Update #3: Bankroll Progress for December '09

Bankroll: $80.61

Profit for the Month: $60.74

The goal at the end of November was to be well on my way to 90$, where I could move to play 2$ games, and, at 100$, add in some ring games. This month was a great success as I am only a day or two from reaching 90$.

Since my last update, I have broken up my playing as follows. About 80% of my playing has gone into $1.20 single table Sit & Go's. 18% went into MTTs, most of which cost 1$. Once, I played a 3$ MTT and made a deep run to win 20$; this was a HUGE lift in my progress and since then I have made above-expectation progress. MTTs are fine to do every now and then, but even if you go deep, you only rake in a few dollars at this level unless you make a final table. Your time is better put into Sit & Go's but MTTs are always a fun challenge. The other 2% of my play-time was spent on the $.01 / $.02 ring games as a preview, those went pretty well.

The transition from $0.25 90 player Sit & Go's to Single table 1$ Sit & Go's was difficult at first - it is a different ball-game. After playing them one at a time, I figured out a decent strategy. I'm now playing about 8-10 at a time, with average profit of 3-9$ / session. This is MUCH more satisfying than the $0.25 FOUR hour sessions, where I would average half the profit in twice the time.

Right now I am trying to take advantage of Pokerstar's Sit and Go leaderboard. It looks like I may be able to get an extra 20$ / week plus a freeroll entry every month to help supplement my progress. This is the first week I've tried it, right now I'm heading for a top 10 finish but that's for another update.

My goal for the end of this month was to be well on my way to 90$. I expect to reach 100$ in less than 10 days. There I can play ring games at the $0.01 / $0.02 tables, I can continue the 1$ Sit and Go's, and I can add on 2$ MTTs as well as 2$ 90 player games -- Much more versatility. With that said, I expect to reach 150$ by the end of January. There I can add on 3$ single table Sit and Go's, 3$ MTTs; in addition I can make a run for their next highest sit and go leaderboard. (For more information, visit: http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/battle/)

Under tougher expectations, I hope to be coming close to 200$ by the end of next month. At that point, I can move up to $0.02 / $0.05 ring games, and 4$ Sit & Go's / tournaments. This may be a stretch since I will be back to school but I will dedicate as much time as possible without interfering with studies / college-life. :)

NOTE: I am no longer going to be adding session-to-session updates, but I will continue to add at least one large update per month.

Sessions 42-44

Bankroll: $64.90

No specifics on the sessions are available due to being very busy with the Holidays. I made a deep run in a 1$ [500$ GTD] tournament to account for most of it; the rest is from single table Sit & Go's and a few Omaha / NL Hold'em $0.01 / $0.02 ring games. I'll resume session-to-session updates from here.

Session 41 ***

$3.30 MTT [$4000 GTD]

Players: 4621
Place: 58 [1.36%]

Profit: +$15.77

Bankroll: $53.54


This tournament turned out to be the deepest run I have ever made in a MTT. It was not proper bankroll management, but going up a level higher is not strictly against the rules. In fact, if you are running well or just need a bit of excitement, then it is encouraged. Really paid out here!

Session 40

$1.20 Single Table

Place: 2

Profit: +$1.50

Bankroll: $37.77

Session 39 ***

$2.20 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 16
Worst Finish: 42
Average Finish: 29 [31%]

Profit: -$4.40

Bankroll: $36.27

0/8 streak!! I went to 16th place in latest tournament but made a poor decision of going all in with A J suited, preflop, and lost to a 8 7 suited flush. If I had been patient I could have avoided a loss there. I am going probably give these 2$ Sit & Go's 2 more shots; if I finish 0-10 I am going to do a short recovery from $0.25 games - so I can get a confidence (and a bankroll) boost - then, I will stick to 1-table 1$ S&G's, as well as 1$ MTTs. But going 0 for 8 is a bit of a shock to me, I never had such trouble at the $0.25 level. Then again, it is way unorthodox to be playing those on a 40$ bankroll. I wish Pokerstars would fulfill my request for 1$ non-turbos....getting frustrating...Anyways...2 more shots; if I can't win, I will build back to 40$ the hard way, then try a new method.

Session 38

$2.20 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 45
Worst Finish: 72
Average Finish: 58.5 [65%]

Profit: -$4.40

Bankroll: $40.67


The transition from $0.25 to $2.20 has been rough!!

