now, the premise of this article is how to build up a bankroll with a very small initial investment, so the question is: do you really need 60 bucks to start?

And the answer is: Yes, if you want to do it right the first time around.

You can probably get away with putting down $50, or even $40 as your initial deposit.

$40 is still 20 full buyins for NL2, and could be enough to start building your bankroll.

But anything below that, you’re risking the possibility of going broke and having to reload.

So again, it’s better to do it right the first time, and making it so that these 60 bucks are the last time you need to reach for your credit card.

Alright, now that you have your bankroll in place, let’s talk about how to turn it into a thousand dollars.

By the way, my recent video on the 7 crucial beginner poker tips you need to know will also help you with this.

Never miss my new poker videos. Join 113,000+ who are already subscribed.

2. Play Low Stakes Cash Games Online

Online poker offers plenty of advantages over live poker in a brick and mortar casino.

One of these is definitely convenience, since you can play poker in the comfort of your own living room.

You also don’t have to drive to your local casino, so you’re saving money for gas, drinks and so on.

The third advantage of online games is the fact that you can buy in for insanely small amounts of money, even as little as 2 dollars.

If you want to quickly build up a bankroll from scratch, your best bet is to start at NL2.

NL2 games are very soft on most online poker sites, and you can quickly start winning at these stakes by following a simple tight and aggressive (TAG) strategy.

Most players at NL2 are complete beginners, meaning they will routinely make a lot of huge fundamental mistakes you can take advantage of.

Some of the most common amateur poker mistakes are:

a) playing too many hands

b) playing too passively (i.e. checking and calling instead of betting and raising)

c) calling too much (chasing every draw, clinging on to their mediocre to weak hands, trying to catch other players bluffing etc.)

Aside from the fact that players at these stakes tend to be complete beginners, another reason why it’s easy to beat these games is the fact that the amount of money in play is trivial to most people.

This means that a lot of players are likely to spew off their chips, calling you down too widely, attempting all sorts of crazy bluffs, trying to catch their miracle rivers cards and so on.

In short, NL2 can be a complete circus.

While this makes NL2 games relatively simple to beat, it can also be quite frustrating if recreational players keep getting lucky against you.

In poker, your opponents will almost always have a considerable chunk of equity against you, even if they happen to play horribly.

Poker is designed in a way to keep the bad players coming back.

This can be extremely frustrating at times, and it can be downright disheartening to keep making good decisions and seemingly getting punished for it.

But that’s poker for you.

This is why the previous point about having a sufficient bankroll is so crucial.

If you have enough buyins in your bankroll, you won’t mind the fish occasionally getting lucky against you.

Winning poker is not only about knowing which cards to play in which position. It’s also about having the discipline to keep making the right decisions despite how you’re running in your current session.

This is especially the case at the lower stakes, because you’re bound to suffer a fair number of bad beats and suckouts on your way to building a bankroll.

For more on how to beat NL2...

Check out my best selling book Crushing the Microstakes which is literally a 250 page answer to how to beat NL2 (and NL5 also).

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3. Use the Proven Tight and Aggressive Strategy to Beat Small Stakes Games

If you want to quickly build your bankroll, the best way to go about it is to use the tried and true tight and aggressive (TAG) strategy.

TAG strategy works like a charm in small stakes poker games because it exploits the weaknesses of the majority of the player pool you’re likely to play against.

In poker, the best playstyle is usually the one that’s the exact opposite of the style your opponents are playing.

In small stakes poker games, most players tend to play too many hands, and they tend to play them very passively (checking and calling instead of betting and raising).

So the best way to play against these players is to employ the exact opposite strategy: only playing strong hands, playing them aggressively both preflop and post flop, and using the power of position to your advantage.

These 3 aspects are the cornerstone of the winning TAG strategy, so let’s go over them one by one.

a) Only play strong starting hands

In poker, most hands miss most flops (2 out of 3 times, to be precise). So the more hands you play, the more often you’re going to miss the flop.

And since you have to pay money every time to see the flop, the more flops you see, the more money you’re going to lose over the long run.

And the times you do connect with the flop won’t make up for all the misses.

That’s because not all starting hands are created equal in no-limit hold’em.

Some hands will simply perform much better post flop than others, so the trick is to only play hands that have a reasonable chance of connecting with the flop in some meaningful way.

This includes hands that are either strong enough in and of themselves, or have the potential of making strong post flop combinations (like straights and flushes).

This includes:

- pocket pairs (AA through 22),

- broadway hands (hands that can make the strongest possible straight, like AQ or KJ)

- suited Aces (AKs through A2s)

- suited connectors (like T9s or 87s)

These hands make up about the top 20% of all starting hands in no-limit hold’em.

The rest is trash and should be thrown away.



Now, this is only a rough guideline, so take it with a grain of salt.

The number of hands you choose to play will depend on a lot of factors, namely your table position, which brings us to the n

ext key aspect of TAG strategy.

b) Play most hands in position

Playing in position means being the last to act in a betting round, and it’s a huge advantage to have at the poker table.

By playing in position, you get to see what your opponents do first, while they have no idea what you’re about to do next.

This informational advantage gives you an opportunity to make better in-game decisions.

This means you can value bet or bluff more effectively when playing in position.

You also get the final say at the size of the pot.

