FINISHED - Growing Bankroll: Let's make 1k

Hey Tim- Good luck with your challenge

4 regular 9-handed tables or 2 zoom 6-handed tables.

Why do you mix full ring with 6max ? Why dont you just pick one.

Originally posted by AgapieGheorghe
Hey Tim- Good luck with your challenge

4 regular 9-handed tables or 2 zoom 6-handed tables.

Why do you mix full ring with 6max ? Why dont you just pick one.

Thank you!!

Good question, the reason is that I wan't to learn both types, 9-handed being my main interest so about 4/5th of my game will be there. But at some coachings and in some posts in this forum I read that at the higher limits, 6-handed is more popular, so I think it will be handy to learn that game type as well.

Hey best of luck

Originally posted by SmellTheCoffee
Hey best of luck

Thanks!

Hi Tim,

GL also from Gibraltar!

Originally posted by SvenBe
Hi Tim,

GL also from Gibraltar!

Thank you!

Well the first week has passed, so it is time to have my first weekly results!!!

Week 1:

Results:
Let's start with the results moneywise, didn't go as well as I hoped too, as I mentioned, the first 3 weeks I was up 15 dollars, this week I lost about half of it. I analysed my game and found some leaks why I lost so many stacks.

Of course one of the reasons is bad beats, lost 2 stacks with >90 percent equity when all-in. So that was -2$ instead of +1.90$ twice. But I have to be fair, I flipped 3 times this week (AK vs JJ/QQ) and won 2 of them, so it wasn't all bad luck.

Another thing I noticed during my sessions is that I really don't know when to cold-call, when to 3b and how to react to 3bets, which was a major leak. I think I lost a lot of EV this way. But I am working on it.

The graph:

Starting Bankroll: $62.79
Current Bankroll: $56.68
Profit/loss this week: -$6.11
Profit/loss total: -$6.11

Learning:
I read a lot of the No Limit and Basic articles on the strategy section and watched KrisRukov's bankroll challenge. Now I'm starting to watch W34z3l's 6-max micro walktrough, hoping to have a more comfortable time in reacting to 3bets and 3betting myself.

Hands
Biggest winning hand:

Biggest loss:

Best play:

Worst play:

Let's hope for a better second week!

Something funny happened today...

When I started playing poker I withdrawed 45€ from my unibet sports betting acount, which I deposited to pokerstars. Which was all purely winnings from sports bets last year. So basically I am playing with won money.

But I left 5€ at my unibet account, in the hope to grind it up to 50€ again by making small bets (40 cents a piece).

Anyway I got bored of looking at sports statistics and all that stuff, so I didn't make a single bet in the last month, but still I had 5€ at unibet, which I couldn't withdraw because it is under the withdrawing limit. So I decided to play a big tournament, 4$ buy in with the thought: 'Win big or lose it all'! Cause in my mind, that money was already lost... I came in 2nd place and won about 31 euros (27 euros net).

I don't know if I am gonna implement this tournament in my BR challenge yet.

nice score at tournament
keep up the work and good luck.

that tournament was completely out of your bankroll so i think it is not that smart to implement it.

Originally posted by BadHabit1989
nice score at tournament
keep up the work and good luck.

that tournament was completely out of your bankroll so i think it is not that smart to implement it.

Thanks and you are right, that 5 euros was not in my starting BR so it would not be fair to include this result in my graph. I'll just keep the money at unibet, ready to transfer if there is a good promotion somewhere.

Results of WEEK 2

It's almost monday so let's summarize this week!

I ran good this week, had some flip wins but in general I was happy about my play, ofcourse I made many mistakes as I am still learning, but luckily my opponents made many more mistakes, best example:

But let's talk results:
Hands this week: 2233
Starting Bankroll: $62.79
Current Bankroll: $65.50
Profit/Loss this week: $8.82
Profit/Loss total: $2.71

The graph:

As you can see there were quite a few 'Boring sessions', line is very flat for some 1000 hands.
Some of my profit comes from the CardMatch promotion, which is very helpful, because I clear it on long sessions anyway, so basically it's extra rakeback.

