15th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge)

It's been a while since my last update, sorry about that. Then again, next to no one probably reads this anyway ;)


Anyway its been nearly 5 days since my last update.

I'm really really disappointed at my volume, but been not so well and just tired and not finding the time to play. I've played less than 300 games in nearly a week..which sucks, considering I got into a rytham of playing 100+ a day!! Arrrg..motivation please!!!

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact I have been running quite bad, and had a huge down swing but managed to post recently about coming out of it.

Anyway, I said at the start of the month I wanted to achieve goldstar VIP status which would work out at like 6000fpp's but doesn't look likely unless I put in massive volume. I've only accumulated 654 vpps this month so far, so need to hit 2356 by the end of the month, which would require around 150 games per day on average until the end of the month, or move up in stakes..

I have managed to hit a peak of nearly $350,00 so I could in reality add the $3.50 18man games to my grind but I'm unsure as of yet, I think I'd be more comfortable when I hit $375.00

Bankroll: $348.00

14th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge) - Battle Of The Planets Promotion

Hi guys,

not really played all that much since Saturday. I think I've played a total of 50 tournaments, nothing "big" to report on really, just standard game made a few dollars but that's about it. I went deep in several tournaments, just lost 3 flips on 3 FT for a pathetic small cash in all. Just winning one of the flips would of put me in good contention to win a few more buy-ins. Never mind, I can't complain been running good the 2 days prior...well actually probably just fair because of the huge down swing and suck outs I was experiencing days before that!

Anyway,  I just wanted to talk about battle of the planets (BOP)

Since playing the 18man SnG's you are already entered into a league with free prize money just for playing your own game type.

I managed to actually cash for $5.00 for finishing 85th..first place is $150.00 for the lowest stakes and obviously this month will get in enough volume to actually compete.

I've also been playing a $1.00 satty in to the $10.00 satty and managed to win a ticket after the 5th attempt which I've ungreisted now so +$5.00 profit


Will update when  I have something significant.

13th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge)

Hello all,

My last post of the very depressing day I had on the 3rd and big "downswing" with losing 45buy-ins was horrible to do a write up about. Hell, who wants to blog about their poker when it involved nothing but negative stuff and NOTHING going right.

Well, it's easy to say with this one as it always is easier when you're commenting on a upswing (or just variance evening itself out)

However, I find it remarkable how bad I am at tilt control etc...when in a down swing like you hear EVERYWHERE, I became negative and looked at my play but every time I checked out some hands especially in that big losing session, I did nothing really that wrong, maybe the odd hand here and there I could of played better but in general, I was losing coin flips galore and worse of it I was losing with hands I was dominating too.

You have to try and remind yourself it's just variance but I can't keep a level head and tend to tilt and question my game. I even went to grinding 9man SNGs which I never ever play and totally suck at in the hope of gaining some profit and vpp's, which I did manage to do by the way.


Anyway, I played the 3rd of November and lost like I say a massive 50 buy-ins and played a good amount of games, 118 tournaments to be precise!!! I guess this is quite normal though for most people..and hell I'm in for a rough ride if I can't handle that very well when I move up in stakes..


I played the 4th (yesterday) and had a positive day and won back quite a brag worthy 22 buy-ins which was good, put me back at the $250.00 mark, still behind but definitely less tilting but my volume was very low, with only 23 games or something.

I played today and again not much volume even worse actually by only playing 21 games but I recorded my best ever session in terms of buy-sin + profit and won back what I lost and gained more in BR in the process so all positive just disappointed in my volume...

November results:

As you can see from the graph it shows how swingy it already has been!

Total P/L: ++200

Bankroll: $300.00


I'm currently of pace for achieving goldstar but this is because of the down swing and not grinding as much in terms of volume because I was tiliting a little. I'm currently at the 5th day in the month and won't play until most likely tomorrow and currently sat on 356vpps this month.. but will just have to add more games and do over 150 tomoz hopefully.

12th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge) - Downswing :(

Curently on a big downswing. I say it's big but I have  30buy-in downswing at the 50c level so I guess it's very possible to hit a 40 buy-in downswing at $1.00/$1.50 levels.

My roll has taken a big hit, I'm currently down around $50.00 and took a hit of losing $45.00 in one session.

This is totally unmotivating to say the least!

I then decided (maybe slight tilt too) to play a session of STT's with like 20 STT's and won $10.00 in total so my BR is actually,

$229.00 and was $284.00 :(:(:(

I'm hoping I don't tilt and tilt lots of but hell I'm running bad as bad. Never seen a run of ban cards, each and every hand I have that is dominating A,10<A,9 etc AA < Set // top two pair < < runner, runner.

Each and every time I know exactly what villian has when I bet out TPTK or two pair on a wet board or set even on a wet board that he's shoving a flush draw every time and I've never ever seen so many times the flush hit. I'm talking it's happened most likely 20 times and 18/19 of the times a flush has hit, this is by no means an exaggeration! :)


Now I know this post seems like a whine post and it most likely is a little but I'm so tilted at the minute, I wanted to of moved up to the $3.50 games now and had hoped for a $350.00 BR but that's not happening and it feels I'm back to square one. The problem is, if this downswing continue, how long can I keep going at the limits, I don't think I can motivate myself to drop down to the 50c games as the grind is so so bad.