If you have a strong hand, you can bet or raise to inflate the pot size. If you have a mediocre or a drawing hand, you can just call or check behind to control the size of the pot.

So how do you play more hands in position?

You simply open-raise more hands in late table positions (the cutoff and the button), and play less hands in early table positions and in the blinds.

When playing on the button in particular, you wlll ALWAYS have the positional advantage post flop.

This means the button is going to be the most profitable seat by far.

If you’re using a hand tracking software like PokerTracker 4, you can check these stats yourself.

Chances are, you’d be surprised by how much more you win on the button compared to other table positions.

So the closer you are to the button, the more hands you can play profitably, because you stand a better chance of playing in position post flop.

c) Play your hands aggressively

The third key aspect of TAG strategy is playing your hands aggressively (both preflop and post flop).

If you take only one thing from this article, let it be this: winning poker is aggressive poker.

If you want to wing big in poker, you need to win big pots.

And the best way to do that is to build up the pot with your strong value hands.

In poker, most of your winnings will come from strong value hands when your opponent has a weaker hand that ‘s willing to pay you off.

The problem is, these strong hands don’t come around very often, so it’s crucial you get your money’s worth when you actually do get a monster hand.

And the best way to do that is just build up the pot yourself.

This means open-raising preflop instead of just limping into the pot.

To limp in means to just pay the big blind preflop instead of making a raise.

I won’t get into much detail as to why you should avoid open-limping.

Check out my other article on the 5 basic amateur poker mistakes for more info on why open-limping is a bad idea.

When you open-raise, you have the opportunity to make a continuation bet (or a c-bet for short on the flop).

A flop c-bet is a bet made by the preflop aggressor.

C-bets are usually profitable, so you should be inclined to make one unless there’s a very good reason not to.

If you connect with the flop, you can make a value c-bet, where you expect to get called by a lot of weaker hands.

If you miss the flop, you can still make a c-bet with the intention of getting your opponent to fold.

This is known as a bluff c-bet (or a light c-bet).

The reason light c-bets are usually profitable is the fact that your opponent is just as likely to have missed the flop as you.

And since you are the preflop aggressor, you are the one that’s perceived to have the strongest hand.

This means you can credibly represent a strong hand even though you’ve missed the flop completely.

Granted, this doesn’t mean you should c-bet 100% of all flops.

But most of the time, c-bets are going to be profitable for you, because you’ll be putting a lot of pressure on your opponents, especially if you’re also playing in position.

Example Hand

Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB ♥♦♠♣

You are dealt A♥Q♥ in the MP (middle position).

You open-raise to 3 BB. SB (small blind) calls.

Pot: 7 BB

Flop: J♣6♥3♠

SB checks.

You: ???

You should c-bet 3.5 BB.

Even though you’ve missed the flop, you can still make a profitable c-bet in this spot.

First of all, the board is bone-dry, meaning it’s very hard for your opponent to have connected with it in some big way.

There are very few two-pair combos on this board, since most players won’t play hands like J6, J3, or 63.

Your opponent could hold a number of Jx hands, but even against these hands, you have plenty of equity.

You have two overcards, as any Ace or a Queen will give you a top pair.

You also have backdoor straight and flush draws, which give you a nice little equity boost.

A backdoor draw means you need both turn and river cards to complete your draw.

So if you bet here, you will get your opponent to fold most of the time.

And even if they call you, you can still improve your hand on future streets and potentially take down an even bigger pot.

These days, it takes more than waiting around for the nuts to be a long term winner in this game.

You also need to find ways to win pots even without a particularly strong hand.

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4. Play Freeroll Poker Tournaments

Finally, let’s answer the titular question: is it possible to build a $1000 bankroll without putting up any of your own money upfront?

The answer is yes, but the way to go about it is likely to be too time consuming to be worth the effort.

When you go to work, you’re exchanging your time for money, so you should approach poker the same way.

You want to play in games that give you the most bang for your buck, depending on your goals, skill level and so on.

And the point of building a substantial bankroll is to allow you to comfortably play in games where you can make a decent profit.

So all things considered, it’s better to simply bite the bullet and set aside money aside for your initial bankroll.

If you don’t mind taking the slower approach, however, it’s entirely possible to build up a bankroll without risking any of your own hard-earned money.

And the way to do it is to play freeroll tournaments.

As the name suggests, freeroll tournaments are multitable tournaments players can enter for free and compete for a certain amount of money.

Most online poker sites offer some kind of daily or weekly freeroll tournaments in order to attract players and drive traffic to their site.

They also sometimes offer freeroll tournaments as a reward for playing on their site, or might offer freeroll tickets as a part of a signup bonus.

Most online poker sites offer you some kind of welcome bonus for joining their site, so it’s worth shopping around for a good deal.

Keep in mind that the promotional bonuses often come with some strings attached.

For example, a welcome bonus that matches your initial deposit must be earned by playing a certain amount of hands and/or paying a certain amount of rake.

Welcome bonuses also might have a time limit to unlock, so always make sure to read the fine print to figure out how to unlock your bonus in full.

Anyway, back to the topic of freeroll tournaments.

Freeroll tournaments are a great, risk-free way to boost your bankroll, and the best part is that they usually attract a great number of recreational poker players.

This means that the player pool is likely to be incredibly soft.

