K
Kehzi
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
Sure! Why not?
Just have a plan to move up as you start to get some cashes.
It's hard to build a bankroll if the only thing you EVER play is freerolls.
But... if you start with freerolls... then play value added events... then satellites... then majors
Now my friend you have a formula for building your bankroll.
Freerolls are a find place to start though, especially if they are the cardschat freerolls which have small fields and lots of added money making them a great way to boost your bankroll! :joyman:
T
tourpro99
Rock Star
Silver Level
I think it's possible. I got up to 6500 bankroll on FT/PS from a freeroll, but cashed out when it dropped to 3500. It felt like real money then! Just didn't trust the sites a hundred percent---seemed to run really poorly after first time trying to withdraw. Probably coincidence...but??
TirariAchref
Rock Star
Bronze Level
Yes , It's the best way to begin your career with the freeroll games. You will build your game and skills without losing any money because you will not earn money from poker until you have atleast a one year experience.
Ruslan L
Legend
Platinum Level
I started with freerolls and I can definitely say that freerolls are a good start. In half a year of playing, I accumulated a fairly large bankroll, however, I continue to play in freerolls, because now it's like a hobby for me 
10gerka
Legend
Platinum Level
Many have started with that method, if you do not have money to play poker and grow, the best method is to play freeroll and increase your bankroll that way, and little by little you will be able to climb levels with daily work and study. good luck to everyone.
Matt_Burns88
Legend
Bronze Level
The answer is yes, but it is not as straightforward as that.
It is very easy to find many freerolls and play all the time and win a few cents here and there. There are also occasionally some great value freerolls where you can potentially win 100's of Dollars. Ideally, you want to find freerolls with a limited number of players for a decent prize pool. Cardschat freerolls are great for this because they are normally $100 prize pools with 100-200 entrants. Even if you only have a small edge on the field, you should be able to build a bankroll playing these tournaments. I would strongly recommend avoiding the $10 tournaments with 3,000+ entrants because it takes so long to make the money to just win $0.02.
So stage 1 is play some freerolls and cash a few and you make your first few bucks. Then what? Do you withdraw so that you can buy a tin of beans and a loaf of bread? You've paid for a meal, but you're now back to $0.00 again. Guess you'll have to play some more freerolls...realistically you can't expect to make more than a few Dollars a week on average playing freerolls - you have to re-invest those winnings into real money games.
The upside of real money games is, the prizes are more substantial, but the downside is that when you don't cash, your bankroll goes down, unlike with freerolls. Everyone is able to make money from freerolls, even the worst players in the world will sometimes get lucky and cash a tournament, so when you're not investing any of your own money, you are guaranteed to make a profit if you play enough tournaments. The same cannot be said for real money games, even at the lowest buy-ins. So you need to be able to beat these games with enough consistency to make a profit. Then you need to progress to the next level of buy-in, then the next and then the next.
I don't know where OP is from, so I have no idea what the cost of living is like for them, but I will use myself as an example. I live in the UK, where I have a job paying ~£35k ($44.5K)a year. I live in a modest 2 bedroom flat with my girlfriend who earns a similar amount, drive a reasonable, not flashy car and eat out a couple of times a month. We don't live a lavish lifestyle, but we're comfortable. So let's say to make a career from playing poker in the UK, you need to earn $44.5k. So how do you earn $44.5k a year from poker? The advice I read years ago, and I know a handful of pro's use a similar plan still today is to calculate 8% of your buy-ins for MTT's with 500+ entrants. This percentage would reduce based on the number of entrants, but since most online MTT's I play have 500+, this is the calculation I use. To produce an income of $44.5k, you would need to play enough tournaments for you total buy-ins for the year to be $556,250 (556,250 * 0.08 = 44,500).
Half a million Dollars in buy-ins? Are you serious? Sure am. How do you go about playing poker for half a million Dollars a year? Well not by playing freerolls, that's for sure! I think a much more reasonable average buy-in would be around $50, which would equate to 11,125 tournaments a year, or 43 tournaments a day, based on playing 5 days a week. This of course, doesn't account for any study time, which all pro's are doing if they want to keep up with the games they are playing.
Then you have to think about what your bankroll needs to look like as a professional poker player. 100 buy-ins isn't going to cut it when this is your only source of income and a fairly normal downswing could lead to you defaulting on your mortgage or not being able to feed the kids. To have any kind of real security, you need to be playing with a 500 buy-in bankroll, or $25,000. You also need to have a minimum of 6 months worth of outgoings put aside in case you hit that longer and harder downswing, so you also need say another $20,000 in the bank to cover those expenses.
Now these figures are of course flexible to an extent. The 8% rule is designed to give you a consistent monthly income based on your volume and your buy-in, not your winnings. It also allows you to continue to grow your bankroll, which in time allows you to play higher stakes (who doesn't like a pay rise?).
I started my own bankroll challenge back in January 2022 and last month I went past the $1k mark, which I consider to be a great success. Now, it is totally fair to say that I did not put in as much volume as I could have. It's also fair to say that I was overly conservative in my bankroll management - a lot of players would have gotten to $1k much faster than I did by moving up quicker, but then a lot of players would also have ended up back at zero when I never did. I plan to continue to grow my bankroll while also making monthly withdrawals based on 8% of my buy-ins. This will obviously not be life changing amounts to me, but it is a nice feeling to know that the round of drinks or meal I just bought was paid for by poker winnings.
So yes, it is possible to start a poker career from freerolls, but it will take a lot of time and dedication on and off the table. I think that just like in years gone by, it is most achievable by young players living at home or at university, who's outgoings are very low and so have more time and can afford to try to spin up their smaller bankrolls without the concern of not being able to pay the bills.