Until next time I hope to post a positive report/post..

Goodluck at the tables!

11th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge) -End of month report + goals for November!

I'm going to just do what I said I wasn't going to do.

Post graphs !




In all seriousness though, I finally have got PT3 correctly importing and have ALL my MTTSnG's game's I've played and an accurate graph. In doing this, I'm having to get rid of MTT wins/fpp wins etc but will include my FULL BR at the end.

The reasons for this is that MTT sattys which I've played a fair few of DON'T process at all so bascially you have to manually fill them in, thus not acquiring all the correct buy-ins/rebuy's/tickets etcetc so it's just one big mess.


I'm also going to be including stats for all the SNG's I've been playing with the games played at what stakes and ROI% etc even though they will still be way off purely based on my game sample. I don't even expect them to be accurate towards the $1k BR mark as I imagine (if I move up in stakes quick enough) I won't even of played 5000 SNG's.

Again though, this depends solely on how long I'm at the $1.00 games for.

I can/still do mix in 50c games and even the occasional 360man 10c because of how soft they are and nice for tilt to shove 10c ATC in these games ;)

October Report!:




So it's been nearly a full month  (well just over 3weeks) since I started the challenge.I guess I have to be happy with actually having a profit, however I'm disappointed in my volume. I wanted to have double the amount of the games under my belt but it just hasn't happened.

I think now with playing the $1.50 18man and $1.50 45mans etc etc that I should/could be able to reach my goal by the end of the month IF I get the volume in. I could even maybe reach the target quicker than that as I expect to be hitting the $3.50 45man/ $2.50 90man / $2.50 180man and also $3.50 18man. My current aim is to of moved up in limits by this time next week and have a roll of nearly $500.00. If I get in 1000 games within this time then it's very possible..

Goals:




Goldstar:


 (Requires just under 3000vpp's) Possible to earn 100  per day maybe more especially when/if I move up in limits sooner rather than later. This would reward me with 4500 fpps (enough to buy a "prize") but I would continue saving and using some of them for little tournaments.

This would also allow me to start December with 2xfpp rate and with moving up in limits along with gaining more vpp's in general I guess it's all possible to for many things in December if all goes to plan! But - one step at a time.


$700 Profit: 

All very possible if I get the volume in along with moving up to as little as $2.50/$3.50 games.




Stats:

Graph

Obviously my total games are more than the total that's being shown as I've played most likely nearly 100 or more in sattys and then on top of that a various amount of MTT's with large fields.

Since adding the 18man I think varience is less so even though I have more in play at any one time (up to $40.00 sometimes) but it irons out the varience a bit more and I think I can multi table them along with the other MTT's + it's a great vpp/fpp builder.




SnG - P/L         : +$218
Bankroll:          :$286.00


Deposits: $30.00 (For free timed tournament ticket) 
                 $10.00 (For a "free" ticket to the 10th year anniversary freeroll.




As you can see, I've deposited $40.00 in total since my BR challenge so I really shouldn't be including these, but the only reasons for the deposits are for "freebies" and I'm not expecting to lose any of the money I've deposited. If anything, it gives me more of a cushion. You might wonder why don't I withdraw the $40.00 I've deposited so far and the reasons is because I don't miss the money and even withdrawing money find it quite negative + it might help with the BR challenge in moving up slightly quicker!

10th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge)

Hello people.

I've totally lost track of everything recently. As I've stated numerous times and won't get in to it but basically HEM and PT3 are a no go for the time being and foreseeable future due to problems with them BOTH!


Back to my actual progress with building my roll and the games I'm playing.


Games:

18man(new), 45man, 90man (all turbos + added 90man KO's the odd "few") MTT's (200+ entrants)


Ok, so literally as in today, I've added 18man turbos to my routine. There are a few reasons for this, they are quick to fill up, they don't last very long if I only have a set amount of time to grind and they also seem quite "ok" in terms of profitability and reducing variance. Another positive from them is that they are good for earning VPP's, as each one gets you 1 vpp and you can fit quite easily if you wanted 50+ in a shortish session.

 The only problem was I'm less limited in terms of experience in these and they play quite the same as a 9man STT which I just plain suck at...

Another reason I didn't start them earlier is purely because my bankroll just couldn't handle them. They are no longer $1.00 games, they are now $1.50

I'm plodding along slowly in my grind, but since adding the $1.00 games I've been more motivated to play them because the actual payouts are "good" in a sense of what I've been used to in the 10c/25c/50c games.


Bankroll:     $267.00

Total P/L:  +$217.00




I've played around 1500 games now mainly consisting of 50c games and have profited just over $200.00 so far.

Obviously the goal here is to build and move up limits as soon as possible but reducing the risk of busting my account




Here is my plan for moving up and which stakes I will be adding as I progress,

Current status,

$200+ - 18/45/90man 50c - $1.50 buy-ins.