However, there are a few serious drawbacks you should consider if you opt for this game format.

a) Freeroll tournaments have very modest payout structure

The saying “you get what you pay for” certainly applies to freeroll tournaments. Since there’s no buyin to pay, the potential payout is not something to write home about.

Winning a freeroll tournament will usually net you only a couple of dollars, so it’s questionable whether or not it’s worth your time.

However, free money is free money. If you were going to play some poker anyway, why not open up a new tab and play a tourney while you’re at it?

b) Freeroll tournaments attract a ton of recreational poker players

Freeroll tournaments have the softest competition only rivalled by play money tables, which makes them fairly easy to beat with a bit of luck.

However, you still have to go through a swarm of recreational poker players, making them harder to beat.

The more players in a tournament, the harder it is to win for obvious reasons.

c) Freeroll tournaments usually have turbo fast structure

In poker tournaments, the blinds gradually go up, so your stack needs to grow as well, otherwise you run the risk of getting “blinded out”.

In freeroll tournaments, the blinds usually go up very fast, so you don’t really have the luxury of waiting around for a good hand.

Also, the effective stack sizes are a lot more shallow, so there’s not much post flop play involved.

Most of your money will go into the middle by the flop, so there’s not much room for your skill edge to manifest.

For these reasons, freeroll tournaments often resemble bingo more than real poker.

There’s a huge element of luck involved, even more so than in other game formats.

This brings us to the last drawback of freerolls.

d) Freeroll tournaments don’t really resemble real poker

In freerolls, players are far more likely to spew chips around, because there’s nothing really at stake there.

So playing freerolls won’t exactly help you gain valuable playing experience you need.

Granted, if you’re planning on playing multitable tournaments in the future, freerolls can serve as a nice practice run.

But again, players tend to play quite differently when there’s real money on the line, even if it’s just a couple of dollars.

So playing freerolls or play money poker is a good idea if you’re a complete beginner that barely knows if a flush beats a straight.

But other than that, you’re much better off playing for real money and learning the ropes that way.

Bottom line: if you have freeroll tournaments available, go ahead and play them if you’re going to play poker anyway.

It’s a variance-free way to boost your bankroll, and they can help you practice your MTT skills to an extent.

But if you want to build a serious bankroll quickly, you’re much better off playing cash games for real money.

How to Go From $1 to $1000 Fast in Poker - Summary

A $1000 bankroll is a big milestone in any aspiring poker player’s career. Fortunately, you don’t need to learn a lot of advanced poker strategy to achieve it.

All you have to do is learn the basics of tight and aggressive (TAG), and practice proper bankroll management and game selection.

To sum up, here’s how to quickly build a $1000 bankroll:

1. Have a starting bankroll of $60

This equals 30 full buyins for NL2, which are the lowest stakes on most online poker sites. 30 buyins is enough to weather basic variance without the risk of going broke.

If you do it right the first time, this could be the last money you ever need to deposit at a poker site.

2. Play low stakes cash games

One of the advantages of online poker is that you can find games with very low buyin amounts.

And most players at these stakes (NL2 or NL5) are usually complete beginners, meaning you can start winning relatively quickly with the right strategy.

3. Use exploitative tight and aggressive (TAG) strategy

This strategy works like a charm in low stakes cash games because it exploits the weaknesses of the majority of the player pool you’ll be playing against.

TAG strategy entails only playing strong starting hands, playing them in position, and playing them very aggressively, both preflop and post flop.

4. Play freeroll tournaments

If you’re really strapped for cash, most online poker sites offer some kind of freeroll tournaments to attract traffic to their sites.

These freeroll tournaments usually have humble payout structures, but they’re a risk-free way to build up your bankroll.

---

This article was written by Fran Ferlan

Poker player, writer and coach

Specializing in live and online cash games

For coaching enquiries, contact Fran at email@franferlan.com

Or apply directly for poker coaching with Fran, right here

Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to make $2000+ per month in small/mid stakes games, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

How to Go from $0 to $1000 in Poker (Step by Step Guide)

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.

Earning a thousand dollars playing poker is a huge milestone on your journey to poker greatness. But the road towards it is paved with obstacles, and it’s anything but easy.

However, with the right strategy and adequate preparation, it can be achieved, even with little or no starting capital.

This article will give you a simple step-by-step guide to earn your first thousand dollars from poker, regardless of your previous game knowledge and expertise.

1. Get a Sufficient Bankroll

The first thing you need to do on your way to a thousand bucks is having a bankroll. 

Your poker bankroll is the amount of money specifically set aside for playing. It consists of a certain number of buyins (i.e. the money you deposit every time you sit down to play).

To be fair, this means you won’t actually start with zero dollars. There are ways to build your bankroll starting with literally no money, but they are far more time-consuming (more on that below). 

A far more efficient way to get to a thousand dollars and beyond is having a small starting capital. 

This can be as little as 40 bucks, and with the right strategy, it will be the last money you’ll ever need to deposit. 

There are a couple of reasons you need to have a bankroll to reach your goals.

First of all, it allows you to track your progress. If you know exactly how much money you deposit and withdraw, you can objectively assess how you are doing, and whether or not you’re actually winning. 

