When I jumped back into poker with my short bankroll I had read that PokerStars would soon be spreading money badugi tables. I had never played badugi before, but I thought it would be the best opportunity to build my bankroll, since new poker variants are often a goldmine when first introduced on a site. I learned some basic strategy and tried it out on the play money tables, and realized the game has high variance. I didn’t think my bankroll would be able to handle any swings, even if the chances were good I would be up against terrible competition.
Then I stumbled across Double or Nothing SNGs, and, even though they had been around for a few months, found that the play was still very bad. Better yet, the game has much lower variance than badugi (and many other games). My bankroll shot up quickly. And the games are still excellent for bankroll building.
So always keep your eyes open for when sites introduce new poker variants to their sites. If you can quickly develop a strategy to beat those new games you will often be able to add to your bankroll when the games are first introduced. And if you’re really lucky, you’ll find a game like Double or Nothing SNGs where the players keep playing but they don’t get much better.