$350.00 - Add $3.50 18man turbos
$400.00 - Add $2.50 90man (standard speed)
$450.00 - Add $3.50 45man's
$500.00 - Add $2.50 180mans

I will grind all these till I have $1000 in my account and my BR challenge will be done.


I'm hoping now my BR is growing and I'm playing slightly higher stakes that my BR will grow much quicker and I will be done within 2-4 weeks.

I have managed to build up $100 in about a weeks worth of smallish sessions in grinding since I moved to the $1.00 games so I expect it to be quicker. I'd imagine the BR will grow quite quickly indeed once I get to the $500.00 mark and add $3.50 18man/45man and also the $2.50 180 mans!

Time will tell, good luck!

Being lazy! + I've moved up in limits

Hello guys, been a few days since my last update. Well only like 3 days but I see that as quite lazy!

Played a little bit of poker, not very much at all though if I'm honest. I've only played like 100 or so tournaments since wednesday and considering I was nearing 100 per day in most cases, this is slacking quite badly!


As stated in previous posts, PT3 and HEM are both rubbish for me. One works, then decides to stop working and it's back and forwards constantly importing/exporting hands between both programmes.

I'm totally lost on how many games I've actually played now. Poker tracker says around 1,250 games but because poker tracker is awfully bad in tracking tournaments especially sattys which is what I play a LOT in it's totally off.

The only way I can work it out is I'd say I'm around 1300-1400 at a guess and my profits, I'm going to have to work of my actual BR.

When I come closer in to the 1k mark, I will unlock my SS to get a "real" graph.

So here is my profits and bankroll.


Oh, I must also point out, I made a deposit of $30.00 purely for the benefit of a "free" $5.50 timed tournament ticket which had no strings attached.

 You might of seen it around, pokerstars recently added new tournaments to their roster which was "timed" tournaments. Basically MTT tournaments which are timed (O/RLY??) between as short as 15 minutes and up to 180minutes for people who are on a specific time scale. I find these very profitable by the way...for anyone interested in playing them.

Oh and for anyone wondering, I managed to brick the $5.00 tournament anyway. As for the monies, I might withdraw again soon but I'm not really "missing" $30.00 which is £20.00 so might just keep it up for extra cushion for my BR.


Bankroll: $246.00(with deposit) - (($216.00))

Total P/L: + $196.00






So there we have it, been doing it about 3weeks now my challenge and I've gone from $20.00 to $216.00 so nearly 10x my initial BR and I've played around 1300 approx.

As you can see and if you have been reading since my first posts, I'm way, way of my target in every aspect.

I've played around 70-80% of my games in the 50c games and the rest have been the new $1.00/$1.50 games,

Here is a screenshot, which will be off by the way as this doesn't include larger field MTT's nor does it include satty games I've been playing,

This shows how messed up my stats are, as you can see from the $1.36 5 table SnG's, there is two entries for them, one has 19 games and the other has 2 games yet it's not put them together lol....wow I hate stats so much...well these tracking softwares!!!!

As you can see, still sample size is small and not right as I've played over 1200 that's for sure but it seems I excel a lot more in the 90mans but I've always known I'm better in bigger sized field tournaments anyway.

Will post more updates soon!

Goodluck!

Going to stop posting graphs etc..so often

Hello,

because of the absolute nightmare I'm having with PT and HEM I think I'm going to stop posting graphs so often.

This is due to the main reason that because I have so much data and stats missing, it's inaccurate and it annoys the hell out of me. If I can somehow get it all correct and close to 100% of the data as opposed to about 90% then I will contiune but as for now, I will post updates and post screenshots of BR etc..

I will soon unlock my SS graph, maybe when I'm closer to the 1k mark which might well show the actual "SnG profits" mark..

As for now though, I'm signing out as I'm tilted to f**k with all the messing around and will just blog every other day or so regarding how I'm getting on.

Good luck all!

9th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge) - Moving up in limits + problems with poker tracking software!!!

Angry !! :(

So, again, once again I might add.....I have nothing but problems with poker tracker or hold em manager, whichever one I decide I'm using it works for a while, then decides to f**k up on me, generating errors or just plain not importing hands which hold em manager has now decided to do..

So all the messing around, backing up, trying to input more and more data (which takes hours btw!) I'm back on poker tracker and totally have NO IDEA how many tournaments I'm missing or which satty's I've cashed in or not cashed in...big sigh...

The only way I can work on now, is looking at BR and going from there...the graph I've got from PT3 is totally wrong. It's even more wrong in HEM because basically it's not recording any results, yet still showing buy-ins so basically it says im down $40.00 which isn't the case..

My bankroll currently sits at $185.00 so I'm still up...as for the games themselves, I've been running awful. The previous down swing I had and came out of, came back once again lol so I was down 30 buy-ins at one point and managed to bring it "back" to level pegging.

Anyway, after more and more grinding and some loose shove/calls and more tedious 50c game play (very boring and annoying) I decided I did have enough of a BR at around $150.00 to add the $1.00 90man games to my list..