Secondly, it prevents you from going broke and having to reload if you run out of funds. If you do it right the first time, you’ll never need to reload, and you’ll only take money out of the site, not the other way around. 

And that’s the goal. To start winning consistently without needing to worry about losing money. 

With that said, sometimes you WILL lose, no matter how well you’re playing. There is a short-term element of luck involved in poker, and some losses along the way are inevitable. 

In the short term, your results will be all over the place. 

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What is Variance in Poker and Why Does it Matter?

The technical term for these fluctuations is called variance. Put simply, variance is the difference between how much you expect to earn on average, and how much you actually earn over a given sample size.

Suppose we bet on a coinflip. Heads, you give me one dollar, tails, I give you two dollars. We’ll flip it 10 times. Pretty sweet deal, and most people would take it.

Since the odds are 50:50, you expect to win five times out of ten. So you expect to lose 5 dollars, and win 10 dollars, for the overall profit of 5 dollars. 

But let’s say I get lucky, and it lands heads 8 times. You lose 4 dollars, even though you expected to win 5 on average. You experienced negative variance.

If you won 8 times out of 10, for a total profit of 14 dollars, that would be an example of positive variance.

In a small sample size, anything can happen. You can lose a coinflip ten out of ten times. It’s highly unlikely, but it is possible. 

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have taken the bet. If we flip it a hundred or a thousand times with the same odds, you’d eventually take all my money. 

But only if you’re prepared to lose some in the short term. This is why having a bankroll is crucial. Without it, there’s no way to handle the negative short-term variance, and you run the risk of going broke.

You might think it’s not a big deal, because you can always reload, but again, the point is earning money, not losing it. 

Not to mention the adverse psychological effects of constantly reaching for your credit card to fund your account. 

Which brings us to the third point of the importance of having a bankroll, and that is having a peace of mind. 

By setting aside a certain amount of money for a specific purpose, you separate your playing money from your real-life money. 

This will give you enough leeway to focus on playing to the best of your abilities, regardless of your short-term results.

Due to the nature of variance, it is therefore advised to have at least 30 buyins in your bankroll for your preferred limit. 

The assumption is you’re only starting out on your poker journey, so you should start at the lowest limit, or NL2. 

You could do well with only 20 buyins, or $40, but more is obviously better. And $60 is more than enough to weather the negative variance at NL2.

By the way, check out my 15 proven ways to beat small stakes poker games like this for much more.

2. Play Freeroll Tournaments

If you aren’t quite confident in your playing abilities yet and don’t feel like putting real money on the line, there are alternatives, but they will be more time consuming, and it’s questionable if they’re worth the effort in the end. 

After all, time is money.

This is something that BlackRain79 discussed in his latest video, literally starting from a $0 bankroll to becoming a full time poker pro.

And like he mentioned, this probably wasn't the smartest idea! But not everybody wants to risk money in the beginning.

So you could still look into this if you’re only just starting out and learning the ropes. Some online poker sites offer no-deposit bonuses, where you get free money for making an account. 

There might be some strings attached, however, but they might be worth looking into. You could also look into the freeroll tournaments.

Freeroll tournaments are a great risk-free way to build up your bankroll. Most online poker sites offer some sort of daily or weekly tournaments you can buyin for free. 

The requirement is usually making a real-money deposit, but some don’t require any deposit at all.

Now, it’s worth mentioning the prize pools are quite small, and it might take you a while to build up a significant bankroll. 

Also, there’s usually quite a large player pool involved, so it’s not really easy to cash out consistently, but hey, it’s free money.

Of course, freeroll tournaments, and tournaments in general can be quite time-consuming, so a better bet would be playing micro-stakes cash games. 

But if you are a beginner and aren’t quite comfortable with losing your hard-earned real dollars, you can try playing freerolls for a while. 

The player pool’s average skill level is usually abysmal, so if nothing else, freerolls could help you build a much needed confidence in your playing abilities, and from there you could try other challenges with bigger potential upsides.

3. Start Playing NL2 Cash Games

NL2 is the lowest cash game limit online with a buyin of 2 dollars and 1¢/2¢ blinds. Learning to beat NL2 is the first and most important step to building your 1k bankroll and beyond. 

This is where you will learn the fundamentals of the tight and aggressive strategy and exploiting other players’ weaknesses, namely playing too many hands, calling down too much and so on.

There are a number of reasons you should start at the very lowest limit. 

First of all, if you are a beginner poker player, the chances of you losing money at the start are virtually 100%. Learning the winning strategy isn’t overly complicated, but it takes some time nonetheless. 

You’re bound to trip and stumble as you’re learning the ropes, so there’s no point in risking more money while you’re doing it. 

Secondly, there is a substantial skill difference even between NL2 and NL5 players. 

There are a lot more beginners at NL2, and with the right strategy, you can start winning fairly quickly. This is important for building your confidence as you move up the stakes and encounter harder opposition. 

You might feel it’s beneath you to play for pennies, but even NL2 could pose a challenge for you, not necessarily due to the hard competition, but due to the insane number of bad beats and suckouts you’re bound to encounter. 

Dealing with those is a challenge in and of itself, and a lot of players can’t ever really wrap their heads around it. 

Taking bad luck in stride is something you will have to internalize, and sooner rather than later. Since it will be outright infuriating at times, it’s better to protect your downside, and lose two dollars rather than five. 

