Micro MTT Mayhem - Bankroll Challenge Blog

Bankroll Challenge Week 26

Tournaments Played: 61
Profit/Loss: +$32
Current Bankroll: $406.53

It was a weekend of two halfs. Saturday went very well. I was playing very well, lots of deep runs and even managed to close out a tourney for my second win in June. Sunday was horrible. My focus was terrible, i was tired and drained and continued playing for too long, resulting in me losing a lot of my gains from Saturday back to the player pool. I really need to work on my mental game and get better at only playing when my energy levels allow for at least my B game. This will be the focus in July.

This coming week, im not sure how much poker i will get to play. I am travelling south with my son to a festival tomorrow and will get back sometime on Saturday afternoon. Ill see how i feel.

Bankroll Challenge Week 27

Tournaments Played: 15
Profit/Loss: -$8.28
Current Bankroll: $398.25

I didn't play much at all this week, only managing a small session on Saturday. My son and I had been away for a couple of days to attend a festival where we got to see one of our favourite bands, Razorlight. The festival was a 5 hour drive away so I decided to book a hotel for 2 nights and spend some quality time with the boy. We drove back up on Saturday and when i got home i went for a nap then loaded up some tables. I only registered a few tourneys but I was still knackered from the last couple days so cut the session short after getting dumped out of three tournaments in a row with 80% equity or higher in quick succession, my mental game was not gonna be able to take it on such little sleep. I also had my granddaughter over yesterday so couldn't play any then either.

Next week I will look to get at least 2 decent sessions played. I will also be dropping the monthly update soon.

Im very late in posting the June update. I have been so busy the last couple weeks, some of which will be appearing in the update for July.

June Monthly Goal Review

1. Complete The Bankroll Challenge. The bankroll has had a slight dip this month but nothing a deep run or two cant fix over the next month.

2. Play in a Big Live Tournament. The APAT Glasgow in September will be my first foray into live poker this year.

3. Workout Consistently. A strange month. I have been really bad with set workouts but i have been a lot more active in general purely by taking my granddaughter and son away for adventures. July i am looking to lock in with a set routine

4. Reduce Weight to 180lbs. Weighed in this month at 210lbs which is still way of the pace for the goal. My diet has been on point for most of the month but i have also had a few special occasions where i have indulged. Number still heading in the right direction.

5. Quit Smoking. I haven't had a cigarette since the 18th of April and have had no nicotine at all the whole of June. This goal is now considered passed.

6. Read 12 books. Failing badly at this goal. I just need to schedule it in.

7. Attend 3 Music Gigs With My Son. No further gigs in June.

8. Attend 12 Football Matches With My Son. No games this month, but there were no games to go to.

9. 12 Dates With My Wife We had dinner and a show as we went to see Tim Minchin live. Great food and an even better show.

10. Take my Granddaughter Out Once Per Month We took her to a lovely park again this month. Didnt get any chance to any more with her due to wifes work commitments this month.

Bankroll Challenge Week 28

Tournaments Played: 100
Profit/Loss: -$81.42
Current Bankroll: $316.83

I was happy with the volume this week, but that was the only thing i was happy with. No final tables, very little deep runs. I just couldn't get anything going the whole weekend. Anytime i got close to the last couple tables, I would lose my stack with a big cooler or bad beat and I would be sent back to the lobby to load up yet another tournament. This has been the single worst week of the challenge so far so lets hope for a big turnaround next week.

Bankroll Challenge Week 29

Tournaments Played: 90
Profit/Loss: -$70.87
Current Bankroll: $245.96

Two massive losing weeks in a row is not how I wanted this summer to go, losing a third of my bankroll. Its been rough on the old mental game, but looking through my results, it seems to mostly running bad. I keep seeming to lose the big all ins just before hitting the final table.

The next couple of weeks are going to be light on volume as i have so many activities planned while my son is off school. I will try for at least one session this week but i think the week after is a complete write off. In the meantime, im going to hit the studying hard and hope i see improvements when this busy period is over.

Bankroll Challenge Week 29

Tournaments Played: 37
Profit/Loss: +$166.68
Current Bankroll: $412.78

As i mentioned last time, I was low on quantity this week but my god was it high on quality. I only played 37 tourneys across two short sessions that i managed to squeeze into a busy weekend. I made 2 final tables, coming 7th in one and winning the other. The one i came in 7th ended with a flip, 99 into AK, for a top 3 stack. I feel if it had held, i would've been in a great position to win the whole thing, confident i was one of the stronger players at the table.