I'm still 100% comfortable with it but I can't stand the 50c games any longer so willing to risk adding the 90mans to my game. I guess I have enough buy-ins but it's kinda swingy adding various stakes to your grind. I have 10c games and up to $1.00 games running at the same time and the usual case scenario is run good in 10c games run bad in $1.00 (game play isn't any better before anyone thinks it!!:p)...

It's nice cashing in a $1.00 game because the rewards of $22.00 up top as opposed to $11.00 is so much better!

I played a total of  26 tournaments in them and won around $40.00 give or take, took one down and finished in second in anotehr and min cashed another then donked away the rest.

This is my graph but it is wrong, I've played over 1100 games and my profit must be more because I have a bankroll of $185.00 meaning I have $165.00 in profits as opposed to the graph saying $132.00 so it's like $30.00 off.

"However" I'm going to have to just go of the graph and current stats I have.......but will post end bankroll.

ROI: 26% (most likely closer to 30%)

Total winnings $165.00

Total BR: $185.00

8th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge)

So my last post was about a downswing of 30buy-ins.

The good news is, I've managed to turn it around  a little bit. I'm still not running great and the cards aren't falling my way. I believe I've been making correct decisions as the crucial points in a tournament, on the bubble for example folding big hands when two monster stacks shoving.

I played a quickish session this morning with only 33 games played and ran at 64% ROI with a net profit of $9.00 or so.

I think I've tightened up my shoving/calling range at the 45man and it seemed to of worked well, I managed to hit a few final tables, with the best place coming from a 2nd place..

However, the best part was playing a 10c 360man purely because the games take a while to load up and these are so fishy and easy and I managed to win one lol. This is surprising because of the vairence invovled but once I hit the FT I quite easily run over everyone, everyone was so so bad..I had the chip lead on the table at the start and busted nearly every player. Heads up I had double his stack with around 350k and within a few hands busted him. Was a nice result!

I hit 3 final tables of 90men tournaments and only played 5 in total (these take forever to fill up) but nothing seemed to of happened and I didn't run the best. My last tournament I finished in 6th place when I shipped UTG+1 with 6 blinds left holding A,J got snap called by someone holding 2'2s! Anyway, he somehow managed to hold and win..nevermind..I think I got it in good enough.

I'm just happy in general my bad run is beginning to turn round...and hopefully the next post I make I'll be winning again lol..This is a long grind and boring one...i can't stand 50c games I just want to move to the $3.00 games ASAP.

Session Games: 33

Total P/L: +$9.13




Total Games:    974

Total P/L:        +$116.71

Bankroll:           $146.91








As you can see, I've been playing now for over 2 weeks and still haven't got in over 1000 games. This is so so bad and well below what I wanted. I wanted at LEAST 2000 games under my belt and be playing $1.50/$2.00/$$3.50 games...

Hell, once I finally get to these limits I know volume will increase because I will have a lot more motivation!

7th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge) - Dowwwwnswing!:(

Downswing was bound to happen and here it is!

A 30 buy-in downswing, mainly all coming from 45man turbos. I'm quite sure I'm not making that many mistakes where I'm losing 30 buy-ins.....in fact each time I watch my all-ins, I'm ahead.

I' dsay 90-95% of the hands I'm favorite and just can't control the cards and just running bad in general now! :(

Going to have to try grind it back which of course is very possible. The players are THAT bad..I just hope I don't continue in a bad downswing where it takes a while to build back up again.

It's the last 150 games I'm just running really goddam bad!

Total Games Played 150
Session P/L: -$15.00 approx

Total P/L:     +$103.57


Bankroll:         $126.64




Now, it's time to try get out of this downswing and get that graph growing upwards again. It was envitable to run bad at some point, just didn't expect 30 buy-ins lol..








Bankroll: $126.64

6th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge)

Hello guys, i've not updated for four days. This is due to a couple reason, mainly due to my laptop breaking on me and losing all my data. I've managed to get most hands back but I'm "down" $10.00 or rather missing some tournaments so nevermind, what I will do though however is post my current graph and work from there.

I like PT3 but I also like HEM manager and I'm unsure as to which is better,

The last few days have been quite bad in terms of poker, not got much volume in but I have a new "peak" in profits and bankroll so all good. I'm still struggling to motivate myself grinding 50c games, although I'm nearly out of these games and can soon (could do now if I wanted but I'm BR nitting it up) be playing $1.00/$1.50 games.

Yesterday was a good day, I think my best day so far in terms of profit, I think I managed to win 2 90men and 1 45man tournament so my net profits for the day was like $30,00.

I will post all my SnG (45,90man) graph combined, not point in doing seperate graphs unless somoene wants to see it,




























I'm not even sure and can't be bothered filitering through everything to find out my P/L for past few days, so I'll just do total amounts,


Total games: 740

Total P/L:     $119.88

Current BR:  $143.25


ROI%:          35.4%    


I'm unsure as to if it's possible to sustain a 35% ROI but I'd imagine 30% is definitely sustainable at these levels, these are all combined and obviously the higher ROI% comes from the 90mans..