For more, I have already written the most comprehensive guide to beating NL2 found anywhere online.

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4. Learn the Tight and Aggressive Strategy

This is by far the most efficient way to earn a thousand dollars quickly. The reason this style works so well is because it exploits the overall weaknesses of the majority of the player pool you’re likely to encounter at the lower stakes. 

The most effective style of play is the opposite of the one your opponents play. At the lower stakes, players tend to play too many hands, call too much, chase all kinds of ludicrous draws and so on. 

The best strategy against them, therefore, is being very selective with your starting hand selection, playing in position and playing very aggressively postflop.

Let’s break down what this means in practice.

Starting with your preflop hand selection, you should only play good hands that are either strong in and of themselves, or have a decent chance of making strong combinations postflop.

This includes only about 20% of all starting hands, including pocket pairs, broadway hands, suited Aces and suited connectors.

You can just read the free BlackRain79 poker cheat sheet for charts showing you exactly what hands this refers to.

Next, you should play the majority of those hands in position. 

Playing in position is one of the biggest advantages you can have, as you’ll be able to see what your opponents are doing, and they’ll have no idea what you’re about to do. 

By playing in position, you can bluff more effectively and get more value out of your strong hands. 

If you have a mediocre or a drawing hand, on the other hand, you can practice pot control and try to improve your hand cheaply.

You should therefore play most of your hands in late positions, namely the cutoff and the button, and be more selective with hands you play in early positions and out of the blinds.

 

The last component of an effective TAG strategy is playing your hands aggressively. This is a tricky part, as you’ll need to have a balance between playing too passively and being totally out of control. 

But chances are you could benefit a lot by upping your aggression. Most players think they’re playing aggressively, but that’s not quite the case in a lot of situations.

By being aggressive, not only do you get more value out of your strong hands, but you also make yourself more difficult to play against. 

If you play aggressively, over time your opponents will give your bets less and less credit, which means you’ll be able to extract more money out of them once you actually do have a strong hand. 

The reality is really strong hands don’t come around very often in no limit Texas hold’em, so once they do, you want to be in a situation to actually make money from them.

With that being said, most of your winnings will actually come from those strong value hands. So when you get them, don’t be afraid to play them very fast and inflate the pot as much as possible, sooner rather than later.

By the way, I discuss this in much more detail in my new Elite Poker University training. 

Learn EXACTLY how to start crushing small and mid stakes poker games, play semi-pro or even full time pro. Use my proven elite poker strategies to start winning fast.

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A lot of players are afraid they might scare off their opponents with big bets, but as mentioned before, a lot of players at the lower limits just don’t pay much attention for that to be the case. 

They will call you down a lot more than they should, much to their own detriment. So you should capitalize on that as much as possible, and don’t worry about scaring them off. 

They’ll call you down with all sorts of junk on the off chance of hitting their miracle draws.

This means they will, in fact, sometimes get lucky and hit their draw. When that happens, don’t let it rattle you too much. It means you put your money in with a mathematical advantage, and this is basically all you can do. 

Over the long run, you’ll win far more than you lose. You can’t outrun math. 

If you want to learn the optimal TAG strategy for crushing small stakes poker games Crushing the Microstakes is the best place to start.

5. Climb Up the Stakes With 30 Buyins

30 buyins are enough to weather the variance without the risk of going broke. This only applies if you’re a winning poker player, of course. If you’re not, no bankroll in the world is going to help you. 

So with the assumption you’re beating your current limit, starting with NL2, (meaning having a positive winrate over at least 10,000 hands), you should move up to NL5 when you have at least thirty buyins in your bankroll, or $150. 

Then, if you’re beating NL5, you can move up to NL10 when you have at least $300. 

By winning consistently at NL10, you can achieve the wanted 1k bankroll. If you want to speed up the process even more, you can play NL25 when you get to $750.

It’s worth mentioning that getting to a thousand dollars this way won’t be smooth sailing all the way. In fact, it might take you a couple of tries to stick at the next limit, due to bad short term results. 

This is to be expected, and you shouldn’t worry too much if you don’t make it right away. 

If you dip below 20 buyins at the limit you’re playing, you should drop down and try to make it back. Then, when you’re back at 30 buyins, try again. 

This way, you eliminate the risk of ever going broke and needing to reload. 

For example, if you’re playing NL10, and your bankroll dips below $200, drop back to NL5. When you get back to $300, go back to NL10. Rinse and repeat. 

Remember, getting to a thousand dollars can be achieved with the right strategy, but it’s no walk in the park by any means. It can be a long, one step forward and two steps back kind of journey, but that’s just the nature of the game. 

As long as you keep improving your game, you’ll be able to achieve your goals eventually. 

So expect a few bumps in the road, and if you encounter a particularly vicious stretch of bad results, use it as an opportunity to study more, instead of chasing your losses. 

Then, when you’re feeling confident about your game, put in more hours in actually playing. 

You should basically do the opposite of what your instincts tell you. When the games are good and you’re feeling on top of your game, keep playing and pushing your edge, instead of just booking a win and protecting your earnings. 

Conversely, if the cards aren’t falling your way, don’t chase your losses. Take a break and live to fight another day. Poker is a marathon, not a sprint. Slow and steady wins the race.