At the beginning of the year, i made a list of all the tournaments i want to win during the bankroll challenge. The list consisted of all the named tournaments along with a "standard" for each buy in level. I have already ticked off the $1.10 and $2.20 of the standard tourneys on the list. The Hot $2.20 is the first named tournament on the list of tourneys conquered. I went into heads up as a near 3-1 dog but felt confident i could turn it around. My opponent must have felt the same way and offered me a straight 50/50 deal, which i took.

I am away to a festival with my son all weekend this week so i don't think i will be able to play any poker at all. I will be doing my end of month review this week though, so stay tuned for that.

Bankroll Challenge Week 31

Tournaments Played: 32
Profit/Loss: -$21.30
Current Bankroll: $391.48

I didn't think i was going to play any poker this week, as i was away at a festival all weekend. I did however sneak in a surprise session after work on Thursday, although with the result, i shouldn't have bothered. A frustrating few hours of not winning flips gave me a small loss. I did have one run in the Mini Daily Cooldown but couldn't win the big all ins when it mattered.

I will have a good run at the challenge this week, with a full free weekend. I might as well just complete the whole thing.

Two posts in one day, oh how i spoil you readers that i'm sure definitely exist.

July Monthly Goal Review

1. Complete The Bankroll Challenge. It was a strange month for the bankroll. The first 3 weeks were a disaster but the 4th week wiped out all those losses. Back to roughly where i started July, which isn't great, but after how the month started, very much acceptable.

2. Play in a Big Live Tournament. Still no update to this as i wait till September for my debut in live tournaments this year.

3. Workout Consistently. Im going to give myself an orange on this one, as i did really well for 3 weeks of the month but failed the last one. Still a long way to go to get myself consistent. The hayfever is making it incredibly hard to push through on this one right now.

4. Reduce Weight to 180lbs. Weighed in this month at 214lbs. My diet has been mostly good bar two very bad weekends where i was at festivals. I will get this back on track in August

5. Quit Smoking. PASSED.

6. Read 12 books. There is no excuse for this one. Still no more books read since March. With 9 more books to read, it will take a massive effort to complete this goal.

7. Attend 3 Music Gigs With My Son. We travelled from Scotland down to Manchester in England to take in our 3rd gig, Brit Fest 2025. It was a great festival, we only did the Friday as our favourite band Razorlight were playing. Great memories made.

8. Attend 12 Football Matches With My Son. We went to the Rangers vs Middlesborough friendly. The result wasnt great but the experience was pretty good. I will be looing to catch up more this monnth as the season kicks off fully.

9. 12 Dates With My Wife We really struggled to fit in a meal out by ourselves, so i have to give this one a fail this month

10. Take my Granddaughter Out Once Per Month We took the wee angel out for a big lunch, as she's now old enough to sit nice in the restaurant. She ate well and behaved brilliantly. We also went to the a new park which she loved.

I have now fully completed 2 goals, which gives me hope that i can pull back on some of the otheres that i have been failing at.

Bankroll Challenge Week 32

Tournaments Played: 117
Profit/Loss: $31.69
Current Bankroll: $423.17

I got a good run at the tables this week as i had no other plans for a change. Im happy with the volume, the result is surprisingly in the positive. I say surprisingly because it just felt like i was getting slapped with cold decks and bad beats all weekend. With nearly all my deep runs i was getting two or three outered right before the final table.

The weekend was saved by two final tables. The first, on Saturday, i managed to get a 3rd place finish. The second, on Sunday, more interestingly, i managed a 4th place finish, even though i came to the final table 7/7 and didnt play a hand for ages with the coldest deck imaginable. When it got 4 handed, i had 15bbs and the other stacks were 100BB, 130BB and 150BB. I threw my chips in with 88, hoping to start the spin up, however the poker gods had other plans, letting the J6o of my opponent improve. I was very happy with the ladders.

I will have another full weekend of tables next week, and as i have used up all my bad luck, i might as well just complete the challenge.

Bankroll Challenge Weeks 33 & 34

Tournaments Played: 249
Profit/Loss: -$217.36
Current Bankroll: $205.81

Originally posted by garynicol85

I will have another full weekend of tables next week, and as i have used up all my bad luck, i might as well just complete the challenge.

That was how i signed off the last post 2 weeks ago. Could a man be anymore wrong? Not with these results.

It has been a brutal couple of weeks. Half my bankroll gone just like that. There is a combination of factors that has led to this. The first, and the one thing i cant control, is running extremely bad. I mean losing nearly every flip and multiple 2 and 3 outer's in the late stages. I have looked through my exit hands over the last couple weeks. I got my money in with a flip or better in 85% of the hands and just couldn't hold them.