I also played that tournament on Unibet which helped me start a bankroll there, played some Heads Up sit and go's there and now I have about 35$, really good week on Unibet thus +30$ I will not include this profit in my bankroll challenge because the 4$ I started with was not in my original starting Bankroll. But I do like to play games over there because no one can use HUD's.

Learning:

I almost finished Weazel's guide to 6-max micros, and thus I switched to playing 6-max cash games primarily, which I seem to enjoy a lot more and there is more learning material for it. I watched the two QnA video's with krisrukov and watched the first episode of Mythbusting the Micro's from Lemon, because I watched the fourth session of that series live.

What I want to do more, is mark hands I am not sure about. I have the pokerstrategy sidekick, so I am able to mark hands I made decisions I am not really sure about, but I do not do this enough, so right now I don't really know what to analyze.

Biggest win:

Biggest loss:

And btw, I had a free trial on Jivaro which ends in 3 days, so next week I need to get a new HUD for pokerstars. Any suggestions? Are there good free ones or should I just use the free trials of PT4 and HM2.

Free trial from PT4, no need to invest in buying it right now.

Good luck this week

Originally posted by AgapieGheorghe
Free trial from PT4, no need to invest in buying it right now.

Spoiler

If you need help to remove the TRIAL message from PT4 let me know.

Good luck this week
Thanks I am using this right now!

Results week 3

As I said in my first post, my main issue will be time, I really would love to play more, but I can't because I have so much paperwork to do for school, each day I run (sports) and after that I am usually too tired, I would like to get more hands per week, but that won't happen till at least 5 weeks, when my school will be a bit less busy.

The graph

Super happy about it, it looks exactly like I want it too (didn't realize it till 3 days in, because I only started using PT4 at wednesday), the only thing I would like to be more at my side is luck of course (running 150BB under EV in so little hands) but on the other hand I am getting lucky with the opponents I am getting at the tables! So you can't have everything and I am not complaining!

Hands this week: 1605
Starting Bankroll: $62.79
Current Bankroll: $76.84
Profit / loss this week: $11.34
Profit / loss total: $14.05

Difference from graph and profit this week are those cardmatch cards, extremely helpful still Last week!

If I can get enough hands in this week, the first part of my bonus will come ($10) which will be an enorm boost for my bankroll, NL5 I am coming!!!.

Side Challenge
I played some HU sng's at unibet as well this week, because I won a lot of them last week and decided to make a sort of side challenge from them. Let's see if I can build a BR of $500 at unibet only playing Heads Up sit and go's.

This week I played 32 heads up Sit and Go $1's and won 23 of them (plus some bonus cash for clearing challenges) so made about 13$ profit over there, now my balance is 48$.

The bankroll management I will be using is: 35 buy-ins: Move up!, 25 buy-ins: Move down.

But when I do move up above the 4$ zone, I will need to read articles and watch videos about the format, right now it is not necesairy because people here are easy to read.

Learning
Watched video's, didn't read articles and evaluated some hands. Decent for the amount I played, try to keep it 60 learning, 40 playing.

Biggest winning hand:

Spoiler

PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 51 BB (VPIP: 80.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
SB: 44 BB (VPIP: 8.33, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 12)
BB: 84 BB (VPIP: 21.05, PFR: 10.53, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 20)
UTG: 158.5 BB (VPIP: 42.11, PFR: 36.84, 3Bet Preflop: 22.22, Hands: 19)
MP: 133 BB (VPIP: 34.62, PFR: 26.92, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 27)
Hero (CO): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♣ Q♥

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB, SB raises to 7 BB, fold, MP calls 4 BB, Hero calls 4 BB, BTN calls 4 BB

Flop: (29 BB, 4 players) J♠ T♥ A♦
SB checks, MP bets 18.5 BB, Hero calls 18.5 BB, BTN raises to 44 BB and is all-in, fold, MP calls 25.5 BB, Hero raises to 93 BB and is all-in, MP calls 49 BB