For more, you can find my complete guide to optimal bankroll management for all stakes right here.

6. Learn Before You Earn

Getting to your first thousand dollars from poker will have a lot to do with your approach and mindset. 

When you start out on your poker journey, you shouldn’t focus too much on the end result, i.e. earning a certain amount of money in a certain time period.

How much you earn isn’t going to be entirely within your control, so if you fall short of your desired goals, it might lead to frustration, which leads to suboptimal play. 

This in turn will lead to further impairment of your results, which leads to more frustration and so on. It’s a vicious cycle, so you’re better off avoiding such a downward spiral altogether. 

The way to do that is counterintuitive at first, but highly effective, and that is ignoring the short-term results altogether. 

That’s not to say you shouldn’t care if you’re burning through your money, as this will usually mean there’s something wrong with your overall strategy, and should be attended to. 

The point is focusing solely on improving your technical game knowledge, as well as managing your emotions. 

If you know the basic winning strategy, you might feel the need to maximize your time on the felt at the expense of studying. After all, more volume equals more money.  

But sacrificing your study time for your playtime will cost you more over the long term. As you climb the stakes, the competition will get tougher, and the mistakes will get more costly. 

If your skill level reaches a plateau, so will your earning potential. 

That’s why it’s important to keep expanding your knowledge. Luckily it is easier than ever to do that these days with so many of the game's best players putting out high level training programs.

And don’t be too quick to assume you have it all figured out. Poker is deceptively simple, but it takes a lifetime to master, and there’s always something new to learn. 

This is crucial to remember, especially if you’re running well at the beginning. You might think you have some innate talent, but it may just be you’re running hot. 

It takes a long time to figure out if your winnings are the results of your superior skills, or the deck has just been hitting you in the face. 

All too often players get great results over the first couple of months, and start calculating how soon they’ll be able to fire their boss and go pro based on their previous winrate (which might not even be a good poker winrate). 

Until they encounter their first serious downswing, and their enthusiasm is extinguished a lot faster than it came about.

I’m not saying all this to dishearten you, of course. I’m saying it because short term results, good or bad, aren’t always directly correlated to your skill level, and shouldn’t be viewed as an accurate metric.

So instead of figuring out how to earn this and that amount of money in an x period of time, flip the script and figure out how to best improve your skill level. 

In the end, the amount of money you earn will be directly correlated to the effort you put in, and yes, that means studying as well as playing.

You might not be too stoked about the prospect, but that’s what it takes. It doesn’t mean you should get a math degree to study all the complex formulas, odds and probabilities and what have you. 

Designating a certain amount of time to study in proportion to your playing time is enough, depending on your current skill level. 

If you’re a total beginner, a 50:50 split between playing and studying should be optimal. If you figured out the basics, you’ll want to go for something like an 80:20 split. 

As your skill level increases, you’ll want to maximize your playtime, but you should still set aside some time to study as well.

I have already written extensive lists by the way for all the best poker software and advanced poker training programs that I recommend, for serious players.

  

Summary

Earning a thousand dollars from poker isn't life changing money, but it’s certainly a great milestone worth aiming at. 

It’s anything but easy, however, especially in today’s competitive environment. It will require a certain amount of dedication and patience on your part, but the reward is well worth the effort.

You will also need a certain starting capital to speed up the process. It’s a lot harder to go from zero to one than from one to two. 

To get started the right way, you will need to have a bankroll with 40 dollars at the bare minimum. This equates to 20 buyins at NL2.

More is always better, of course, and you’d do well to make it 30 buyins, or $60, just to be on the safe side.

If you want to try a risk-free way to build up your bankroll, you can look for online poker sites that offer no deposit bonuses, or try playing freeroll tournaments.

Bear in mind, however, that these tournaments offer scant prizes, and it’s difficult to cash in on them consistently due to the huge player pool they attract. 

Not to mention they’re time consuming, and offer little reward in proportion to the time you put in.

A far more efficient way to earn a buck is to start playing microstakes cash games, starting with the very lowest limit, or NL2.

The competition around here is fairly soft, so you can start winning relatively quickly. 

This is also where you’ll learn the fundamentals of the tight and aggressive (TAG) strategy, which includes being very selective with your starting hand selection, playing them in position, and playing them fast and aggressively. 

Then you can climb up the stakes once you have 30 buyins in your bankroll. This means you can climb to NL5 when you have $150, for example. 

You should only climb up once you are winning relatively consistently at the lower stakes, though. 10,000 hands or so is the minimum sample size required to determine whether or not you’re winning consistently. 

Also, keep in mind that when you climb the stakes, you should expect your winrate to decrease as much as 50%, due to the tougher competition and smaller skill gap. 

This means you might not stick at the new limit at your first try, or even a couple of tries. This is completely normal, and you shouldn’t let it discourage you. 

Simply move back down when your bankroll dips below 20 buyins, and climb back up again when you reach 30 buyins. This way you eliminate the risk of ever going broke.

If you’re ever feeling stuck (and you will, sooner or later), take a break for a while. 

Don’t chase your losses, as this can lead you to losing even more, sending you in a vicious downward spiral. Instead, use it as an opportunity to study and fix your leaks.

Studying off the felt is actually the best way to improve your overall profitability, especially when you’re first starting out. 

