"Mental approach is key to the Bankroll Challenge" - mariussica88

We chat to our latest Bankroll Challenge winner about small stakes MTTs, leaderboards, mindset and his next challenge.

Your challenge took a year but your completion of the challenge was sudden, what was it like suddenly tripling your bankroll in a week?

mariussica88: It was the perfect end for a really nice month, I knew that finishing first in the monthly leaderboard would be tough because you need to run good for a whole month, so when I won the second tournament out of 12 (because it was a short month usually in a month there are like 13-15 tournaments) I pretty much knew that I was going to win and complete the challenge. Nevertheless the last two tournaments I had finished in the money places too, so overall it was a very nice month for me.

Tell us more about the leaderboard you won.

mariussica88: The "Scholars Leader Board" promotion is a series of $1.10 6-max tournaments that are available each calendar month (it starts with the first Monday of the month and ends on the last Wednesday of the month). There are only 3 tournaments each week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) with an added prize from Pokerstars of $400, all the players are getting points based on the position they finish and the numbers of players registered. The top 9 players from the final table get the most of the points, maybe that's why it is hard to finish top of the leaderboard and as far as I know since the entry was changed from $0.20 to $1.10 no players won the series twice. Also the prize pool is $6,000 tournament dollars and is divided between the top 50 players with a 1st place prize of $1,000.

"Most people stay at micro stakes"

You started the challenge in cash games but It looks like MTTs were the big thing for you, are you more of an MTT player now?

mariussica88: At the start of the challenge I divided my bankroll into cash and MTT just because when I started playing poker in 2010, I played cash games and SSS (small stack strategy) which helped me build my bankroll fast, being such an easy to play strategy, but for the last 3-4 years I was playing only tournaments because I find them more suited for me. That's why in the last period I started studying MTT's.

As you moved up in stakes, where did you find the players started to get better?

mariussica88: During this challenge I managed to play different tournaments with buy-ins from freerolls to $109 SCOOP events. Even at the lower buy-ins there are good players but most of the really good ones (difficult to play against ) were from $11 and up.

How hard is it starting at micro stakes? Are they tough to climb out of?

mariussica88: Most people start with micro stakes, 9 out of 10 people that I know and play poker started at micro stakes, and most of them are still here...In my case it took a long time because I did not had a proper bankroll management (when I got to a couple of hundred $ I made a withdrawal to use it for the daily stuff that I "needed" ), people underestimate the value of a correct bankroll management, myself included (used to play tournaments bigger then I had bankroll for and along the years I lost all of it multiple times). When I started this challenge I made a condition not to withdraw any funds from my poker bankroll and play only the tournaments within the 50 buy-ins.

"Mental preparation is key"

What big lessons did you learn in the last year that helped you in your challenge?

mariussica88: Discipline and mental approach. Having a good and correct state of mind in your daily life is very important in order to succeed in any field not just poker. That is what I changed about myself in order to play better poker. And I would advise anyone in this forum to watch LuckyLukePS videos about mental preparation, in my case they where a game changer.

What stakes do you plan to play next with your new bankroll?

mariussica88: I plan to have a more strict bankroll management than on the first challenge, so for now I'll be playing only max $3.30 tournaments, then $5.50 and $11.

What is your next Bankroll Challenge goal?

mariussica88: I already started a new challenge to see how long will take me to get from $1,000 tournament dollars to $10,000 cash.

Did the process of blogging help you stay focussed and motivated?

mariussica88: Yes. Having a blog made me focus more on the long term goal and having the community encourage and advice me along the way was massive for me. And I also did not want to disappoint them, because every Monday after I posted an update I would see how many people were reading what I posted and reply back and for me that was motivating.

What is your advice to fellow Bankroll Challengers on how to complete the challenge?

mariussica88: Think of it like a new step in your journey, stick to bankroll management and don't play when your tired.

What is the Bankroll Challenge?

In the Bankroll Challenge we encourage our members to get better by blogging about their poker journey and setting some ambitious goals. 

Our members found that having a blog kept them accountable to their goals and it's a great way to help them get to know their fellow PokerStrategists. As the saying goes 'what gets measured, gets managed' and simply having a blog keeps you on your A-Game. 

To help you on your journey and with a little bit of luck you can win $100 that we will raffle once a month among our active bloggers, regardless of where they play, accompanied by a special badge for their forum avatar for anyone succeeding in their first Bankroll Challenge.

How to join the Bankroll Challenge

The challenge is open to all PokerStrategists and you do not need to be tracked to us to participate. All you need to do is:

• Start a blog in our forum.
• State your starting bankroll, your regular stakes/games and your poker room in the first post.
• Set a long term bankroll goal of at least $500 and/or a minimum of five times your starting bankroll.
• Sign-up to the Bankroll Challenge in our registration thread, with a link to your personal blog, your initial bankroll and your goal.
• Post at least once a week in your blog.

Once a month we will raffle $100 among all eligble PokerStrategists participating in the Bankroll Challenge regardless of where you play.