The top 5 greatest online poker spinups
In celebration of the announcement of MicroMillions 7, we look back at some famous instances where poker players have turned pocket change into small fortunes.
The Jesus Challenge
Don't hate on me for starting with one of the most despised figures in poker, because before Chris Ferguson was a worldwide renowned poker villain, he did have an online poker challenge that inspired a lot of people.
He famously started with $0 and turned it into $10,000. Starting with freeroll tournaments and then onto cash games.
The key to the challenge, Ferguson stated, was exercising good bankroll management throughout and being able to drop back down as well as up in stakes. Many people took on the challenge themselves following his example, following the same system he used.
This consisted of never sitting down with more than 5% of your bankroll (or between 0.5% and 2% for tournaments), and leaving the cash tables once your winnings made up 10% of your current bankroll.
Boku87 turns $5 into $100,000
PokerStars player Thomas "Boku87" Boekhoff is famous in online poker circles for his amazing ability to spin small amounts into huge sums. Having already completed a challenge to turn $100 into $10,000, in 2010 he went one better and turned $5 into $100,000!
It took him 10 months and 45,000 turbo tournaments, but in May 2010 his bankroll finally reached $100,384.
He started by grinding $0.02/$0.04 Fixed-Limit and $0.10 Sit & Go tournaments. In the end, 50% of his profit came from the table and the other 50% came from Frequent Player Points, milestone bonuses and promotions like Battle of the Planets.
Special mention has to go to Team PokerStars Pro André Coimbra who recently turned $100 into $69,200.55, all in the name of charity.
Every single MicroMillions Main Event Champion
This article was inspired by the upcoming MicroMillions and to give you an idea of how huge that festival is, you only need to look at the Main Event.
It costs just $22 to enter but boasts a $1 million guarantee, meaning for the price of a DVD you can win a life changing sum.
The most recent champion, 'TheManM', bested 65,396 other players to win $126,000 after a three-way deal. However the biggest prize awarded to date was in MicroMillions 5, when 'stygher' pocketed $160,726.
If you want to try and turn a small amount into a huge bankroll, check out the MicroMillions 7 schedule:
From freerolls to poker careers
There are numerous instances of poker players who managed to literally turn nothing into millions, by starting their careers with freeroll wins.
"Annette_15" claims never to have made a deposit online, and managed to parlay her online freeroll success to become one of the best online tournament players of her time and the very first WSOPE champion in 2007.
A little closer to home we have great players like our own Tobias 'pokernoob' Reinkemeier, who also has managed to win millions of dollars despite claiming never to have deposited his own money.
Tobias climbed the ranks at PokerStrategy.com using our free learning material to become one of the most successful Super High Rollers on the circuit today.
Move over Moneymaker, maratik is the man
Without doubt the greatest story of online spin-up felt very much like the 'Moneymaker story' for online poker.
In 2012 Russian player "maratik" made online poker history with an amazing satellite story.
His journey started at a 40 Frequent Player Points (FPPs) satellite on PokerStars and ended with him winning the $5,200 WCOOP Main Event - the online equivalent of the WSOP Main Event - for $1,000,907.26.
He defeated 1,825 other players, many of whom can count themselves as part of the top 1% in the world, starting in a satellite with a buy-in the equivalent of less than half a dollar.
In terms of ROI, this has to be the most profitable tournament win in history. The fact that he turned 40 FPPs into a $5,200 WCOOP seat in itself is nothing short of remarkable, so to then turn that into a seven-figure first prize in the biggest and toughest online tournament of the year is the stuff dreams are made of.
Did I miss out a classic spin-up story? Let me know your favourites in the comments box.
by Barry Carter
