Hoping the dream is still alive - from $10k triumph to $100k challenge

Hello TheDreamIsStillAlive

If you want to make pictures in you're blog you need to be a bronze+ member.
1 of the reasons basic members can't post pictures and links is to prevent spam links.

The easiest way to get a bronze status you can use 1 or more of our free money offers on poker rooms you don’t have an account yet. If it you already have signed in for a room you need to read the instructions well and it can take up to 2 business days before you get the free money. If that's not a option you can buy a status-upgrade.

Maybe the https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=523971 is interesting as well.

Good luck with you're poker adventure

Cheers,
SDK1987

GL with the Challenge

Originally posted by SDK1987
Hello TheDreamIsStillAlive

If you want to make pictures in you're blog you need to be a bronze+ member.
1 of the reasons basic members can't post pictures and links is to prevent spam links.

The easiest way to get a bronze status you can use 1 or more of our free money offers on poker rooms you don’t have an account yet. If it you already have signed in for a room you need to read the instructions well and it can take up to 2 business days before you get the free money. If that's not a option you can buy a status-upgrade.

Maybe the https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=523971 is interesting as well.

Good luck with you're poker adventure

Cheers,
SDK1987

Thank you for that, I will sign up!

Originally posted by deralte71
GL with the Challenge

Thank you!

What's up! Time for a quick update. This week, a new milestone was achieved in the $100,000 Bankroll Challenge. For the first time, the challenge roll crossed the $20,000 mark. This mark means I can now take shots at NL600. To be honest, I've already dipped my toes in the NL600 games a few times. It's mostly the same players anyway.

Wish I could post the graph and some hands, but not allowed still:deadhappy:

Some stats since the start of the challenge:
- Sessions played: 133
- Total hours played: 244.95
- Current roll: $20,031.38
- Biggest downswing so far: -$6960.42, which accounted for 43% from the previous peak at the time

Even though things are going well, I'm sometimes left feeling a bit jaded. I really want the dream of online poker to stay alive, but there are strong forces working against it, especially here in my home country. The government is coming down hard, with potential DNS blocking against foreign gambling-related sites looming. There’s a lot I could say about how misguided these measures are, but for now, I'll hold off.

Despite these challenges I feel like there is a lot of EV at midstakes still, which gives me hope for the continuation of this challenge and actually propels me forward. It reaffirms that the path I'm on is not only viable but also filled with potential. I still have a lot of leaks that I need to fix, but I am compensating for it in other parts of the game tree that I play quite well I think - at least compared to the opposition. I should probably not reg battle as much as I do, especially considering how aggressive BRM I play with in this challenge. The problem is that I love it so much and I am not the type to say no to a battle. But then again, this challenge isn't just about the bankroll numbers, it's about the journey, having fun, and growth along the way.

Hi, I hope you and your Bankroll are still alive!
I gave you the bronze status to not make you feel so new, and would be very much looking forward to your next update.

I can totally feel you with the traffic & responses. Imagine you'd be a micro-player, that would even give you a couple of views less.
Nevertheless, we put a great emphasis on blogs with a weekly raffle for active bloggers, with our bankroll challenge that you joined (see your shiny badge) and a bit of news coverage.

From my experience those are the things that in your situation could improve how many people come, visit and interact with your blog:

• being regular, at least a weekly update
• posting in a nice style (no complaint here)
• include wow-hands, like Top won this week, top lost this week. Can either be in cash or in EV + HH.
• never (without any specific reason) post a bunch of hands with very limited comments
• rather post 1 hand and walk through it with your findings vs GTOwizard and why you played it differently
• talk about biggest exploits, things that you encountered in the game that help you win/make it easier and promotions that you could join on GG to increase your hourly (by explaining the mechanics better than they do - like: "if i play 10h NL200, i get 11-15th in the leaderboard which has a higher RoI than playing for the 1st with all competition")
• of course compare poker today vs when you had your biggest scores (i checked your blog on your site, but not spoilering here too much)
• some smallstakes players make me laught by adding funny memes to hands, but not sure if this is needed at your stakes.
• graphs, stats, more graphs and more stats!

Hope that helps and hope to see your blog grow!

Please feel free to post the link to your external blog now - but here you have the advantage that our viewers automatically see you in their feed, so strongly suggest to keep posting here as well with more than just a link.

Thank you very much, SvenBe. Much appreciated

Time for another update. Lately, I've been navigating some rough turbulence. It's typical that this happens just as I've transitioned my blogging adventure here—but that's just the way it goes. This past weekend, I endured the toughest session yet in this challenge, dropping 12 buy-ins at NL400:

After reviewing all the hands, I recognized some suboptimal lines and some -EV river calls in big pots. Despite this, I don't think my overall performance during the session was too bad. Humility is key, though, and I must admit, I probably should have quit earlier. I kept thinking about past comebacks at higher stakes and wondered, "Why not now?" Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.

A couple of days later, after some intense study sessions and theory work with GTOWizard, I attempted to get back into the swing of things. The results were mixed - nothing special. However, today I dropped another $1.6k, which was quite challenging mentally. Because of this, I decided to quit the session early to prevent any onset of poor play. Reflecting post-session, I realized I needed a break from the tables.

It's interesting how, even after all these years, the highs and lows still affect me. My eagerness to quickly climb back to high stakes might be causing some anxiety. What if I don't make it back? Moreover, it's becoming frustrating to face another significant downswing shortly after recovering from the last one.