Good luck at the tables, I will try update more frequent and try get more games in. I wanted to of played 2000 games by now but I'm WAY off...motivation = low. Maybe once I move up to $3.00+ games I will grind out more

5th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge)

Hello people (or myself, not sure if anyone will actually read this)

I've still been grinding, I put in a 68 tournament session. This is still way below what I wanted to grind, considering at the start of the blog I wanted a MINIMUM of 100 per day, just hasn't gone to plan with the time I've had. I have managed to however put one days worth of 100 in.

Not to worry, will still keep trying to up the amount of tournaments I can in one session but for the time being I'm happy with the steady progress even if it's a low slower than I initially wanted. I wanted to of been moving up by stakes now, to the $1,00/ $1,50 games and have managed to of got in 1000 tournaments but I'm way of pace but realise I don't need to "rush" as micros can be tedious at the best of times, the last thing I want is to tilt away all the hard work and having to put in even more time in to them.

Late 15th early hours of 16th  October was the grind, I had around 2-3hours of grind time I think and fit in 68 tournaments of mainly 45man and 90 man. I'd say most likley 75% of so was 45mans because these actually fill as opposed to the 90's turbos which can take 15minutes at times as opposed to 1-2minutes for the 45mans. I've no alternative but to play more of these unless I play 10c 360's but these become a grind and a half...


It was a very strange session and I was tired but I don't think I played too bad. I was down massively at the start, although it didn't feel like I was being sucked out as much as normal, I started the session with a $107 BR and I had 15-20 tables in play continuously and my account was at $89.50 when I registered for another tournament and I was like "WTF...Ok, so I have on average 15 buy-ins in play but I'm down over 15buy-ins already ?! " I was slightly worried because I was tired and thought I must of been making bad plays yet not even remembering lol...

Anyway, I continued loading my tables and I started hitting FT's and a fair few I hit! I just couldn't take advantage of anything most of the time, even with monster chip leads! I ended up heads up in 2 90man tournaments and 1 45man tournament and managed to lose all 3! The annoying thing was, two of the tournaments the players was really really bad and got it in bad twice vs me and both managed to suck me out. By this point, I was crippled and ended up shoving 2blinds with J,7s and got called by Q,7 yet for some reason I don't hit my 3 outters..lol.


Not to worry, after what I thought would of been one of my worse days since the grind, It ended up actually being one of my best. I actually managed to hit a profit of approx $10,00 which is good for 50cent games I think! lol.


More importantly my profit has surpassed the $100.00 mark which is great for progressing to the next level very soon!

For now, here are stats and graph.

Good luck in the games!


Session Games: 68

Session P/L: +$10.98



Total Games: 590

Total P/L: +$103.87

Bankroll: $116.82

4th Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge)

Hello,

Another frustrating night for other reason rather than running bad!

I actually just ran "ok" as in, I didn't get sucked out as much as I normally do, but things just felt slow if that makes sense?

To the grind, I hit loads of final tables,  that's the plus side so at least I know I've got my shove/fold game up to scratch. Most likely one of the most in a session, but.....I just coulden't do anything on them. It's not as if I was short stack either, I had healthy and somewhat dominating stacks in one 45man 9 remained I had massive chip lead and I somehow managed to bust in 8th ;)

I basically ran in to big pairs 3 times when I had most iso shoving hands and got called by big stacks.

A,K < JJ
A,Q , 10,10

Those sort of situations and I didn't hit my set. The final hand was the worse, A,10s (7blinds) on the button I shoved obviously, got snapped by the big stack again who held Aces, so Just ran bad in terms of running into monsters all the time in what are usually very good spots to shove and very good in equity terms if called.

The evening was successful in the sense I made a profit, but it was so pitiful and frustrating, I felt it could/should of been a +$30.00 but actually ended +$7.00 lol.. Still I'll take it, it's just frustrating after playing 67 games but 14 buy-ins is just another step closer to moving up.


Anyway, going to post some stats now...


Session Games: 67

Session P/L: +$7.00

Total Games: 522

Total P/L: +$92.89

Bankroll: $107.47

So, I have nearly profited $100.00 with just under 500 games played at 50c MTT SNG which I think is quite a good return on investment at just under 40% which I've kept through most of the time. By the time I reach 1000 games, I should of moved up to the $1.00/$1.50 games as I'll have $200 in my BR IF I continue the same ROI% but this could well be higher but time will tell!

Until next time, try and run better than I do!

Goodluck!

3rd Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge)

Hello,

So we are nearing a week since I started this challenge.

I started it back last Friday 7th and so far the challenge has gone according on terms of plan and getting a +$ profit.

I actually managed to put in an ok grind in total and got in around 67 games in total. I think the ratio was something like 60 SnG MTT's and the rest 7 donkaments.