So instead of focusing on some sort of monetary goal, like a thousand dollars, flip the script and focus on the improvement process. 

Being process-oriented rather than results-oriented is paradoxically the most efficient way of achieving said results. 

Keep doing the right things, and the money will take care of itself.

If you want to know the complete poker strategy used by BlackRain79 to crush the small stakes games for some of the highest winnings ever recorded, grab a copy of the free poker cheat sheet right here.

How to Get Your First $1000 Dollar Bankroll in Poker

For many people playing micro stakes online poker getting to their first $1000 bankroll is a major target and accomplishment.

In order to get a $1000 online poker bankroll you need to start from the lower stakes, use proper bankroll management, play a tight and aggressive style, table select and consistently move up the stakes. Getting a $1000 bankroll is a major milestone to shoot for as a beginner poker player.

And the reason why it is so important is because it allows you to start playing in the games where you can finally start making some significant money both at the tables and with rakeback as well.

What I really mean by this is stakes like 10c/25c blinds online (aka NL25) where the top players can very easily make $1000 a month playing poker or more.

So in this article I am going to provide you with your step by step game-plan to making your first 1k bankroll at the micro stakes online poker tables.

1. Start From the Lowest Stakes

For most people, I always suggest starting at the lowest stakes cash games online which is usually 1c/2c, also called NL2. The reason why is because these games are still very easy to beat and this means that you will start winning right away.

These are the kind of massive fish that you find at NL2:

I think one of the #1 reasons why many people fail to achieve their goals in poker is because they play in games that are too advanced for them, or that don't have fish in them. This means that they don't see real results for a long time, if ever.

This is debilitating and saps your will to play and learn more.

On the other hand, when you start winning right from the get-go in your online poker career (which playing at NL2 allows you to do), this will give you the confidence to keep playing more and learning more and ultimately moving up the stakes to the higher limits.

By the way, if you're new to poker and you just want to learn my simple system for exactly what hands to play, grab my free poker cheat sheet.

Memorize the charts. Stop guessing. Start winning.

2. Start With a Proper Bankroll

So how much should you actually deposit to start playing in the NL2 games?

Well, I always suggest having at least 30 buyins for any game you are playing these days and so at NL2 this would mean a minimum starting bankroll of $60. But if you want to play it even safer (which I would suggest), then having 40 buyins or even 50 is better ($80 or $100 in this case).

What this does is prevent you from ever having to worry about routine downswings of 10 buyins for instance that will happen to you regularly along the way in poker.

One of the biggest hurdles that many newer poker players face is the first big run of bad cards (downswing). Downswings are already hard enough to handle without having to face the psychological challenge of losing half your bankroll.

So this is why I always suggest just starting off the right way in poker and ideally depositing $100 to start your poker journey in the NL2 games. $60 bare minimum though.

By the way, if you just want to learn my simple no BS system for exactly what hands to play, when to bet, raise and bluff, I cover this all in my brand new training program, Play Fearless Poker.

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3. Tight and Aggressive is Still the Right Strategy

Now the next thing you are probably asking yourself is what strategy do I need to use to beat these games. Well, this is pretty simple as well: tight and aggressive, also known as TAG.

The simple TAG strategy for the micro stakes that I talk about all the time on this blog and in my books and videos could be broken down to a few basic principles:

• Be selective about what hands you play preflop (top 15% in full ring, top 20% in 6max)
• Pay special attention to your position at the poker table (play the majority of these hands on and around the button)
• Make a continuation bet on the flop frequently and sometimes on the turn/river depending on the opponent and the situation
• Value bet your good hands heavily
• Don't run big bluffs
• Control your emotions (don't tilt)

Now obviously this is a very simplistic breakdown. 

If you want a deeper understanding of exactly what hands to play preflop and what hands to bet on the flop, turn and river for instance, then go pick up a copy of my free ebook, Massive Profit at the Micros. 

However, this really is it. This is all you need in order to have consistent success at NL2. The biggest problem that most people face is overcomplicating this process. 

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4. Table Selection is Key

Now there is another key to this process though which involves playing in the right games. You see, the simple TAG strategy that I just suggested above works the best in loose/passive games against bad regulars and recreational players. 

Now luckily these days at NL2 most games still play like this. But not all do. This is why it is important that you are always table selecting while you are playing. 

The first thing that I always suggest for this is simply finding the easiest poker rooms in the first place. These are the poker rooms which tend to have the most recreational players on them (fish). 

Secondly, you want to make sure that there is always at least one rec player at your table. How do you know who a rec player is though?

Here are the common signs:

• VPIP of 40%+ and a single digit PFR (your HUD stats will tell you all this)
• Limping a lot
• Min-betting after the flop
• Never folding, chasing every draw
• Short stack, not refilling
• Only playing on one table

These are just a few, there are many more.

Below is a typical example of a fish on your HUD at the micro stakes. Note the 40%+ VPIP and the single digit PFR.



If you don't know what a HUD is by the way, or you want to download and use my actual HUD above, check out this article of mine.

The bottom line is that it is absolutely vital that there is always one of these players at your table because they lose their money way faster than everybody else. Therefore, a large amount of your profits will ultimately come from them. 

Don't ignore this important point or you will not achieve the success that you truly want at the poker tables. If you choose to play in tough games against good players it is going to take you way longer to get your first $1000 bankroll.