When I return, I plan to not play higher than NL200 for a while, but we'll see how I feel once I'm back.

Below, I've included the overall graph of my journey so far and some stats from the last 72,000 hands from the tracked sites:

Overall graph of the $100,000 bankroll challenge:

Last 72k hands from tracked sites:

So, I've decided to take a small break to focus on some coding projects and distance myself a bit from poker. I will update once I am back into the swing of things. Until then, peace out.

Hey,

Looks a pretty promising challenge! Which country are you playing from? I'm also playing on pretty similar stakes, but mostly on Ipoker.

Yeah downswings can be hard to handle, even though if you had bigger ones before. It could be very crucial if you catch immedieately one after stepping up on stakes. I will follow your dream

GL!

Originally posted by novak53
Hey,

Looks a pretty promising challenge! Which country are you playing from? I'm also playing on pretty similar stakes, but mostly on Ipoker.

Yeah downswings can be hard to handle, even though if you had bigger ones before. It could be very crucial if you catch immedieately one after stepping up on stakes. I will follow your dream

GL!

Thanks, man! I'm playing from Norway. How about you?

🏆 Victory! 🏆

What's up, everyone.

An extended break from the bankroll challenge grind seems to have done wonders! 😂 I jumped back into action and took down the $150 CSOP+ Coinmasters $20k GTD tournament at Coinpoker last night. A much appreciated $5700 boost to the bankroll towards the $100k goal 💰💪

Sometimes stepping away is the best way to come back stronger. (Just kidding, I obviously just ran really well to bink the tournament! 😂)

I am still on a semi-break I guess, so the updates will be sparse.

Nice! What would you do with 100k ?

Originally posted by taavi1337
Nice! What would you do with 100k ?
Ty, taavi1337 I guess I would just keep grinding ♠_smile:

That's good. When I had $3k roll I bought a piano for $800 and when I had $10k roll I used it all up for travelling...

Originally posted by taavi1337
That's good. When I had $3k roll I bought a piano for $800 and when I had $10k roll I used it all up for travelling...

At least you didn't put it all on red, but instead used it on something sensible 😄

Originally posted by TheDreamIsStillAlive

Originally posted by taavi1337
That's good. When I had $3k roll I bought a piano for $800 and when I had $10k roll I used it all up for travelling...

At least you didn't put it all on red, but instead used it on something sensible 😄

my dream was to go to India and there was a limit player from New Delhi inviting me to their country. i wasn't much into bankroll building back then though and ended up barefoot doing yoga asanas and making friends. now i have girlfriend and children though so it is nice to focus on gathering and keeping bankroll. i will try to do that. your blog is inspiring, i think it is possible to actually keep a bankroll in a career as that is my wish.

Originally posted by TheDreamIsStillAlive

Originally posted by novak53
Hey,

Looks a pretty promising challenge! Which country are you playing from? I'm also playing on pretty similar stakes, but mostly on Ipoker.

Yeah downswings can be hard to handle, even though if you had bigger ones before. It could be very crucial if you catch immedieately one after stepping up on stakes. I will follow your dream

GL!

Thanks, man! I'm playing from Norway. How about you?

Hungary, GL!

What's up!

After much reflection, I've decided to temporarily pause the $100k bankroll challenge. This wasn't an easy decision, but it's one that makes sense for my life right now.

Why I'm Pausing
I've reached a point where I don't feel I can invest more time into climbing the stakes in hopes of reaching high stakes. Parallel to poker, I've been nurturing some ideas for different coding projects. Thinking long-term and considering the kind of life I want to lead, it makes more financial and lifestyle sense to focus on these projects.

The Online Poker Climate
I still love poker as much as ever. However, the current uncertain climate in online poker, with concerns about bots, cheating, and real-time assistance (RTA), makes it feel like more of a gamble to invest my energy here. I wish I could be certain that online poker would be a sustainable way of living for the foreseeable future, but no one can truly guarantee that.

Life Balance and Financial Considerations
There are also aspects of making a living from poker that don't align with my vision of how I want to build my life. Scalability and automation are significant factors for me. In the tech world, if you have a successful SaaS product, you can scale and automate in ways that simply aren't possible with poker. My dream is to launch a SaaS with a high MRR, allowing me to travel the world and play high stakes for fun. Grinding mid-stakes online doesn't make sense to me EV-wise or life enjoyment-wise.

The Reality of the Poker Landscape
Online poker today is very different from what it was years ago. Sometimes I almost wish I hadn't experienced the "golden age" of online poker, as it colors my view of the current situation. The landscape has changed significantly, making it harder to justify full-time commitment if you have other similar or potentially better ways of earning good money.

The 100K Challenge Status

I’m ending this challenge with a bankroll of $19,530. While it's far from the goal, I see no reason to force it when I have mixed feelings about the game. Moving forward, I'll play poker when I feel like it, without the pressure of the 100K challenge. Instead, I'll focus my full attention on my coding projects and attempt to build some wealth outside of poker.

I always hated when non-poker players said, "If you can get this good at poker, imagine what else you could do." It took me 15 years to come to terms with this, but now I believe it's time to fully apply myself to other ventures. The current situation suggests that this might be a good idea.

Moving Forward
Who knows, I may change my mind and start grinding a lot of cash again; I can’t say anything for certain. I’ll still grind some cash games and MTTs, but it will come from a place of enjoyment rather than focusing on the 100K ladder.

If I bink something big or actually put in some decent volume at cash again, I will come back and update this thread.

Until then, good luck to all of you!