$10 to $10,000 Poker Bankroll Challenge

Casino Play Better, Home Game Worse...

2010-10-15T16:59:00.001-04:00

Now, this is a switch.

For as long I've been playing poker, I've held my own at the home games, but been very inconsistent at the casinos. Part of the reason is that I've played most of my casino play in Minnesota, where the cash games are limit poker only. That's the only time I ever play limit poker, and I've never been a winning player in that game.

Lately my issue has been losing in home games. I'm afraid my play has become too predictable. Am I running bad? Playing too many hands? I've focused on not playing out of position. I'm really confused about why my results have changed over the past several months. I think the remedy is some time off.

Maybe I'll hone my skills online at low stakes for a while, and go back to the live game refreshed and less confused.

It's not good to play poker confused.

Respect the Game

2010-02-25T20:56:00.000-05:00

This has been a tough week. On Sunday I lost a personal friend who died unexpectedly and way too young. It has also been a busy week, with more than usual routine "errands" to deal with. I have ended up coming home late in the evening, logging on to PokerStars, and escaping reality for a while. Last night, I was tired but logged on and played anyway. It is relaxing to get your mind away from the affairs of the day.

Well, it turns out that I was so tired, I actually turned my brain off (which on some level was probably good under the circumstances) and played poker in a mindless escape from reality. In recent nights I have played well, gotten some good hands, been patient, and turned $1.36 into over $20. Last night was different. I had been at the funeral home, and it was difficult. I logged on out of habit and hopeful to return to my recent success at the table. After all, I had to miss my weekly Wednesday night home game because of the funeral services. Anyway, I played until I was dozing off to sleep and had mindlessly gone through seven $1 re-buys at the same table before I woke up and logged off for the night.

Poker is a solace at times, and occasionally luck can make winning easy. However, as I have found in the past, playing poker as an escape from reality clearly does not pay; in reality performance and mental sharpness matter, which is why playing poker is clearly a game of skill.

Roller Coaster Month

2010-01-14T19:21:00.001-05:00

Sometimes the worst thing that can happen is to get lucky. Recently I was fortunate enough to increase my bankroll by almost 50% in a session of 13 hands! I played only 2 sessions that day, each for only $1. The first one went 9 hands, and since I doubled up, I had to leave by the blinds. The second one went a whopping 13 hands, and after doubling up (or better) right away, I caught another monster hand in a 3 way pot and turned my $1 buy-in into $9.32! That was the good news.
The bad news is that I apparently came to expect that kind of luck a little too much, and began taking too many chances again. The result has been a month long roller coaster ride and an effort to get back on an even keel so as not to play like a maniac just so I can double or triple up real fast.
Could my bankroll have been better off without the windfall of luck?

New Challenge!

2009-12-07T21:44:00.005-05:00

Here are the results from Month #1:
Now that I've been trying to freeroll my way back into the game, I've found that I need to start with some $. The good news is that the freeroll circuit has taught me to appreciate having and protecting a bankroll again.

Bottom line, deer_nevets transferred back to me a dollar I'd deposited in his account a couple of years ago. So I've started the challenge again, a 4th time, but this time WITH ONLY $1.

Heading to Vegas

2009-07-09T13:04:00.005-04:00

To be honest, the last 2 weeks have not been confidence boosters for my upcoming trip to Vegas. I'm doing pretty well in tournaments, but my cash play has not been very productive, in fact, I've lost $660 in the last 3 weeks, including -$500 at the Hollywood on Friday night July 3. In that time, I've won $200 in tournaments. I've also gone from just a couple of bucks online up to $7.99 and back down to below $1. Not exactly the same sense of invincibility I was feeling a couple of weeks ago. Dawson said that is probably a good thing. Maybe I should be a little guarded as I wander out to places like Bellagio, MGM Grand, and the Golden Nugget. I think I'd rather head out feeling at the top of my game, but maybe it's best to be reminded how poker can turn on you before the trip than finding out again on vacation. I was curious and looked at my longest losing streaks and overall win/loss variance. Twice before I've lost money 4 times in a row; in my last 4 sessions I've lost 3 and broken even once. That ties my two longest droughts ever. I have never lost money 5 times in a row. I also counted up how often I sit down and win money. It is less frequent than I expected: 32 of 63 times (50.7%) I've won money or broken even. So if I take the long view of my play, I really have no reason to think I'll have a bad poker experience in Vegas.