Turn: (259 BB, 3 players) K♥

River: (259 BB, 3 players) 3♥

Spoiler

MP shows T♦ A♣ (Two Pair, Aces and Tens)

Main Pot [161 BB]: (Pre 45%, Flop 14%, Turn 10%)
Side Pot#1 [98 BB]: (Pre 59%, Flop 14%, Turn 11%)

Hero shows K♣ Q♥ (Straight, Ace High)

Main Pot [161 BB]: (Pre 35%, Flop 77%, Turn 83%)
Side Pot#1 [98 BB]: (Pre 41%, Flop 86%, Turn 89%)

BTN shows J♦ T♣ (Two Pair, Jacks and Tens)

Main Pot [161 BB]: (Pre 20%, Flop 9%, Turn 7%)

Hero wins 250 BB
Rake paid 9 BB

Comments:
I decided to just call instead of raise on the flop, because I didn't wanna scare the two players, who were very call-friendly, left to act behind me, but it worked out perfectly! 3-way all in with 77% equity!

Biggest loss:

Spoiler

PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (SB): 120.5 BB
BB: 121 BB (VPIP: 78.57, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 28)
UTG: 91 BB (VPIP: 37.25, PFR: 23.53, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, Hands: 52)
MP: 182 BB (VPIP: 26.92, PFR: 9.62, 3Bet Preflop: 4.35, Hands: 52)
CO: 94 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 10)
BTN: 97.5 BB (VPIP: 23.40, PFR: 4.26, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 48)

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♥ K♦

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 10 BB, BB calls 9 BB, UTG calls 7 BB

Flop: (30 BB, 3 players) 5♥ T♥ 8♠
Hero bets 20.5 BB, BB calls 20.5 BB, fold

Turn: (71 BB, 2 players) Q♥
Hero bets 90 BB and is all-in, BB calls 90 BB

River: (251 BB, 2 players) J♥

Spoiler

Hero shows K♥ K♦ (Flush, King High)
(Pre 68%, Flop 55%, Turn 0%)
BB shows A♥ 7♥ (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 32%, Flop 45%, Turn 100%)
BB wins 242 BB
Rake paid 9 BB

Comment: This guy was a calling station if I ever seen one, before I bet flop and shoved turn, I checked the stat once more and he had 100 call bet at flop, 82 call bet on turn (from a 13 sample), so I decided that me having the king of hearts would create more outs for me if he did happen to have two pair or trips, 0 equity and you can see he has 78 VPIP, 0 PFR. So I would play this hand the same way.

does it work for you to learn 60% and play 40% only?
because that seems like an overload of information. be careful!

Originally posted by BadHabit1989
does it work for you to learn 60% and play 40% only?
because that seems like an overload of information. be careful!

For now it works, I try to play 1 hour a day (but it varies). And by learning I mean mostly watching recorded coachings (or attend live ones from Lemon), so it's not all new information for me, a lot is repetition.

But it really helps when you hear information already know, from another person, so I try to follow courses that are alike from differrent micro-stake coaches.

K♣:Q♥:
I decided to just call instead of raise on the flop, because I didn't wanna scare the two players, who were very call-friendly, left to act behind me, but it worked out perfectly! 3-way all in with 77% equity!

Nice hand.
I just have to say that preflop I play this hand differently. I will 3bet preflop. I have position over MP and I dont want that the calling station from BU to call behind me.

Good luck this week !

Originally posted by AgapieGheorghe

K♣:Q♥:
I decided to just call instead of raise on the flop, because I didn't wanna scare the two players, who were very call-friendly, left to act behind me, but it worked out perfectly! 3-way all in with 77% equity!

Nice hand.
I just have to say that preflop I play this hand differently. I will 3bet preflop. I have position over MP and I dont want that the calling station from BU to call behind me.

Good luck this week !

Thanks!
Now that you say it, I looked at my ranges and indeed, in my ranges I would 3bet KQo (as a semi-bluff) as CO vs MP. But I think entirely different about the calling station, I think calling and letting a (probably) worse hand come along for the ride is fine, you know that he can have a lot of hands so I would play more passively if I didn't hit, but when I do hit it's just extra value. (Even when I hit something weaker like a board of K76r it would still be a hand between me and MP with extra value from mr. calling station.)