Secondly, i got excited about MicroMillions. It has been my favourite series for years as it allows me to play a lot of tournaments with big prizepools. I was rolled to be able to play up to the $3.30 tourneys but i played quite a few $5.50s. This goes against everything i have been working towards these last few months, even though the value in these tournaments is huge, the variance is also huge for them.

Thirdly, i was playing too many tables for my setup. I currently have a laptop with 2 monitors connected. The laptop isn't the fastest and the screen space allows me to confidently play up to 6 tables, but at times i had 8-10 running at a time. This led to a lot of unnecessary stress and reduce my ability to see good spots.

Fourth and lastly,i just plain didn't look after myself the last couple of weeks. Not working out, eating like shit and making it difficult to have a good sleep schedule. All this has contributed to bad choices and poor focus.

So to combat this i need to get back to fundamentals and follow the basic rules that help keep me moving forward. To address each of those points.

1. As much as i cant control variance, i can control game selection. I will reduce the amount of turbo and hyper tournaments from my schedule to give myself a better chance of working through the variance. I will also reduce the amount of satellites i play, maybe picking one or two tournaments each session to satellite into.

2. I will be strict with my bankroll and adhere to the BRM i set myself. I am also going to restrict the rebuys. Up till now i have mostly just re bought whenever i want to but that has resulted in me giving myself bad odds for some games. So from now on i will only vanilla tournaments with at least 20BB, pkos with at least 75% of the field left. I will only rebuy once to tournaments at the top of my buy in range.

3. This one is simple. Only play a max of 6 tables until i get my pc. On top of that, i will run tables down to 4 and stop regging if one of my tables is on the last couple of tables, so i can give it more focus.

4. I will start taking better care of myself. Making sure i stick to a sleep schedule, workout plan and healthy eating. Im not looking for perfection, just looking for better consistency.

So hopefully next week, i will start to see the fruits of this. and if not, i will aim to keep going at it till it does.

Bankroll Challenge Week 35

Tournaments Played: 114
Profit/Loss: -$22.43
Current Bankroll: $183.38

This was a strange week for poker. Another losing week but strangely, also a positive one. It started off terribly, i came down with a flu/virus. My muscles were aching and i was physically drained and exhausted. I took a couple of days off work to recover. Before I was fully recovered, i grew restless and fired up a session on poker. I swiftly lost some dollars. By the end of the week i felt better and was able to attend a night out we had planned for weeks. I dont usually drink much nowadays and had drunk quite a lot this night. I was very hungover on Saturday morning and spent a lot of it trying to recover. I then played a small session in the evening, strangely doing ok and finishing up.

On Sunday, i was playing a few of the MicroMillions events when a friend offered to stake me 50% to the Main Event. Even the $11 is outside my bankroll but i thought, what the hell for the experience, i would do it. I then went on to have a great run in the tournament and was able to quadruple my friends money. It still resulted in me being down for the week but i really enjoyed the experience.

I wrote last week about what i need to do to get this challenge back on track. I didnt follow rules 1 - 3, and rule 4 i couldnt due to not being well for most of the week. I will start this fresh today. I have wrote the rules out onto a post it note and attached it to my monitor so i remember to follow them.

JAugust Monthly Goal Review

1. Complete The Bankroll Challenge. Awful month for the bankroll. More than half of last months roll is gone but i feel this is just the dip before completion. This month is WCOOP season. I will be looking to play a few of the lows and aim to finish this challenge this month.

2. Play in a Big Live Tournament. This i s the month i complete this goal. I already have my buy in saved up the event.

3. Workout Consistently.This is just not happening, and although i have been struggling with hayfever and have had the flu as well, im really running out of excuses.

4. Reduce Weight to 180lbs. Weighed in this month at 218lbs. I have put back on any weight i lost at the beginning of this year. I cant see how i complete this goal this year now. Im just going to need to try get as close as i can.

5. Quit Smoking. PASSED.

6. Read 12 books. I have made a little bit of headway this month. I still haven't read another book but i am halfway through one. I will have it finished and hope to have read another by end of the month.

7. Attend 3 Music Gigs With My Son. PASSED.

8. Attend 12 Football Matches With My Son. No games attended this month

9. 12 Dates With My Wife We had a night out this month. We very rarely go out for a drink nowadays but really enjoyed this one.

10. Take my Granddaughter Out Once Per Month We took my granddaughter down to three of my sons football matches this month, she thoroughly enjoyed them all, going on big walks through a nature reserve and playing in the adjoining parks

A poor showing this month. By the end of this month, i will have 3 fully completed goals but i really need to shift focus on to some of them.