I've often said that nothing has helped my cash game like Harrington's Cash Games Volume I. Zach just brought it back to me after borrowing it this spring. I'll re-read it now and on the plane, and go out there and play smart, tight-aggressive poker and be patient for the right hand to hit. Poker is all about patience and good decision making. I hope I pack plenty of both for my trip. One caveat: this trip is going to be all about time with my wife. She obviously supports my interest in poker, but I don't want to leave her stranded on our trip together. We will discuss it and I know we will arrive at the best balance of poker and time together. BTW, here is how my live poker bankroll looks now. And, for the record, $500 of it is on hand in cash, the rest has been spent on things like rent at UC and vacations. I have some cash in the bank I think I'll take along just so I can play in some of the best poker rooms on earth.

A Fresh Look at My Bankroll

2009-06-30T07:52:00.006-04:00

The WSOP satellites are over now, and I never really got as close as I did that first week or so. One other time I was in first place at the break of an 81 player tourney where only one player qualified for the WSOP. I "played to win" and not to survive till the final table. I ignored the fact that 2nd-13th place paid several hundred dollars. Ooops! I became too fixated on going to Vegas in First Place. Duh, I should have survived and put myself into position to get the money and a chance to win at the final table. I spent a little more money overall trying to qualify online than I initially thought I would, but it was spread out over several pay periods, $15 at a time, and only had to get into my live-game poker stash once to pay for it (near the end when I decided to do a re-buy satellite, mentioned above.) I am happy I tried, and satisfied overall with my performance. Next year perhaps fewer tries....just like online cash play, too much is too much in a short time.

Throughout the same time period as the WSOP satellites, my live cash game play has been on a roll. I have only really lost in Minnesota where the cash game is a limit game, which I am less informed about. I have won a lot of money in both cash and tournament formats in both home and casino games since April. I was invited to the Honnerlaw Wednesday night game, and placed in the money in both tourneys so far. I am very confident in my game right now. Check out my live-game cash bankroll below:

This chart dates back to July '05 and includes every single live game in which I have played, including cash games and tournaments. It shows my bankroll in terms of net profit/loss, which now stands at an overall profit of $1,580.00. Although I have recorded every single buy-in since I began playing for money, only recently did I decide to create a chart, as I have done so consistently with my online bankroll. The first thing that struck me after creating this chart was the fact that only once throughout my time playing live poker was I a "losing player." The first time I ever played I showed a $3 profit, and the second time I played I lost $20 for an overall loss of $17; the only time in my life that I've shown a net loss in live poker.

I found this "discovery" to be quite impressive. Though I've lost money in several individual sessions, I can say without equivocation that since June 2006 I have not shown a net loss in my overall poker bankroll in any one year period, and my bankroll has never dropped to zero.

Another interesting fact revealed by my thorough record keeping involves my performance in limit hold 'em. I have a net loss of $380 in limit games. I only play limit hold 'em in Minnesota where no-limit is not allowed except in tournaments. Even with this considerable drain on my bankroll, my net profit since I began to play live games for money in July '05 is $1,580.00.

Knowing all of this, playing very well recently, and the long break from playing in cash games online has really been good for my attitude concerning the $10,000 Bankroll Challenge. I have also established the habit of going to bed at a reasonable hour, and I exercise a lot more now. I am confident that if I play less, and don't play too late at night, that my online bankroll will slowly swell. I am not giving up on growing it to $10,000.