Little Mid-Week Update

Today I learned something. Wednesday is on average my most busy day, so normally I don't play on wednesdays. I have college from 8.45 till 15.45, after that I train kids (in sports) from 17.00 till 18.00. Both those tasks tire me out mentally. But because I will be gone for the weekend I still decided to play this evening for some volume. Played about 400 hands, but now that I look back, I made mistakes I normally (when I'm fresh) would never make.

For example, on one table I was to the right of a fish that I would like to see flops with, so I try to iso-raise his limps as much as possible. 2 places to the left of me was a regular (I think more skilled in poker than me so far). Who noticed that and 3bet my iso-raises a lot. I almost never had position on him, it was hard to call him, but I didn't adjust, it went: Fish limps, Hero raises 4 BB, Villain 3bet 12 BB, 2 folds. So I lost about 20BB to a villain that understood my playstyle.

There were more examples like this one, one time I didn't even notice my rivered straight, so it went check check...

As always, I am still playing NL2 so there were lots of fish making more mistakes than me (ran above EV today so still a small profit), so I am happy to learn this now and not on NL10 or NL25, but I once heard someone (in a strategy video or on this forum) say: 'It's better to play drunk, than tired' And now I understand!

Week 4

Same story as almost every week so far, I just can't get any volume these weeks, but as I said in about a month I can up it a bit. As for this week:

Hands: 1360
Starting bankroll: $62.79
Bankroll last week: $76.84
Current bankroll: $93.71
Profit/loss this week: $16.87
Profit/loss total: $30.92

The graph:

The fun thing about low volume is that it is easy to hit massive BB/100 scores :p. But for real this week was winning every day, even when I played bad (see Mid-Week update). It's not that I run hot like above EV-wise, but I run extremely hot decision making wise. For example, villain bets half-pot on the river, I decide that I am good about 50% of the time, so I do have the odds to call... And it turns out I just beat villain. So this can't be seen in my graph but it feels the same as running hot.

Normally I would post the most winning hand and most losing hand, but this time I want to post a story, about notetaking and how it can help improve your winrate.

This week I visited Lemon's coaching (the HUDless chicken series) not because I am playing without a HUD, but because I want to be as good as players without HUD. And this week was extremely helpfull as he learned us about notetaking. I did not do that enough because I did not know what to note.

Because pokertracker already writes down all the 3bet, cold-calling ranges etc. of the opponents that was not necessary for me to do as well. Instead I decided to focus on writing notes about river play. So I wrote down every time someone bets big on the river, what does he have, every time someone bets small on the river what does he have, what kind of hands will an opponent call the river with etc.

Well this was helpful for learning purposes, I found out that one oponnent directly to my left was extremely exploitable. After he went to showdown 4 times, one time betting really big (all-in) and 3 times betting fairly small. I found out that all the small bets on the river were value-bets, while the all-in was a bluff. Not a very large sample but a few hands later I found myself in this situation:

I only called because of my notes and the first stack was won, a few minutes later (against te same villain of course):

2nd stack, thank you sir, another 20 minutes later, still the same villain.

Well if you insist I take your money, why wouldn't I?

And one last hand, which was the hardest one to call because he didn't shove but just made a pot bet:

This guy was a regular for sure, he had all the signs of a regular and his plays were very strong, if I didn't have those notes on him I would lay down like 3 of those 4 hands (maybe only calling the third one). He was playing more than 10 tables at the same time so he was not able to adjust to me. But it was fun to learn how to take notes with such an example in the seat next to me

Side-challenge:
Ofcourse I ran good this week on the cash games, but wait, it doesn't stop there, on the HU-bankroll I played 25 HU tournaments and won 20 of them I also played one hour of cash games with the HU-challenge bankroll and lost about $1. But in the end I started the week with $48 and now I have $61.
A minor change in my moving up approach, I will move up when I have 50 buy ins for the next limit, so at $100 instead of $70.