Bankroll Challenge Weeks 36 & 37

Tournaments Played: 119
Profit/Loss: -$113.23
Current Bankroll: $70.15

Its not been going well the last couple of weeks. Im now back to nearly where i started back in January, 8 months on and only 20 bucks more than i started with. I have ran just about as bad as a player can, constantly getting shafted with the cold side of the deck. I am trying to remain positive and remind myself that this too shall pass but its been tough. I was really looking forward to WCOOP, hoping to play a few of the lows but now my bankroll wont allow it.

I wont be playing online at all this week as I will be going to play in the APAT Glasgow next weekend. Im hoping a week away from the online felt will break the bad run.

...

Originally posted by Untiltable
On any given Sunday, things can turn around big time. Good luck in Glasgow!

I love that scene, ive used it many times to hype myself up for the gym .

I didnt end up going to the event in Glasgow. I was ill in the days leading up to it so decided to pull out as i wouldnt be at my best and felt i would be throwing the buy in away. I did play a small session on Sunday but finished breakeven for the day so i will just add it in to next weeks update.

Feeling a lot better so hoping to get plenty of rest this week and get a lot of volume in on the weekend.

Bankroll Challenge Weeks 38 & 39

Weeks 38 & 39
Tournaments Played: 135
Profit/Loss: +$23.18
Current Bankroll: $93.33

Back to winning ways. Im so happy that i didnt drop below the initial bankroll i started with 10 months ago. I hope this is the beginning of an upturn. I only played a small session on Friday this week and a slightly larger one on Saturday. I had my grandadughter over on Sunday and had decided if i didnt qualify for the WCOOP Low Main Event on my Friday or Saturday sessions, then i wasnt going to play at all. I didnt qualify, so instead had a lovely day with my grandaughter. I feel recharged and raring to go for this weekend. I should be able to get a good amount of volume in throughout October, due to my wifes shifts i will have a lot of free time on the weekends.

I did manage to win a small tournament. Heads up i was a huge 5-1 underdog but chipped away until my opponent decided to just shove every hand. I was then dealt KK, AQ and JJ in a row and all held.

Also, i hit another royal flush. Could this be the start of something beautiful.

Congratulations! Both, for the recent gold medal and the royal flush! I am pretty sure that you are on a turning point now and other good things will happen.

September Monthly Goal Review

1. Complete The Bankroll Challenge. I fell further away from the goal this month, going on an extended downswing. A small upturn in the bankroll this last week has made me optimistic about getting back on track and completing the challenge by the end of the year.

2. Play in a Big Live Tournament. I did not attend the tournament due to illness. This goal may be unachievable as any localish tournaments are not available due to work commitments over the next couple of months. My only hope may be winning a package for Prague, although that is a very small possibility.

3. Workout Consistently.I was in really good form with fitness this month. I completed at least 3 workouts each week and have added a 45-60 min walk to start my day in the morning. Feeling really confident in keeping this consistency for October.

4. Reduce Weight to 180lbs. Weighed in this month at 224lbs. I have put weight on even though i have been consistent with my exercise and mostly consistent with diet. I will be dialing this in tight this coming month.

5. Quit Smoking. PASSED.

6. Read 12 books. I cant remember even looking at a book this month. Unlikely to complete this with the time remaining but i will keep updating.

7. Attend 3 Music Gigs With My Son. PASSED.

8. Attend 12 Football Matches With My Son. No games attended this month. I will aim to get to a couple of games this month.

9. 12 Dates With My Wife We had a chill day out a cafe this month. Great food and better company.

10. Take my Granddaughter Out Once Per Month We took my granddaughter on a few long walks round the nearby country parks. Trying to get as much outdoor time in as possible before the weather turns horrible.

Massive improvements in the fitness goals. Huge push needed to finish strong in the last quarter of the year.

Congrats on quitting smoking!
I know a lady — 50ish yrs old — that quit crack cocaine entirely by herself, but can't quit nicotine.

Originally posted by garynicol85

4. Reduce Weight to 180lbs. Weighed in this month at 224lbs. I have put weight on even though i have been consistent with my exercise and mostly consistent with diet. I will be dialing this in tight this coming month.

5. Quit Smoking. PASSED.

Yeah! Also congrats on 5th point. Maybe 4th is related to 5th. I remember that when I quit smoking over 11 years ago I compensated it with food and gained weight for quit some time. Again I am pretty sure you will also mange this aspect.