I don't believe stories about how much people win. Do you?

[negtv capability]

It's easily explained if he "got lucky" and won a very large tournament with a reasonably low buy-in or some promotional freeroll. If I had won the UB million dollar freeroll a month ago instead of placing 500th- I could make the same claim. First prize was $500,000. But, to grind 50 dollars into 500,000 over a two-year period at cash tables is unlikely, especially considering he had never played seriously before. I think I've read that Chris Furgeson (sp?) is attempting something like this at FT- to turn 0 into a hundred thousad or more- but after a year, he's at 10,000.
Anybody who's not addicted to losing money, literate (has read at least one good poker book), and plays at limits below their playing ability can maintain a bankroll.

[gutter]

http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/...te_id/1#import

I beleive Ferguson deposited $1, then busted, then redeposited $1 and turned it into $20,000 in a short period of time.

I had a friend transfer me $50, I transferred it back a week later and have never redeposited. I am sure people made it to $500k, but I agree most have not.

[uzjedi]

I thought my story was cool, but I guess it's nothing compared to some of you people. I started with $400 and not much knowledge about poker beyond what I had learned in home games. "Only play the best hands and be aware of these percentages...oh and size most of your bets like this for these reasons."
BAM. I was a moderate winning player at low stakes. I bonus whored at the start, being very careful with my money. I withdrew the $400 once I had doubled it and went from there. Then I discovered rake back. I ran pretty badly about a month into my effort, but even then my low point was only 1K. That's when I hit the books pretty hard. At that stage they were extremely useful. I ground my way up playing cash games almost exclusively.
It's been a year and 4 months since I started. I went full time about a year ago. That was a bit soon and with only a $7k bankroll (having withdrawn about 2K in the first four months). I did have my own place, but my expenses were still very low at the time. I could live off just the rake back, and build my roll with the rest. I have since made another $80K. For 2007 I'm $70+/hour (again, a modest win rate compared to some of you.)
Discipline played a part of course. I NEVER played above my bankroll and was always moving on to a new poker book. Then the books began to get stale, and weren't helping anymore.
I can totally believe that your friend's friend was able to earn 500K especially if he won any decently sized tourneys. I believe he had to certainly be luckier than most at the right times to accomplish it, but it doesn't sound that improbable.
I believe my luck to have been as average as it gets. I've played over a million hands and have never cashed more than $450 in a single tourney (hardly played in any).
For me, starting out with so little and making it without really "gambling" was all about the bonuses and later the rake back. They are the great variance eliminators. Isn't poker wonderful? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
[EDIT: Not to mention the ability to multi-table)

[runout_mick]

[ QUOTE ]

I said I simply did not believe it, knowing what I do about gambling.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you play poker, I'd strongly recommend at least researching bankroll management. Even if you choose to not play within a set bankroll, it's handy to know the principles.

I also fall into the never redeposited crowd. When I first started playing I deposited $400, which I lost within a week. After that, I vowed to never deposit again (a vow I've never broken), and rebuilt my bankroll off of freerolls.

It's currently 4 years later, and while I can't claim to have made $500k, I can boast that poker has been my sole source of income for the last 3 years. No, I'm not a 21 year old college dropout living in my parents' basement.

Your roommate's story may be much closer to truth than the fiction you deem it to be.

[Python49]

[ QUOTE ]
My roommate called me an idiot for not believing the story, and I just let it slide because he doesn't understand gambling, but I wanted to check with people who know what they're talking about.

[/ QUOTE ]
That's because you are.

Seems as though you think just because he deposited $50 that he has to make $500,000 at .02/.04 nl. You realize once his first 1000 is made he can then make about 5k the following month at 100 nl right? Then at that point on its pretty much history.

My story is pretty redic but true as well. I was fed up with online poker and getting my ass handed to me in a $25 nl game and down to $1.25 or so. I told myself when I lost that I was done and never redepositing again. I got it all in and sucked out to double up to $2.50. I then worked that up to about $6 and played a sng that I won. I managed to turn that sng win into about $250,000.

[DWarrior]

Yeah, but how much did you lose?

[olieovie]

I think its safe to say that this story is indeed plausible, but that over half the stories told in this thread are not true.

[Sciolist]

I really don't think that there're many people who have won $500k or more at online poker. I would be happy to set the line some way under 100. There're lots of people who've had a great year, or a great three months, or a great week and extrapolate out to what'd happen if they did it for a couple of years, and think they will be a millionaire, but that's not how the game works.

But yeh, getting from $50 to $50k isn't all that unusual. I depositted $50 and lost 3 or 4 times (smallest game on PS at the time was $25 NL), then the fifth time it stuck and I've never depositted with "fresh" money since. I am quite happy to believe most people who will claim that, as if you have discipline, it's perfectly possible.

Of course, many poker players don't have that discipline, but that's another story...

[dlk9s]

While getting his roll up to $500K is far-fetched (though not impossible, depending on how good/lucky the guy got), the never depositing angle is pretty standard.

I started playing with a free $10 that The Gaming Club gave me. I had never played poker for real money and had barely played for play money. I played some $10 buy-in (I think) PL Omaha (go figure, for a beginning) and ran it up to $100.

I have never put any of my own money into poker and while I play low stakes, so my bankroll is nothing compared to many 2+2'ers, I have still run it up several thousand dollars. That's not counting free gifts and goodies.

[negtv capability]

[ QUOTE ]
http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/...te_id/1#import

I beleive Ferguson deposited $1, then busted, then redeposited $1 and turned it into $20,000 in a short period of time.

I had a friend transfer me $50, I transferred it back a week later and have never redeposited. I am sure people made it to $500k, but I agree most have not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's part of the actual Furguson article, just to be accurate:

I'm almost a year into an experiment on Full Tilt Poker. I'm attempting to turn $0 into a $10,000 bankroll. With no money to start with, I had no choice but to start out playing Freerolls. Starting out, I'd often manage to win a dollar or two, but I'd quickly get busted and have to start over again. It took some time but, after awhile, I was eventually able to graduate to games that required an actual buy-in.

Even today, people don't believe it's really me when I sit down at Full Tilt's small stakes games. They ask what I'm doing down here, and often tell me stories about how they turned $5 into $500 or $100 into $1,000. Usually, these stories end with the person telling me that they went broke. There's no surprise there. These folks tried to quickly build a bankroll by gambling. They'd play in a game that was beyond their bankroll and, if they happened to win, they'd move up to a higher limit and risk it all one more time. Inevitably, they'd lose a few big hands and go broke.

For me, this experiment isn't about the money. It's about showing how, with proper bankroll management, you can start from nothing and move up to the point where you're playing in some pretty big games. I know it's possible because I did it once before, turning $1 into $20,000.

You can read the rest here:
http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/pro-tip...on&tip=100