The Sequel Blog - SNG Reg Updates

In august 2015 I made the decision to study and start beating the lowest games in online poker.

Played poker since ~2009, recreationaly, and of course losing money lol. I didn't knew that I knew nothing.

Since my decision to beat the game, I have never ever made a deposit again.

I created my original blog (link above) in early 2016, with the main goal to enter and win a bankroll challenge they had at the time. I am still updating the blog regularly to this day.

So I started the challenge: start with $50 and turn it into $1000.
Grinding mostly STTs, I wanted to prove to myself that I could be a winning regular and profit!

Had a good start! Started grinding the $0,5 9p T on PS, quickly growing in limits, and in 13 weeks (in college, not full time grinding), I was at the $370 profit mark.
This was the graph early 2016:

At the time I was very happy with the results, and enjoying the process a lot.

As I was in the middle of the challenge, I registered to enter one of the largest poker teams in the world, called 4bet Poker Team. In that selection, they had 11k people signing up, and only 30 spots. I was called for an intervew, and when the result came out, I was one of the approved to enter the team.

Magical moment for me, signing for a 6 months deal, with daily coaching and making new contacts. That day I realize that I was entering something much bigger then I thought it was, and I was very thrilled about that.

For 6 months I grinded mainly MTTs, getting coach regularly, making new friends, growing in poker.

At the end, only a few remained in the team, and I signed a new deal with them: 1 year long, new coaches, next level games etc...

This was 2017: full time MTT grinding.

As most players, I tought that I knew a lot about poker and that I was good, just to realize that I knew nothing. Now I KNEW that I knew nothing.

And, of course.... it went way harder then I expected. 3 months into the project I was going well, really developing my game, and about $1k profit, but not really great results.

Then things started going not that well. My first and biggest downswing ever. In about 2 or maybe 3 months, things started to go very wrong in a lot of ways:
Stressfull grind, bad routine, not that much support from close people, and running very bad. I was about -$7k (a LOT of money at the time), playing an low ABI about like ~$5. Clearly something not normal.

But still, I never stopped studiyng and grinding, always mantaining my focus. Results were bad, a lot of pressure too... Things were not going my way, but that never stopped me from believing and keeping in the path.

I had to do some changes in lifestyle and mindset, mainly. It took me about 6 months to get out of this "hell" phase, but I did it. A good hit in a Hot $22 for $4k helped, and then I got a very good regularity in a limit I was confortable to beat. Managed to recover everything.

For me, it was a test, and a big one. I made it throught and that showed me that I am very capable of resisting and keep working/studiyng/grinding in terrible conditions. I felt that after that, I could handle everything ahead.

This was the graph of the period:

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I was only able to find myself and regularly win in the last 3 months. ABI about ~$10.

At the end, I won a package to travel to the biggest live tournament in Brazil, BSOP, one of the largest in the world too.

In the exact day that I won the big $16,50 and finally got out the dark phase, I got in the plane to go for the BSOP. Magical moment! Met with every team colleague, famous players, and had my biggest buy-in ever, the main event for about $1k. Literally a dream coming true.

No doubt it was my biggest year in poker. Amazing experience and the beggining of my carreer!

2018 was a new year. Got out of the team and started playing by myself, making my own plans and buy-ins.

So I got back with the challenge, this time bigger: turning $100 into $8000, in 3 steps, grinding mainly STTs. Conditions wouldn't cooperate to keep in the MTTs.

Step #1: $100 to $1000.

Not playing full time like before, I took quite some time to finish the 1st step, and the results were:

29/10/2018:

Challenge #1 - $100 --> $1000 [ X ]

The challenge was to start with $100 and grind my way to $1000 in micro SNGs only, mainly turbo STTs.
Had very regular results with low variance.
About 20 games per day (1~2h/day). About 80 games in full days.

Numbers:

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Challenge #1 - $100 --> $1000

Start: 19/02/2018

Bankroll: US$100

Games expected: ~4000

Games played: 3500

Tourneys played:
SNG $1.50 9p T
SNG $3.50 9p T
SNG $7 9p T
SNG $3.5 18p T
SNG $2.5 180p T
some few micro MTT.

ABI: $2.5

Total invested in buy-ins ~US$8750

Total Prizes: $10k

Profit: +$915

Final Bankroll: US$1015.18

ROI: 11%

Active days: 122

Avg tournaments / day: 28

Simultaneous screens: 10~18

bb/100 overall: +12.60

Biggest result: 27th, +$143 --> $11 PKO, the only "shot" in the challenge.

Biggest downswing: $125

Biggest downswing in STTs: $110 --> About 40 ABI's, nothing not expected.

Days winning/losing:

Specific results Turbo STTs (SNG 9p):

Volume: 2157
ROI: 12%
Buy-ins: $1.50 (911 games) // $3.50 (1247 games)
Finishing Positions:

Graph:

Low volume on other structures, a majority of STTS.

SNG $1,50 45p: 319 games // $119 profit // ROI 25%
SNG $2,50 180p: 181 games// $-3 profit // ROI 0%

Conclusion date: 28/10/2018

Overall final Graph:

GG

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In the meantime, I got involved with another team, Cbet Poker Team. This time, as a instructor to teach new players into beating the micro SNG limits.
Results were very good! Very positive feedback from the new students.

Where I am right now, my goals to the furute...