Session 37

$0.01 / $0.02 Ring Game (Pot Limit Omaha)

Buyin: 5$

Number of hands: ~85

Profit: +$5.05

Bankroll: $45.07

Session 36

$2.20 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 41
Worst Finish: 53
Average Finish: 47 [51%]

Profit: -$4.40

Bankroll: $40.02

Session 35

$1.10 MTT [$2,000 GTD]

Players: 5918
Place: 667 [11.27%]

Profit: +$0.73


Bankroll: $44.42

Session 34 ***

$0.01 / $0.02 Ring Game

Buyin: 5$

Avg. Hands played per table: 48

Profit: +$2.43

Bankroll: $43.59


Went ahead and took a small gamble and played ring games prematurely. I am taking a lot of "risks" that are against the guidelines at the moment which to some means bad bankroll management, but the path from 30$ to 100$ is very difficult to be efficient without being overly risky - at least on Pokerstars. Efficiency trumps risk, but taking too much risk will ruin you.

So basically I am going to be playing a wide variety of games:

-MTTs: 1$ or less
-90 player Sit & Go's: 2$ or less
-Ring Games: $.01/$.02 only
-9 Player Sit & Go's: 1$ only

Session 33

$1.10 Single Table Sit & Go

Place: 4

Profit: -$1.10

Bankroll: $41.16

Bankroll Adjustment

BANKROLL: $42.26

Session 32

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 4
Worst Finish: 66
Average Finish: 27
Payouts: 2 / 5 [40%]

Profit: +$1.43

Bankroll: $29.26

UPDATE #2: Mid December, Sessions 1-31

-------------------------------------

Bankroll: $33.33

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Since the last update, I have continued grinding out the $0.25 games. I was achieving very rapid success until I hit 30$. From there on it was a struggle; I ran into some ugly variance and faced a bit of a downswing that turned into a 10-session, 40 hour, 10 day lon plateau. However, Chapter 1 ("Entry Level") of this challenge has come to a close as I have decided to prematurely move to the next level. Overall, I am pleased that I have survived a month with about a 20$ profit and look forward to having quicker success.

FUTURE PLANNING / STRATEGY UPDATE

In general, I find these general guidelines efficient and will continue to apply them to my bankroll management for the challenge:

(A): 30 - 40 buyins for all Sit & Gos

(B): 20+ maximum buyins for cash games

(C): Additional 5-10 buyins from the minimum to multi-table

So far, this strategy has allowed me to triple my starting amount in just a month (pretty fast considering the limits I'm at).

However, I have now reached a crossroads. Initially, my 'big' short-term goal was to reach 41$ so I could continue the 90-player Sit & Go's at 1$ instead of 25 cents. Unfortunately, Pokerstars only has turbos -and these have probably twice the variance of non-turbos. This leaves me to set 88$ as the next benchmark, until Pokerstars issues some non-turbo 1$ games.

At the rate I am going, this will take another 2.5 months just playing $0.25 games before I can move on. Therefore, I have decided to alter my bankroll management plan until I reach 88$. It is definitly worth being slightly more liberal / unorthodox than to grind for 2 and a half months; I am already starting to get a bit restless after a month of grinding.

Here is the plan:

Phase 1 -- I am currently at 30$. Here's what I am going to try:

Play the 2$ 90 player Sit & Go. If I lose and go below 30, play 100% $0.25 Sit & Go's until I am > or = to 30$. Repeat the process until I place in a 2$. My goal here is to "jump start" by bankroll to get myself making some efficient progress. Now, this in itself is NOT good bankroll management. However, I have a back-up plan. When I lose and duck below 30$, I will rely on the $0.25 games until I get back up to try, try again; this would probably sacrifice 1-3 days (affordable considering my other option to take 2.5 months!). So far I am a winning player at the $0.25 games and am confident that I can use them to keep myself at the 30$ plateau.

Phase 2 -- Keep mixing up the $2.20 and $0.25 games as I progress towards 88$.

Once I succeed in Phase 1 - I will play a mix on $2.20 and $0.25 games. The ratio will largely depend on my mood, but it will be no more than 50%-60% 2.20$ games, until I pass 60-70$.

The general rule of thumb is to make a rapid increase --> small plateau --> rapid increase (hopefully like a steep staircase).

I will also mix in $1 MTTs every now and then, once I pass 40$.

Hopefully this method will be much more efficient (and certainly more entertaining) than relying on grinding out the $0.25 games.

