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

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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