It is very easy to find many freerolls and play all the time and win a few cents here and there. There are also occasionally some great value freerolls where you can potentially win 100's of Dollars. Ideally, you want to find freerolls with a limited number of players for a decent prize pool. Cardschat freerolls are great for this because they are normally $100 prize pools with 100-200 entrants. Even if you only have a small edge on the field, you should be able to build a bankroll playing these tournaments. I would strongly recommend avoiding the $10 tournaments with 3,000+ entrants because it takes so long to make the money to just win $0.02.
So stage 1 is play some freerolls and cash a few and you make your first few bucks. Then what? Do you withdraw so that you can buy a tin of beans and a loaf of bread? You've paid for a meal, but you're now back to $0.00 again. Guess you'll have to play some more freerolls...realistically you can't expect to make more than a few Dollars a week on average playing freerolls - you have to re-invest those winnings into real money games.
The upside of real money games is, the prizes are more substantial, but the downside is that when you don't cash, your bankroll goes down, unlike with freerolls. Everyone is able to make money from freerolls, even the worst players in the world will sometimes get lucky and cash a tournament, so when you're not investing any of your own money, you are guaranteed to make a profit if you play enough tournaments. The same cannot be said for real money games, even at the lowest buy-ins. So you need to be able to beat these games with enough consistency to make a profit. Then you need to progress to the next level of buy-in, then the next and then the next.
I don't know where OP is from, so I have no idea what the cost of living is like for them, but I will use myself as an example. I live in the UK, where I have a job paying ~£35k ($44.5K)a year. I live in a modest 2 bedroom flat with my girlfriend who earns a similar amount, drive a reasonable, not flashy car and eat out a couple of times a month. We don't live a lavish lifestyle, but we're comfortable. So let's say to make a career from playing poker in the UK, you need to earn $44.5k. So how do you earn $44.5k a year from poker? The advice I read years ago, and I know a handful of pro's use a similar plan still today is to calculate 8% of your buy-ins for MTT's with 500+ entrants. This percentage would reduce based on the number of entrants, but since most online MTT's I play have 500+, this is the calculation I use. To produce an income of $44.5k, you would need to play enough tournaments for you total buy-ins for the year to be $556,250 (556,250 * 0.08 = 44,500).
Half a million Dollars in buy-ins? Are you serious? Sure am. How do you go about playing poker for half a million Dollars a year? Well not by playing freerolls, that's for sure! I think a much more reasonable average buy-in would be around $50, which would equate to 11,125 tournaments a year, or 43 tournaments a day, based on playing 5 days a week. This of course, doesn't account for any study time, which all pro's are doing if they want to keep up with the games they are playing.
Then you have to think about what your bankroll needs to look like as a professional poker player. 100 buy-ins isn't going to cut it when this is your only source of income and a fairly normal downswing could lead to you defaulting on your mortgage or not being able to feed the kids. To have any kind of real security, you need to be playing with a 500 buy-in bankroll, or $25,000. You also need to have a minimum of 6 months worth of outgoings put aside in case you hit that longer and harder downswing, so you also need say another $20,000 in the bank to cover those expenses.
Now these figures are of course flexible to an extent. The 8% rule is designed to give you a consistent monthly income based on your volume and your buy-in, not your winnings. It also allows you to continue to grow your bankroll, which in time allows you to play higher stakes (who doesn't like a pay rise?).
I started my own bankroll challenge back in January 2022 and last month I went past the $1k mark, which I consider to be a great success. Now, it is totally fair to say that I did not put in as much volume as I could have. It's also fair to say that I was overly conservative in my bankroll management - a lot of players would have gotten to $1k much faster than I did by moving up quicker, but then a lot of players would also have ended up back at zero when I never did. I plan to continue to grow my bankroll while also making monthly withdrawals based on 8% of my buy-ins. This will obviously not be life changing amounts to me, but it is a nice feeling to know that the round of drinks or meal I just bought was paid for by poker winnings.
So yes, it is possible to start a poker career from freerolls, but it will take a lot of time and dedication on and off the table. I think that just like in years gone by, it is most achievable by young players living at home or at university, who's outgoings are very low and so have more time and can afford to try to spin up their smaller bankrolls without the concern of not being able to pay the bills.
Sunz of Beaches
Whot a Donk
Platinum Level
Thats quite a wall of text to answer to a person who asked this more than 4 years ago 😅 This member was active less than a month before he/she vanished again 😅
W
WellAA
Visionary
Platinum Level
Hi there, nice to hear that! May I ask how much did You get? more than 100.000?
GL and keep crushing
Last edited:
Matt_Burns88
Legend
Bronze Level
Yeah, ooops! I didn't realise how old the original post was until after I posted. The thread had been dormant for nearly three years until yesterday.
Still it serves other members as well, so all good.
dreamer13
Legend
Loyaler
One of the main attractions of freerolls is their free nature. This is a great opportunity for those who want to gain experience and improve their playing skills without any financial risk.You should have no illusions - if you dive into the poker world, you have no systemic allies.If you keep your brain turned on and not be tempted by the temptations offered, understanding where they come from and what their purpose is, then the poker world is one of the best places to monetize your brain. If you are young, have a lot of time and good brains, you didn’t come here in vain.
M
MatheusANF
Rock Star
Bronze Level
It's a journey, but a hard journey
millya5
Legend
Platinum Level
I'm already very happy that Hugh is back . But then I looked carefully that this was an old publication . I'm so sorry I hope he's okayFor many people playing freerolls also many buy ins from micros to high stakes and constantly clicking the withdrawal button has been the career for decades.
Welcome to CardsChat Andrea_21.
S
stil370
Visionary
Platinum Level
I believe so.
The hard part is holding onto the winnings afterward.
As boring as it is, it all comes down to that ugly bankroll mgt thing.