I played the "Big $2.20" which normally would be outside of my strict BR management but I saw two sattys running prior to the game, one was a $0.40c turbo and another was a 0.30c Rebuy turbo. I managed to actually had to tell myself in the rebuy one that I couldn't rebuy more than once and this once being in time for me to actually do something or I would be throwing money away and I could add on. Luckily, I didn't even need to rebuy once, or add on (I forgot to add on?:s) but anyway, I managed to cash in both for a 70c investment with a return of $4.40 in total. There was still 10minutes before the game would be starting and and I thought about unregging and just claming the T$ but, in the end decided to play it because I didn't see it as 4 buy-ins to play the tournament, it wasn't even one buy-in when you look at me cashing in both.

I was very tired though and after 2hours of play was falling asleep. I was tempted to just sit out and sleep but because I'm a EV nit I just continued and though "It's 4 buy-ins of my roll this!" I think I was in good stead towards the end, table was very weak, I could shove anyones open with 17blinds left and get folds. I doubled up with a hand, which I can't even remember now and was actually 7th with only 150 remaining. At this point though, it was nearly 5am...I coulden't go on anymore really, I needed to be up early and well if I could of guranteed I could of ran really deep in to the FT I would of gave it my A game but obviously, chances are this woulden't of happened and I'd of busted 2hours later or so for not much extra in cash so I went all out aggro.

 I opened up A,5s with 45blinds UTG+1 lol (this is how tired I was, didn't care about busting)  got flat called, board comes down Qh,Jh,As. I bet out and get raised, first thing I thought here was this guy had been nitty and I honestly thought Ok, he could well have me beat with a higher kicker at least here and I was sure it was the case. Anyway, I 4bet shoved my stack,(Looking at it now, most likely not the best of moves vs a nit) because I did have top pair he insta called and turned over A,J. I had loads of outs though to even tie the pot and had nut flush draw so I think I had enough equity in most cases to shove this and get folds, he also had a biggish stack.

In all honestly though, I had a feeling I was beat but just wanted to bust (Not the right attitude I know) Anyway, I gained $7.93 or something for my trouble with a 100th or so finish out of 3k runners.

Graph:




















Session Games:  67


Session P/L:       +$18.79


Total Games:       455


Total P/L:           +$85.98


Bankroll:            $100.81




Soo, woohoo a mile stone be it a small mile stone. I've now actually quadrupled my BR and have just over $100!

So with $100 I could start playing the $1.00/$1.50 games, but I think it might tilt me if I go on 20buyin downswimgs which I've been experiencing in the 50c games, I can't help but let it tilt me a bit. So, my aim (might sound nitty to everyone) but to safely make sure I don't tilt of all my hard work that I want the buy--ins as follows,

18man($1.50): 100 buy-ins (Not 100% sure If I'm going to play these yet)
45man:($1.50) 120 buy-ins
90man:($1.00) 150 buy-ins
180man/MTT  200+ buy-ins depending on buy-in.




I'll be posting again within the next day or so!

ps: Not sure if my PT is slightly out as it says +$85 yet this would put me at $105 considering I started with $20.00. I think this could be to do with satty tournaments not being tracked correctly..anyway it's not a mega issue, will try and fix it.

Good luck at the tables.

3rd Update ($20.00-$1000 BR Challenge)

Hello,

I'm still unsure if updating everyday or every other day is worth it as the volume I'm getting isn't significant enough to blog daily I don't think.

Then again, I like reading peoples blog sessions on a day by day basis just to see how they build and how quickly they build etc.


I haven''t updated for two days, but will do now but from here on in I might leave blogging to at least 100 games played or twice weekly, maybe even weekly. I find blogging though and posting my thoughts helps me keep motivated though, so again I'm unsure. I will just play it by ear at the minute!


I actually played two small sessions with a total of around 80 games I think. I'm still running bad I think, the session started awfully and I managed to pick up premiums early on in many and some how each time I got it in good everyone just seemed to hit set after set......it was soul destroying.

One particular hand reallly ate me up was a 90 man, I was chip leader and had a fair amount of chips in play, then there was a second highest chip stack who was at my table and around 18 people remained.

I pick up Aces UTG, raise 2.3xBB and get 3bet by the big stack. Obviously I 4bet shove here, he snaps and turns over Jacks..flop hits and there's a lovely Jack for him, which in the end held and he took down the pot.

I just never understand some people, he himself was 40 blinds deep, I haven't been to reckless in the game and I raise UTG, then 4 bet shove his 3 bet. Alarm bells would ring for me and I'd lay down jacks, unless they was a complete aggro donkey who I knew was capable of doing this with any A etc...

Never mind though, I guess it is standard variance it just titled me a bit to carry on but I managed to keep my cool and carry on.

I still really struggle with tilt need to get it under control, if I can't take a few bad beats I'm never going to be able to build a good BR as I will just donk the lot off.

I also played a 50c MTT with 800 runners, finished 40th I think for a cool $1.10 or something lol.

Jacks AIPF with 15 blinds, get snapped by A,K and 8.9's big stack. Flop a set, runner,runner 8,9 scoops the pot, game over! Wooo...