By the way, in case you were curious, a HUD is just one of many poker software tools that I use to help me quickly identify the bad players even while multi-tabling online poker.

For the complete list of all poker software and tools that I use as a pro, click here.

5. Consistently Move up the Stakes

The next thing you need to do in your journey to a 1k bankroll is consistently move up the stakes. How do you know when it is time to move up though?

Well, this is pretty easy. You should move up when you have at least 30 buyins for the next limit. However, remember that more buyins is always better. 

So in this case the next stake after 1c/2c is usually 2c/5c, also called NL5. You should have a bare minimum of $150 in your bankroll before playing in this game.

Using good bankroll management like this is something that all good players know. For example Daniel Negreanu discusses this at length in his new poker training program. 

But furthermore you should only move up when you yourself are personally ready. Many people make the mistake of moving up too fast just because they have the bankroll for it.

Remember that getting to your first $1000 bankroll in poker and beyond is not a race. The games aren't going anywhere and it doesn't matter if you achieve this goal in two months or if it takes you a year or more. 

The point is simply that you do ultimately get there!

So you should take your time and only move up when you are feeling confident about your game. You should feel like you are clearly better than the competition at your current limit and your results also prove that (i.e. strong winrate).

You should also never move up if you are in a downswing (running bad, poor luck). And lastly, I always suggest moving up on a weekend when the games often tend to be a little bit better and of course you should table select heavily as well. 

By the way, I discuss this in much more detail in my new Elite Poker University training. 

Learn EXACTLY how to start crushing small and mid stakes poker games, play semi-pro or even full time pro. Use my proven elite poker strategies to start winning fast.

Enroll in BlackRain79 Elite Poker University

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6. Don't Touch Your Bankroll

Now another key along your path to a 1k bankroll is not withdrawing money. And this one should be pretty obvious. This is because any money that you withdraw from your bankroll along the way will directly harm your progress. 

This is why I always suggest completely separating your poker money from your personal "real world" money. The amount that you deposit to play online poker should be seen as a capital investment or like purchasing a stock.



You are investing this money now in order to produce long term sustainable returns in the future. If you need to constantly withdraw money for personal expenses out of your tiny bankroll, then you perhaps shouldn't even be playing poker yet in the first place. 

And I don't mean to sound harsh when I say that. I say it to be real with you. Your poker money has to be your poker money, that's it, period and end of story. 

Many, many years ago before I became a poker pro I made this mistake again and again. This is the #1 reason why I am known for having played absurd amounts of hands at the micros (millions and millions of hands). Because I never allowed my bankroll to properly grow!

Don't do what I did. 

If you want to achieve your first 1k bankroll and go on to make the really big money in this game, then you need to leave your bankroll alone until you are finally playing with the big boys (e.g. much, much higher limits than I am discussing in this article). 

7. The Long Winding Road to a 1k Bankroll

The last thing that I want you to know is that the road to your first 1k bankroll and beyond will not be an easy one. There will be many hills and valleys along the way. 

You should expect to go through downswings where you lose 1/3 or even as much as 1/2 of your bankroll along the way. This is often very tough to handle especially for newer players. There is no way to sugarcoat it.

But the real key is that you stay focused on your longterm goals in this game and getting to a 1k bankroll and beyond. 

Poker is a game with a huge short term luck element and you can't always control what is going to happen in one session or even a week of sessions. 

When the big downswing inevitably happens it is important that you:

1. Take a step back from the games for awhile and do some in depth session reviews

2. Drop down to a lower limit for awhile in order to regain your confidence and winning ways

Dropping down in stakes is probably the hardest thing to do for many people. It is a direct shot to the ego after all to have to return to a lower limit that you have already beaten. 

But you have to understand that it happens to the best players in the world all the time. Everybody goes through big downswings in this game at some point and they have to drop down to lick their wounds.

We only hear about the big tournament scores or the big cash game winnings though. We never hear about the months (and sometimes years) of struggling that a lot of the best players went through in order to achieve those results.

But this is also a part of the process. You can't have the good without the bad in this game. 

Know that there will be many ups and downs, but if you play solid poker, table select and control your emotions during the tough times, the results that you want will be there in the end. 

Conclusion

Reaching your first $1000 poker bankroll at the micro stakes is a major milestone that you should be focused on if you take this game seriously.

In fact, this is part of the reason that wrote the best selling book and video series Crushing the Microstakes. I wanted to give people a step by step guide to making this a reality. 

Because once you have a $1000 bankroll, you will have 40 buyins for NL25 where the best players can pretty easily make $1000 a month especially once you add in the rakeback.

And of course the potential amounts that you can make only go up considerably from there as you move up to higher stakes.

It won't be easy though and that is why is it is important that you start at the lowest limits with a solid game-plan to succeed. 

You should stick to the tried and true simple tight and aggressive strategy. You should also move up once you have at least 30 buyins for the next stake and you are confident in your play.

You also want to make sure that you are focused on table selection which translates to always having at least one fish at your table. It is also vitally important that you do not withdraw from your bankroll and simply allow it to grow naturally.

Lastly, if you want to learn how to start consistently making $1000 per month in low stakes poker games, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

Let me know in the comments below how you got your first $1000 poker bankroll.