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SESSION 31

$1.10 MTT [$2000 GTD]

Place: 1659 / 4227 [39.25%]

Profit: -$1.10

$2.20 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 28 / 90 [31%]

Profit: -$2.20

$2.20 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 50 [56%]

Profit: -$2.20

Bankroll: $27.83

I began this new program tonight, and had ZERO success, as shown above. Here's a bit of commentary for my first 3 next-level games:

1) I ran into JJ , but an opponent ran into pocket aces. This was probably more my fault though.

2) I ran into JJ again, raise 3.5 x BB , was called by J 9 diamonds. Flop had all undercards, with 2 diamonds; I bet half the pot (bad bet in hindsight), but he raises me all in. Pot committed, I call; he has the flush draw (60: 40 favorite), and hits it! :)

3) One last try. I come across AA. Preflop, there were like 5 callers, so I raised it 5 x BB. I had 2 callers. Flop came K 7 8; I bet pretty strong, was raised all in, and really, I can't fold A A can I? The aggressor had K 7, two pair, and beat me.

So my starting games were unsuccesful, but in general pretty well played. I was the favorite 2 / 3 times, and in the second game, if I had won that hand, I would have been 5th place out of 23 - a surefire final table! In the end, I like my chances on this upper level.

But for now, I will grind out these $0.25ers again until I reach / exceed 30$. I am still hoping to be well on my way to 88$ by the end of the month - I have expectations to be at 41$ by then but hopefully I can make better progress than that.

Session 30 ***

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 6
Worst Finish: 58
Average Finish: 20.5 [22.78%]
Payouts: 3 / 10 [30%]

Profit: +$0.04

Bankroll: $33.33


Break-even sessions like these KILL...especially when you're just below a major target. My past 10 sessions have profited just under 1$ - ONE DOLLAR! This is very de-motivating, but I just have to focus on that 40$ mark and patiently work my way there.

Session 29

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 7
Worst Finish: 26
Average Finish: 14.75 / 90 [16.39%]
Payouts: 2 / 4 [50%]


Profit: +$0.90

Bankroll: $33.29

Session 28

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 5
Worst Finish: 23
Average Finish: 14.0 / 90 [17%]
Payouts: 1 / 2 [50%]


Profit: +$1.07

Bankroll: $32.39

Session 27

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 7
Payouts: 1 / 5 [20%]

Profit: -$0.30

Bankroll: $31.62

Session 26

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 5
Worst Finish: 11
Average Finish: 8 / 90 [9%]
Payouts: 2 / 2 [100%]

Profit: +$1.62

Bankroll: $31.62 [+$0.13 adjustment]

Session 25

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 4
Worst Finish: 33
Average Finish: 17.0 [19%]
Payouts: 1 / 3 [33%]

Profit: +$1.38

Bankroll: $29.87

Session 24

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 10

Profit: +$0.30

Bankroll: $28.49

Session 23 ***

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go (simul of 13)

Best Finish: 9
Worst Finish: 44
Average Finish: 21.9 / 90 [24.36%]
Payouts: 1 / 13 [8%]

Profit: -$2.58

Bankroll: $28.19


For you non-believers - there IS a thing called variance in poker - and it fucked me up this session. I had my money in good with only a few exceptions, but hands like K 10 kept beating AK, a flush draw was made against my trip queens, pocket 2s flopped a full house while my K 10 hit trips that same flop (and I was small blind that hand so was in it with pot odd), after I flopped a Q-flush and bet aggressively I was called all the way to the river where he ran a full house, etc, etc. In short, NOTHING WENT MY WAY. I got NO breaks AT ALL. Just some nasty variance this go! Even though I played well, the cards ran bad, and this session really shows how important bankroll management is.

How will I resolve the problem? I will run future simuls differently. Instead of immediately starting 9+ games back to back, I will concentrate on the first game, see if I can get a strong profit, and then I can start a second game, and continue the process to where I am comfortable. Doing 13 games at the same time is riskier, as you can see, because bad variance => you're screwed. If you slowly build a group of games, you can stop if you're meeting problems, including bad play.

Session 22 ***

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 20

Profit: -$0.25

----------------------------

$0.25 MTT [100$ Added]

Players: 2353
Place: 1293 [54.95%]

Profit: -$0.25

Bankroll: $30.77 [adjustment: -$.02]


In the first game, 9 9 lost to A 8 after my all in was called by a 10 8 4 flop with A 8.
In the second game, my AA was against KK and 33 and lost to the worst hand involved, winning that hand would have put me in a position to reach top 100.

