There really IS such a thing as free money
Let me tell you a little story.
I've been playing online for a long time now, as such things go. One of the things that I noticed a long time ago was that by paying close attention to the online poker scene you could find all sorts of opportunities to get a bankroll to try out new poker rooms. Sure, there were often restrictions on cashing out, but that wasn't really much of a problem, considering that the money was free in the first place.
My favorite free money experience came about when one of the smaller card rooms gave a friend of mine (let's call him Ralph) ten dollars for filling out a short survey. Ralph used the money to play in a tournament and cashed in for a few dollars, then went on a little heater and was able to leave a hundred bucks in the original card room while he transferred another hundred to his Neteller account. (For those not in the know, I'll explain how that works in the Getting Started section of the website.) He then moved fifty bucks from Neteller to another poker room that was having a free money promotion that involved giving a bunch of people a few bucks and then having them race to see who could reach a thousand dollars first. Because of all the wild play on the site, Ralph was able to run his bankroll up rather quickly and ended up cashing out several thousand dollars over the next few months. Unfortunately, after cashing out enough to pay his mortgage Ralph didn't have a large enough bankroll to continue playing at the stakes he'd been playing. He ended up waiting too long to drop back down to the correct stakes for his bankroll and is now in the process of building his bankroll back up again. The last time I talked to him he was planning to play freeroll tournaments to get a stake and try to build his bankroll back to a respectable level again.
There are several lessons to be learned from this story:
- It is possible to win large sums of money without risking a single cent of your own money if you know how to find the right bonus deals. As this website grows I'll be adding an RSS feed that has an up-to-the-minute listing of freeroll tournaments that give you an opportunity to win money without putting up any of your own money. I'll also be providing sign-up links for the card rooms that have the best offers of matching cash for your deposit, if you decide you want to make a deposit
- By being aware of the promotions that are going on in the various poker rooms, you can often put yourself into very profitable situations. In the story above, because Ralph was aware of the promotion that was going on, he was able to take advantage of a large pool of relatively inexxperienced players who were playing at higher stakes than they were accustomed to. Ralph was able to manipulate them into bluffing when they shouldn 't have, folding to his bluffs and he able exploit a number of other fairly common mistakes that most newcomers make. If he hadn't been aware of the promotion it's likely that he would have played differently and probably not won as much money.
- Once you've built up your bankroll, you need to be aware of the ramifications of cashing out a large part of your bankroll. Although there are certainly good reasons to cash out large sums (medical emergencies, unemployment, vacations or what have you), if you cash out a big chunk of your bankroll you will either need to drop back and play lower limits while you rebuild your bankroll or run the risk of exgausting your resources and starting over at square one. I'll have more to say on the subject of money management as the website develops.
If you're serious about improving your game (and who isn't?) you'll want to consider setting aside a few bucks each month for study. The price of a good poker book is less than the typical buyin for a 2-4 limit holdem game, and will pay for itself many times over in money earned as a result of your increased knowledge. Take a peek at the PokerSweetSpot reading list for some recommended reading.
Some people find that they learn better by doing stuff than by reading about it. There are a bunch of places that offer play money poker games. I'm sure thqt you've seen ads for some of them. The problem with most play money games is that people tend to play like chuckleheads because there's nothing real at stake. The folks at Poker Pages figured this out a while back and came up with a great solution: Offer REAL prizes for participants in their free games. We're talking about respectable prizes here. You can use Poker Pages free money to play in tournaments and at the end of the month if you're one of the top players you've got a shot at winning real money or a scholarship to Poker School Online. Frankly, Poker School Online is a great deal. You pay $14.95 tuition to Poker School Online and get PSO dollars to buyin to tournaments and track your play against other players from around the world. At regular intervals, there are competitions in which the prize is a sponsorship to the World Series of Poker or other major event. That's right, The Big One! Check out Poker School Online by clicking on the banner now.
