Joined: Jan '14
Location: Sweden
Age: 28 (M)
Posts: 7
The challenge!
The goal of this challenge is to build a decent bankroll over the course of one month by using my own bankroll management strategy. Of course, I won't be able to follow a correct bankroll management strategy in the beginning since my bankroll is to low. I will NOT use any kind of helping tool such as Pokertracker or Hold'em Manager since I want this to be a bankroll challenge starting from scratch. (I actually got my 50 cents from finishing 6th in a $0.02 Hyper Turbo MTT with my last 2 cents.) I will try to update every day and briefly explain which games and stakes I have played during the day and the outcome of them.
I'm a student from Sweden who play poker on a regular basis as a hobby. I have played for about 18 months, I created my account right after my 18th birthday. I would consider myself a decent player, I think I'm above average but I have one big weakness; my bankroll management. I combine big cashes in MTTs with busting my bankroll. In total I'm about $16.000 up, but that is largely due to my biggest ever cash which was $19.000.
December 01: Starting bankroll: $0.50 December 02: Starting bankroll: $11.89 (+$11.39) December 03: Starting bankroll: $17.37 (+$5.48) December 05: Starting bankroll: $24.37 (+$7.00)
Edited by classisco (05 December 2015 @ 21:09 GMT)
Joined: Oct '14
Location: Serbia
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 4358
wow nice numbers there O.o just explain to me how did you come from 16k up to playing games with 0,50$ bankroll? and what is your target you didnt said it also... but if you are 16k in black why are you wasting time with micro games, you can play with that money whatever you want... anyway good luck on your challenge
Joined: Oct '08
Location: Canada
Age: 66 (M)
Posts: 2423
good luck with your this. it is a little bit odd that your up 16 k but your starting with so little. but thats the way some people work, so just go for it. and i hope you do well.
Joined: Jan '14
Location: Sweden
Age: 28 (M)
Posts: 7
The reason I'm playing microstakes is because I got most of my money invested in stocks. I could of course play a little bit higher but I feel like I want to this challenge instead
Joined: Jan '14
Location: Sweden
Age: 28 (M)
Posts: 7
Day 1 - Off to a fantastic start!
Starting off with just 50 cents was hard, I couldn't apply my bankroll limits. So I decided to play 2 $0.25 Spin n Go. I won one of them for 50 cents, so I was back at 50 cents again. Loaded two more tables and now I was a bit fortunate with the prize pool. $1.50 on one table and $1 on the other. Woke up with aces on the $1.50 table on the second hand and both opponents shoved on me. I ended up winning them both and suddenly I had $2.50 in my bankroll.
With a feeling of being rich I loaded 3 cash-game tables with $0.01/$0.02 blinds and $0.80 dollars on both tables. I busted one table after just a few minutes but I ended up with a decent profit on the other two tables. After about 1 hour of grinding I had about 5 dollars in my bankroll.
I got a bit boring playing two table for pennies with 9 players on the tables, I felt like I didn't get enough hands to maximize the profit. So with my 5 dollars I loaded up 4 zoom-tables, 1 dollar on each. Once again the blinds were $0.01/$0.02. I started off playing my normal aggressive game which turned out to be devastating. After 10-15 minutes I had busted on 2 tables and reloaded with my last remaining dollar. I was down to around 3 dollars when I decided to change my game. I couldn't really get any bluffs through so I started playing more straight-forward. I won a massive flip for half my bankroll (1.5 dollars) and the fortune seemed to have turned. Just minutes later I was up to around 7.5 dollars.
At this moment I set a goal for myself to reach $10 by the end of the day. I loaded up 2 Heads-up Sit n Gos for 1.50 dollar each. I unfortunately ran Queens into Aces when I had a 2 to 1 chip lead but luckily caught a queen on the flop. My opponent wanted a rematch so we played again. I ended up winning all three matches and my bankroll is currently at 11.89
Tomorrow I will take a more conservative approach and play within my bankroll. But I couldn't have asked for a better start.
------------
Posted by bowie1984: LOL... U r not playing microstakes, with only fifty cent u r going to play with ant-penis sized stakes in a shoebox cardroom... This whole thread is ridiculous.
Good luck for whatever.
Why the lol? And yes, I will be playing "ant-penis sized stakes" in the beginning at least. But that's what you have to do if you want to start from scratch.
The whole reason I wanted to do this challenge is because since I recorded my big win I have become a losing player. I kept on busting my bankroll and deposit more. So I decided to take what was left of my winnings and place them in stocks and funds. So now I have to work with what I've got and I can't really splash so much cash on poker since I have moved to my own place and have rents, food and studies to think about.
Edited by classisco (02 December 2015 @ 06:13 GMT)
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Italy
Age: 54 (M)
Posts: 3871
Challege are always motivating and I will follow yours
+ from me
Read you are switching between games (cash, sng, hu, zoom) depending on your mood: suggest you to chose the game you enjoy/win more and stick to it.
Keep us posted and don't mind haters ...maybe someone is envious of your $19k winn...post your sharkscope graph here to make them still even more envious
Joined: Jan '14
Location: Sweden
Age: 28 (M)
Posts: 7
Thanks for the kind messages!
The reason I switched games was because of my small bankroll. Now that I got a more steady bankroll I might stick to one/two game formats a day. Played some SnGs today and I'm about even for the day. Will probably stick to cash-games for a while now though.
Joined: Jan '14
Location: Sweden
Age: 28 (M)
Posts: 7
Day 2 - I think I'll stick to cash games.