Graph:























Session(s) (2) P/L:  +$30.00


Games:                   388


Challenge P/L :        +$67.19


Bankroll:              : $83.96



So, again I feel I'm not getting in enough volume but it's just time more than anything. If I could fit in 100 games per day I'd be so happy, but at the minute it's not happening.

Anyway, I've quadrupled my BR so things are looking good I guess. I just want to get too $1.50 90 mans and $1.00 45mans but still need to get more in my BR. I'm looking at around $150 before I move up, giving myself well over 150 buy-ins for 45 man (which is a bit nitty but I dont want to bust) and 100 buy-ins for 90 man BUT....I'm still going to mix in the 50c 45's/90mans till I have just over $200 so I can exclusively play 45/90man $1.50 comfortably rolled.

Good luck at the tables!

2nd Update ($20.00 - $1000 BR Challenge)

Ran awfully bad last night, I played 40 tournaments in total. This is no where near the amount I want to be playing but I'm really struggling with motivation.

I played a 80fpp satty in to the Big $4.40 8k GTD and won my ticket to get really deep, only to bust near the bubble with Aces vs Q,9 suited.

Flop was Q,x,x rainbow. I bet, he shoves, insta call he turns over Q,9 and rivers a 9! Arrggg...Nevermind..


Ran bad in SNG's too, I had so many suckouts in most of my tournaments, My dominating hands A,6<A,9/A,10,A,J etc etc...

Aces was cracked a number of times, which doesn't really bother me as such, but then this happened,


Kings vs Kings AIPF. You expect the split pot, but obviously not in my case haha. He hits runner, runner, runner, runner diamonds and obviously holds a King Diamond.

Big SIGH..

Anyway, as of so far I've failed on the count of wanting to play 100 minimum SnGs per day as stated why and another reason is because it's really hard to find 5hours of solid play in my day to day, even evenings are possible but I get tired and when I'm up earlish it's hard to concentrate without donking off.

I was left in two 25c 45mans at the FT with only 6 and 8 left, good deep stack sizes and if I had the motivation I think I could of ended the day with a profit but because they was the only two games left and how late it was getting, I jsut started open shipping 40 blinds and donking of stacks for minimum cash.

Overall graph:

Games played: 40

Session P/L : -$1.86

Bankroll: $50.88 

Total P/L:+$35.78

I really need to put in more volume, if I want to move up stakes within a week.

1st update ($20.00 - $1000 BR challenge)

Ok, here is my first update.

I'm unsure of if I should be doing a daily update or not, I've not decided yet...

Anyway, as of now,

I'v doubled my BR over the past 3 days of the challenge so not bad, but my volume isn't what I want it to be.

I think the main problem is the motivation to grind when you see the payouts, it kind of sucks espically when you was playing higher limits before to be playing the lowest is very draining at times!

I wish my volume was double what it is now, but well it's hard grinding many tables for hours on end for pennies :p

Anyway, here are my results,

MTT SnG's Played: 158
Profit/Loss:              +$23.95
ROI:                         30%

For some reason, my Poker Tracker is messed up, it won't let me filter properly and factor in the 0.10c and 0.45c games, I'll try fix this soon I don't think it's much different to the actual real figure I'm guessing it will be around the same mark.

As you can see towards the end, I managed to win 2 90man 50c games, which helped double my BR basically. I wouldn't say I had been running good or bad, just standard variance games, many suckouts etc, but these are standard ;)


Oh, before I forget! I also played in a 100fpp buy-ins $30,000 VIPtournaments and I thought my table was soft, lost a big pot early with A,K vs K,J . What do you expect though?

Anyway, I managed to min cash for $9.00 which isn't included in the graph, but I'll put it to my total in terms of BR obviously!

Total P/L : +$32.26
Bankroll Total: $52.26

$20.00 - $1000 Challenge

So, I've challenged myself to turning $30.00 in to $1k within 2months, providing I can grind enough.

By enough, I mean 100 MTT SnG's per day, minimum. The reasoning for so many, is one the obvious volume needed to build from such a small BR.

Games:


0.10 360man Turbo
0.25 45man/90man Normal speed
0.50 45man Turbo
0.50 90man Turbo


With such a small BR, I need to grind these and hope I don't go on a down swing of more than 30+ which shouldn't happen, but you never know. I only have 60 buy-ins for the .50 levels which should be enough but even these the variance is high still and I should be ok, but I guess it's standard to hit 10-20 buyin downswing's.


I will grind all these tournaments till I have exactly $50.00 and then lose the 0.10c 360mans, but still play the 0.25c games purely because they are that profitable it won't do any harm in having them even a few at a time running. If of course, I will be moving down if I hit a big down swing, which shouldn't happen.

Once I $100.00 in my account, I will start adding in

$1.00 45/90man  Turbos
$1.50 18mans Turbos

$1.50 27mans (Maybe)
$1.50 90man KO (maybe)

I'm unsure of if I'm going to add the non turbos just yet.


In general I want to make sure I have enough buy-ins and obviously more the higher I move up in limits, Ideally I want a minimum of 60 buy-ins for any given level.