Good News, Bad News

2009-05-29T00:42:00.003-04:00

My online bankroll stands at $2.13. However, I've decided to make a serious attempt to qualify online for the World Series of Poker Main Event. Pokerstars has lots of interesting satellite opportunities, and the one I prefer is the Steps qualifier. There are 6 levels, or steps you can buy into, and move up if you place high or win, and if you make 3rd-6th place on most of them you get bumped down a level or replay the current level. The first week I tried this, I made it to level 6 (on a $7.50 buy-in) and played in a $2,000 game for a WSOP package. I played pretty well, but came in 6th hitting a flush but losing to a BB special full house (he had Q4.) Since then, I have not done as well, and I'm considering buying in for more or trying the quadruple shootout. I'm getting encouragement from my wife to press on!

The good news is that my live play has been very good lately. I've profited $933 since April 16 in 4 buy-ins. Three home games, and tonight at Argosy. I had to widen the column on my spreadsheet to accommodate the 4 digit profit margin on my running total. In 49 sessions of live poker since April 2006, I've profited $1,134. This includes all tournaments and cash games at both the casinos and home games. My confidence in live poker, especially cash games, is very high right now. My summer job is promising a lot fewer hours this year, so I plan to get to the boat once or twice per week until I decide it's not a good idea. I think I stand to make a lot of money this summer at the boat.

My online bankroll experiment is not going very well, but the whole point of it was to improve my overall play while not losing money online. To that extent it has worked out well. I credit most of my cash game success to Dan Harrington's books on Cash Games. They made a huge difference in my play.

A Bankroll Booster!!

2009-01-03T00:40:00.004-05:00

Finally a big win! I played very well and busted out when my AK flopped an Ace and the SB flopped a set of 3's.

I did not make it to the casino over break, so it was nice to get an online win.

Slumping, Big Time

2008-12-27T08:58:00.003-05:00

It seems that I want to get all my losses back at once on every buy-in. I am playing like I am desperate. I'm also falling back into the old trap from very early on where I just play until I'm broke, as if I'm in a tournament. I've lost about $65 in 7 1/2 weeks. I need to just get away from a table as soon as I've made a little money and slowly build up a cushion, and to develop the instinct of leaving the table with a profit to grow my bankroll. Take the longer view. Duh. Oh yea, and for the 1,000,000th time, step away from the table by about 10:30 pm.

PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

2008-12-17T19:54:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code:
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346575

A Tourney For Bloggers?

2008-12-17T19:11:00.002-05:00

Wow - this might be a boost to my effort....Just found out PokerStars has a tournament just for bloggers. The World Blogger Championship of Online Poker looks like an exciting way to freeroll into some very nice prizes. I am in the process now of getting authorized for entry as a blogger -wish me luck!

My play lately has been very erratic. I am taking way too many chances trying to get lucky and double up. Specifically, I have been playing way too much in early position. I think I'm calling more and playing more hands out of boredom. In fact, when I infrequently enter a $1 tournament, I find myself not being nearly as disciplined as I used to be. It has also been about six months since I read a book about poker, so I don't think I'm playing very sharply at all. To compound the problem, I tend to play at night when I'm most tired. Bad idea. My balance now stands at $45.08. I realize this is a 50% gain on my total investment, but given the fact that I was up to $90 a few months ago, it feels more like a 50% loss.

Anyway, I hope I manage to get into the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

Bad News, Good News, BIG WIN!!

2008-10-25T15:45:00.004-04:00

1st Place out of 3,620 for $67.50!

Of course the good news is my big win. The bad news is that I went broke last night and needed to play a freeroll to get back to having enough bankroll to buy in for $1. Now I'm up to $68.41, an all-time high in this experiment.

I must be extremely careful. Three months ago, my bankroll was above $60, and just two weeks later it was down to $30. I really need to protect myself.

I've played nearly 11 months on my 3rd and final $10 buy-in. I had to resort to FFP freerolls twice to resume play, but I am still at it. I still feel like I need a big tournament win to propel this thing. I'm getting way better at the cash game, but to play well requires concentration, and too often I'm in a cash game and multi-tasking. Enough rambling...

I'm back!

No Graphics This Time!

2008-09-28T15:51:00.002-04:00

When the remnants of Hurricane Ike came through and we lost power, I lost my PC. It never woke up from the power being off. Since then, I have resorted to keeping records old school, hard copy style. So......no graphics.

