Introducing the PartyPoker Bankroll Challenge

by Nick Cantwell

Hi and I’d like to welcome you to my weekly post on the PartyPoker Blog. This is either going to expose my poker superstar status to the world, or end in unmitigated, shame-faced poker disaster. But before I explain why, allow me to introduce myself.

I’m Nick Cantwell, and in poker circles I am known as The Cloud, which also happens to be my PartyPoker screen name. I am married, live in Hertfordshire in the UK, and have two young girls, who manage to run more rings around me than any poker player ever could. I have been playing online for around three years, and I have been blogging poker for around half of that time.

Nick: Hopes every Cloud has a silver lining

Now the nice people at PartyPoker – well, Simon Young, whom I have known in the poker blogging community – has placed $25 dollars in my account, and he wants to see how far I can take it. And this was a challenge I couldn’t resist. You see, I have read stories about how some players (obviously Chris “Jesus” Ferguson being the most famous) have turned these kinds of amounts into $10,000 or more. And thousands like that can buy a lot. Thousands can buy cars, boats, houses or even trips to the moon (and if I’m really successful I’ll be able to afford the trip back home).

Now you can see why this weekly post could make me a star or a chump: my poker prowess is going to be on show for all to see!

Nevertheless, I have dusted down my poker books and am now reading Sklansky, Harrington and my own personal bible, Poker for Dummies in readiness for the start of the PartyPoker Bankroll Challenge.

I will begin at the $0.02/$0.04 no limit cash tables, which seems a pretty sensible thing to do, but after a little research, I realise I am taking quite a gamble even here. The maximum buy-in at these tables is $5, so five losing buy-ins and it is all over – although there is no rule to say I have to use a maximum buy-in.

In the early stages I will be concentrating on the cash game, and if I make it past this stage, and that is a very big if, I will be introducing some sit and go’s and even the odd multi-table tournament (but never using more than 5% and 2% of my roll respectively).

So I’m ready to go. Ready to embark on my journey into the unknown. The Rocky theme tune is playing in my head; I’m limbering up, and all set to post my first blind…..

Tune in next week to see how I’m progressing! Or, perish the thought, how I’ve busted in days. And please leave some comments with your advice, encouragement, or gentle abuse.

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Have you tried the Bankroll Challenge? Fancy playing along with Nick? Drop us a line and let us know how it’s going.

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