I think I can keep a ROI% of around 15-20% at the 0.50/$1.00 games, this might be higher, I'm unsure!

Anyway will keep you posted on the progress.

MTT SnG's back on the grind..

Hello,

long time since my last update.

Let's just say it's been a bad time for me in terms of poker, nothing has been going well and I've just been running awfully bad in MTT's.

I've now decided to come back to playing the 45's/90's man because I know I'm profitable for these.

Overall I think my sample size is still quite small, maybe just shy of 1000 in total but I think in general I can run anywhere between 10-20% ROI.

My plan, because my BR is awfully low again is to grind these for 1000 games and hope to have a net gain of +$100.00.

I think I can play 100 of these a day, maybe more, multi tabling up to 20 at a time, they seem to fill up quite quickly.

Anyway, here is a screenshot of my first 100 games today if anyone is interested,

MTT SnG's temporary on hold & I'm back grinding but in headsup!

Hello,

Been a while since my last post, the reasoning for this is purely because I had a break from poker in general, I think I was out for 6-8weeks in total.

This was due to running bad & playing bad along with some tilt, but the main reason was actually because I had to withdraw 90% of my roll for a car. This kind of de motivates you to play again because one minute you're moving up in stakes and I was playing up to $10.00 MTT's but I was left with around $50.00 in my account which means I would have to put in more volume and the once boring grind of 25cent/50cent games was back on the cards for me. To be honest, I tried to avoid playing with BR management as it bores me but realisticall I know I need it or I will go busto but to start my grind I blew $20 in MTT's ranging from $1.00-$4.00 leaving me $30.00 and looking for a way to grind it back up without SnG MTT's.

Whilst not playing, I've just been working and watching the odd game of poker here and there to be honest, but nothing much in terms of poker.


Headsup SnG Grind:



I've always liked the idea of HU SnG games because for one, you can grind from mega micro limits, $1.50 (10c rake) and for a $50.00 roll it means I have enough buy-ins to cover the most obvious down-swings in HU because lets face it, they are the most volatile form of poker. Obviously I had to try and educate myself in the HU format because it's indeed very different compared to FR or 6max and playing good hands just doesn't apply in HU. It's more about out playing the other as opposed to what cards you hold and assigning ranges of hands the other holds etc.

I have no idea if I will be a winning player at heads up and the main goal at the minute is just getting a feel for headsup and trying to build a roll to eventually be able to move up in stakes. I'm unsure of if I have the capabilities of doing so, because they are very tilting to play and if your not careful you can blow a BR quite quickly if you go on tilt and I'm prone to tilt at times, when getting sucked out on left right and centre. The difference is, it happen s alot more in HU.

At the minute, I'm beginning to feel more comfortable playing HU the more games I play, I think it improves your overall game by quite a bit and I've played close to 150 games at present with a small profit but obviously I need 1000+ games to determine if I'm going to be a winner.

Current SnG Graphs

Hello all, these are my current statistics from SnG's since I've started studying the game more in-depth I think I'v managed to develop an "edge" so to speak in the micro limit games. I know it isn't exactly hard to get an edge in the micro's considering people will call of their stack with such marginal holdings so early.

First of, my best game at present with the best ROI% is the 45man's consisting of $0.50 and $1.00 Turbo's on Poker Stars.

This is combined $0.50/$1.00 45man graph:
















As I well know, 160 sample is no where near enough to determine a true reading on you skills but I'm confident I can keep up a steady profit margin in these and to be up $88.00 is quite god progress on where I want to be at.


Next up is the 90 mans on stars. Again, small sample but still - I don't think I'm just riding "good" in them all. I do believe over the past few weeks I've made a massive improvement on my game especially the push/fold strategy and hand calling ranges. It seems, even at the 90 man donk levels, when you get towards the end of a tournament, there are actual grinders who understand the push/fold game so the levels might well seem easy but in all honestly poker has evolved and you do even get quite good players who understand the game at the smallest of levels even if only a select few. They certainly ain't all donkeys. Here is my 90man graph:

Again, nothing amazing and the sample size is quite small. However, you can see the swings are bigger as expected with more players in the games. The levels are of three different ones ranging from $0.50 - $2.20 buy-ins.

Next up is the combined SnG graph which includes some 180 $2.20 games which I've just very recently started so haven't done a single graph because the games are just below 20 in total. I did take a third though so far for $42.00 and donked off the rest of them.

So this is my final current SnG graph with around 350 SnG's in total played and it's quite a steady upward spiral which is good. I do believe I can keep this going up and it's just beginning luck (well I hope not) I'm going to hopefully keep grinding and soon get in around 100 SnG's a day and hopefully move up the limits in time. $180.00 profit from 350 SnG's at mainly 50cent and $1.00 games I think is rather good, thoughts on this?


Oh, before I quit I'd like to enter my current total graph from the past 1month which includes big MTT's guarantee tournaments. I binked a decent 2nd place for over $300.00 for a $1.00 investment then 2 days later managed a $73.00 score for a 12th place finish.