After playing some Sit'n'Gos and ending up around the 12 dollar mark I decided to stick with cash game tables for a while. I loaded 9 tables with 80 cents each and started grinding. It took me 2 hours to reach my target for the session which was 20 dollars. A great start.
I felt like it went to slow, I didn't get enough hands even with 9 tables, and I could barely see my cards since my 13" screen can't fit that many tables. So I decided to load 4 zoom tables for 1 dollar each. That turned out to be a big mistake, the style of the opponents are completely different there. People rarely play their hands unless they have a monster hand. I tried to capitalize on this and started raising more hands. This made me pick up some pots but when I did get called I was often behind on the flop. I thought to myself that if I only can catch a flop I will surely double-up sooner or later since these players tend to get married to their hands even when the board looks ugly.
I saw 3 of my buy-ins getting shortstacked to about 20bbs each ($0.40), but one table kept me above water. I had around 2.50-2.75 on that fourth table. The turning point of this day was when I got in to a battle with a big stack on my table. I raised on in the SB with 9-8 of diamonds, my opponent in the BB min 3-bet me, I call. The flop came 7d-6d-3c. A very good looking board for me, so I bet out to build the pot. I bet about half pot, my opponent immediately shoves on me with his massive stack. I put him on a high pocket pair or a set. Maybe even A-7 or A-K of diamonds. I knew i was behind but that I had loads of outs, no matter which hand he had. I finally put him on a higher pair. So I had 15 outs to hit on the turn or river, which means that I was a small favorite to win the hand.
I finally decides to call my 2.5 dollars and my opponent flips over A-10 of diamonds. One of the worst hands to be faced against. Unfortunately the board bricks out for me and I lose my "big" stack. I immediately closed down the other 3 tables and called it a night.
Joined: Jan '14
Location: Sweden
Age: 28 (M)
Posts: 7
Back again! Couldn't play at all on December 3 because of exams. But on friday I was off, I decided to only play the Christmas Calendar Freerolls. Played a straight forward tactic for freerolls since they are full of donks and people who doesn't care in the first stages. I folded every hand in the beginning except for the premium hands (10s and A-Q and better). Instead of slow-playing the premium hands, I just shoved and got called almost every time with bad hands. Since only 189 out of about 25-30.000 entrants got payed I only managed to cash in 3 of the freerolls. Once for $5 and twice for $1. It would have been more if my aces hadn't been cracked by 9-7 off in a blind v blind all-in pre-flop pot. But the bankroll is up to $24.37, which is beyond my expectations. I think I will grind the cash-game tables and Zoom-tables for the remainder of the week and maybe focus on Sit'n'Gos later.
Joined: Feb '14
Location: Tunisia
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 2135
this an amazing run friend 0.5$ to almost 25$ .. that is like x50 wish you best of luck in your next challenge don't forget we got a home game here in bankrollmob , maybe you should join it is gonna be soon hope to go from 25$ to 1000$ soon , keep us updated
Joined: Nov '15
Location: India
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 1
Hi to all BRM members!I have joined BRM in this november.I have won $1 yesterday in PS.I was in the final table.I could have won that tourney as my stack was pretty good before the final table.Then i got nervous and played tight and folded too many good hands in order to reach top 3 spots.This affected my stack size severely.As a result I was left with only 2 BB. I had no choice but to shove with a trash.I got called from a bully and ended up in 5th place.I got little upset.I realised my mistake.Should have played fearlessly in the final table.Anyways after all its a freeroll!I am happy to be able to reach final table.Kudos to me
As for your challenge,I will try my best to achieve a decent BR in this month.For your information I am using PT4.But I only use it as guide to see whether a player is tight or loose,nothing more.If I had some success I would let you know.
Joined: Jan '14
Location: Sweden
Age: 28 (M)
Posts: 7
Day 5-9 - Grinding it up!
It has been a busy couple of days, the reports have lacked due to that fact. I have tried to play as much as I've been able to, on average 1-2 hours a day for the last 3-4 days. That time has mainly been spent on Zoom tables and $0.01/$0.02 stakes. I have recently changed my tactics in the micro-stakes cash game tables. My style and approach to the other players has changed drastically. I play a straight-forward game with barely no bluffs.
The first two days were really bad for me, I thought I played good and avoided tilting my chips away but the cards were against me. I was all-in pre-flop twice in two days of playing. Once with aces on a 4-bet pot and once with A-K suited when a player shoved on me in the small blind. My aces held up against Jacks but I took a really bad beat on the A-K suited hand. My opponent showed A-K off suit and I thought to myself: "Freeroll!", but the luck turned against me. He hit runner-runner to river a flush, a hand that caused me to lose both chips and temper.
After a couple of days with no profit I felt the pressure to get some profit on wednesday. After coming home from school after an 8 hour lecture my brain didn't function as well as needed to which caused me to take a break after just a couple of minutes. The reason why the break came so early is because I called a raise on the river after my open-ended straight draw got completed on the river. The only problem was that I didn't actually get the straight, I had 7-9s on a 10-x-8-x board and a Queen came on the river. The pot didn't end up costing me a fortune but it was a clear signal for me to stop playing.
I'm still in the 20s, my bankroll is currently at $28. The focus is now on freerolls and zoom tables on the side. The primary target is $50, hopefully I can reach in the forthcoming days!
------------ Thanks for the kind messages!
Yeah, I have had a better start then I could wish for. Skpmorita: Do you mean the BRM Freerolls? If so, I'm playing them all the time! Ingrind: I think that IKEA is a large factor in poker, so visit often
Edited by classisco (10 December 2015 @ 02:15 GMT)
11.89
from me