Session 21 ***

$1.10 90 Player Sit & Go [turbo]

Place: 51 / 90 [57%]

Profit: -$1.10

Bankroll: $31.29



Since I reached (and went over) 30$ earlier today, I decided to treat myself by getting a taste of the next level. Unfortunately, the next level of 90 player sit & go's is only offered in turbo, with less starting chips - an entirely different ball game. I never have really liked or done well in turbo's, since they are more based on luck IMO (e.g., if you take a bad beat with that few chips and the blinds raising twice as fast - you're done for.). I put a request for Pokerstars to have non-turbo 1$ & 3$ a few weeks ago, hopefully they add them soon! Otherwise, I might be stuck playing these $0.25 games for a good while longer. Most likely, if they don't add the non-turbo, I will start mixing in $2.20 Sit & Go's once I hit 40 or 50$. Now, that is a much riskier bankroll management plan, since I would only have about 20 to 25 buyins for the 2$ tournaments. However, my only other options are to play the turbo's, where I expect a low win-rate, or to play the $0.25 S&G's until I reach a comfortable bankroll - that could take a couple of months. This risk, which will probably be the only exception to my general bankroll management strategy for the challenge, is worth taking since I am confident that I will still be a winning player at the next level. I will still be conservative with the bankroll though; e.g., I will not play the $2.20 S&Gs 100% of the time (let alone 50%) until I reach about 40 buyins (90$). I will continue to play $0.25 S&Gs as a supplement and if I happen to go on a bad streak I will lean more heavily to the lower limits. But I can't wait until I'm actually able to move up from these 25-cent games! Should only take me 1-2 weeks, or by the end of the month for sure.

Session 20

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 2
Worst Finish: 71
Average Finish: 29.75 / 90 [33%]
Payouts: 1 / 4 [25%]


Profit: +$3.16

Bankroll: $32.39

Session 19

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go (simul of 23)

Best Finish: 2
Worst Finish: 67
Average: 20.56 [22.85%]
Payouts: 6 / 23 [26%]

Profit: +$3.23

Bankroll: $29.26

Session 18

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 4
Worst Finish: 38
Average Finish: 16 [18%]
Payouts: 2 / 4 [50%]

Profit: +$2.31

Bankroll: $26.03

Session 17

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 11
Worst Finish: 33
Average Finish: 18 [20%]
Payouts: 1 / 4 [25%]

Profit: -$0.45

Bankroll: $23.72

Session 16

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 10 / 90
Worst Finish: 33 / 90
Average Finish: 19.25 / 90 [21.4%]
Payouts: 2 / 4 [50%]

Profit: +$0.10

Bankroll: $24.17

Session 15

$0.25 MTT [100$ Added]


Players: 2562
Place: 424 [16.54%]

Profit: +$0.13

Bankroll: $24.08

Session 14 ***

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 5 / 90
Worst Finish: 56 /90
Average Finish: 33.5 / 90 [37.2%]
Payouts: 1/15 [7%]

Profit: -$1.93

Bankroll: $23.95


What a terrible session. Constant internet problems coupled with some terrible bad beats (QQ losing to 7 8 cost me prevented my good chances of reversing my losses) and poor overall playing leads to the worst session I've had - by far. Hopefully I can bring my game (and INTERNET) back under control next session. Disconnections throughout a 14 game simul are very tough to overcome emotionally, they pissed the hell out of me and my results show it.

Session 13

$0.50 MTT

Players: 1058
Place: 52 [4.91%]

Profit: +$0.87

Bankroll: $25.88

Session 12

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Best Finish: 2 / 90 [2%]
Worst Finish: 25 / 90 [28%]
Average Finish: 12.1 / 90 [13.5%]
Payouts: 4 /9 [44%]

Profit: +$5.14 [+$0.57 per game average]

Bankroll: $25.01

Session 11

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 45 / 90 [50%]

Profit: -$0.25

Bankroll: $19.87

UPDATE #1: Bankroll Progress for November '09

Profit for the month: +$10.12
Overall profit so far: +$10.12
--------------------
Bankroll: $20.12
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By hitting the 20$ mark, I can now play in $0.50 MTTs, which I will probably play once / week. I will continue to play the $0.25 Sit & Gos most frequently. The next target is to reach 30$, at which point I will start mixing in 1$ Sit & Go's, until I reach 41$, when I will play 1$ Sit & Go's most frequently (and perhaps 1$ MTTs on occassion). What a nice boost that will be!

So far I am very satisfied with my progress. Playing these $0.25 games is, at times, very tedious, and progress seems slow, especially after a negative profit session. What keeps me going is that target for the next level, where I will (hopefully) see more rapid progress and higher stakes.

Also, these were the first times I have ever multi-tabled. For those following, I do NOT recommend multi-tabling unless you are in specific circumstances that make it manageable. First of all, your bankroll should be able to support multi-tabling. Next, I would recommend only multi-tabling in ONE type of tournament. For example, I do simuls in which all of the tournaments are 90 player Sit & go's and the blind levels are close. That way my playing style should stay about the same across all of the games. If you multi-table in a MTT tournament, and then in a high stakes cash game, and then in other various games, you could get confused. Finally, and most importantly, you ought to be confident that you can CONTINUE to reach payouts consistently when doing a simul. (e.g., don't multi-table if you're not even profiting when playing the tournament as 1 game) When I move up to the next level, I will start out playing the tournaments individually, until I am confident that I can consistently reach payouts as well as I have in the $0.25 games. I had been playing $0.25 90 Player Sit & Gos on a 1-by-1 basis for a long time before I was confident enough to do simuls (multi-tables). But once you're able to, they can be MUCH more efficient, as my progress indicates.

Hopefully by the end of December I am well on my way to 90$, where I can move to $2.00 tournaments and almost start playing a few cash games.

Session 10

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go (simul of 13)

Best Finish: 4 / 90 [4%]
Worst Finish: 48 / 90 [53%]
Average Finish: 20.8 / 90 [23%]
Payouts: 7 / 13 [54%]

Profit: +$2.81 [$0.21 per game average]

Bankroll: $20.12

Session 9

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go (simul of 4)

Best Finish: 14 / 90 [16%]
Worst Finish: 28 / 90 [31%]
Average Finish: 22.5 / 90 [25%]
Payouts: 0 / 4 [0%]

Profit: -$1.00

Bankroll: $17.31

Session 8

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go (simul of 5)

Best Finish: 3 / 90 [3%]
Worst Finish: 65 / 90 [72%]
Average Finish: 26 / 90 [29%]
Payouts: 2 / 5 [40%]

Profit: $3.08 ($0.61 per game average)

Bankroll: $18.31

Session 7

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go (simul of 6)

Best Finish: 3 / 90 [3.33%]
Worst Finish: 21 / 90 [23.33%]
Average Finish: 12.3 / 90 [13.70%]
Payout Finishes: 2 / 6 [33.3%]

Profit: +$2.83 (+$0.47 per game average)

Bankroll: $15.23

Session 6

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 13 / 90 [14.44%]

Profit: -$0.25

Bankroll: $12.40

Session 5

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go (simul of 7)

Best Finish: 4 / 90 [4.44%]
Worst Finish: ~28/90 [31.11%]
Average Finish: 15.0 / 90 [16.67%]
Payout Finishes: 4 / 7 [57.14%]

Profit: +$2.43 (+$0.35 per game average)

Bankroll: $12.65

Session 4

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 13 / 90 [14.44%]

Profit: -$0.25

Bankroll: $10.22

Session 3

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 11 / 90 [12.22%]

Profit: +$0.30

Bankroll: $10.47

Session 2

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 9 / 90 [10.00%]

Profit: +$0.42

Bankroll: $10.17

Session 1

$0.25 90 Player Sit & Go

Place: 21 / 90 [23.33%]

Profit: -$0.25

Bankroll: $9.75

Motivation and Initial Management Outline

I have lost a lot of money playing on poker sites. After adding up the debits, the losses reached a staggering $1,650 in a span of 7 months. At least half of that was simply lost through a casino. The rest was lost on account of terrible bankroll management.

For example, one of my largest deposits was 200$. I figured I could make a steady hourly rate with 200$ through putting it all on 1$ / 2$ cash games. As it turns out, putting your entire bankroll on the table is the best way to lose it all. If you survive a bad beat, you will likely lose the rest of it due to tilt. This happened to me - not once, not twice, but LOADS of times. My ego was simply to high for me to learn my lesson. In fact, I didn't stop losing money until my actual bank account went into the negative and I was forced to take a break from poker! Fortunately, over those days, I read ALOT about bankroll management. Maybe that is the hole in my game.

I hope now to mend my ways by making my FINAL deposit of 10$ on Pokerstars and, through patience and discipline, construct a poker bankroll of 20,000$, hopefully in less than 4 years. I will use conservative bankroll management techniques and will avoid ever putting my entire bankroll in 1 table (or on the roulette wheel, for the matter!). This will take place on Pokerstars. My username is Platitudipus.

I will update this blog almost daily with every single session that will model how exactly I am going about this.