According to my records, it looks like I was at about $22.00 when my computer crashed. Now I'm playing on Seth's PC; he and his laptop are at UC.

My plan was to get my bankroll to around $50 and then concentrate on the $1.00 huge tournaments. That is pretty much what happened, but with no significant wins, my bankroll began to melt. Careless play and bad luck followed, and I actually went to under $20 at one point. I implemented an emergency scheme to buy in for only $1 until my bankroll got back up to $30, which I stuck to all the way up to $39. The scheme also called for me to leave the table immediately after a $0.50 profit, which I did not follow all of the time. In fact, once over $30, I made a couple of huge wins, always certain to abide by Ferguson's 10% rule which I've never violated. Today I stand at $34.91 after being up to $39 last night and staying up too late. Except for last night, I am generally pleased with my bedtime.......in bed by 11:00 was the third and final rule of the emergency scheme. Violating it last night did cost me some dough. Maybe balancing a few tournaments a week with the regular ring games is the better option.... I just realize that I'll probably need a huge win to leverage my bankroll and the more big tourneys I play the better chance I'll have to do it.

I'm up about $12 in two weeks, so I might continue to buy in for only $1 for a while; it certainly minimizes my risk, and I think it might make me more careful to not risk too much of the dollar too early. An interesting note, I've always decided to buy in to the tables with the highest possible average pots since the $1 scheme began. I actually like that environment better because it more closely resembles live play at the casino, and it has more promise of bigger wins.

One Year In....

2008-09-01T21:30:00.003-04:00

It is Labor Day, 2008. Last year on Labor Day, September 3, I began this experiment. I bought in for $10 and that lasted until October 6. I went bust and bought back in a third time December 4. I basically went broke May 8 with only $0.10 and clawed my way back with FPP freerolls until I hit big June 27 in a freeroll finishing in 2nd place for $41.50. Since then I've been as high as $61.41 and as low as $30.36, but mostly in the $30's. Today my bankroll stands at $47.80. My first buy-in lasted 4 weeks, my second 9 weeks, and my third continues 9 months and running, freerolls notwithstanding. At one point about half way through, I mentioned that if I didn't have $100 at one year I'd have to seriously consider whether I could do this. I am still determined to make it to $10,000 but it is likely to take a lot longer than Chris Ferguson did it. He got to $10,000 in less than 2 years. My time frame is looking more like Seth's college career, which is scheduled will be four more years from now as UC has a 5 year Bachelor's program. I don't know what would make me more happy; me making it to $10,000 in that time, or Seth graduating college on time!
I have learned a lot during this experiment. One important thing I learned is that I spent too much time playing poker at the computer. I learned a lot more, too; maybe as much about how to approach this experiment as how to play poker. Nothing has helped my poker over the past year more than reading Harrington. In the Spring I read and completed the Tournament Workbook - very revealing about my play - and early summer I devoured his Cash Games books.
As Ferguson's bankroll rules imply, much of poker is discipline. In future posts I'll outline what I think I've learned about discipline and how I should approach this experiment - sort of a list of Do's and Don't's and other considerations regarding this pursuit. For now, I'm logging off while it is still a decent hour to spend time with Mai before bedtime. She convinced me to accept the challenge of a running Monopoly game, which we will start tonight and play a little at a time.

Went to the Boat!

2008-08-02T11:05:00.002-04:00

OK, all of this reading about poker and practicing online might be beginning to pay off. I played for 13 hours at Argosy (after getting busted out of the Thursday noon tournament in the first round on a really really bad call) and cashed out with $1,203. My buy-in was $300. I am finally figuring out what deep stack poker is all about, and I am beginning to enjoy ring games more than tournaments, which is a real shift for me. My online account stands at $50, so it has been a pretty good summer for poker, even though I've not played much live.

In the Right Direction

2008-07-28T08:54:00.002-04:00

I'm pretty happy with how things are going here with one exception: I'm missing too much sleep. My constant struggle is Determination v. Proper Rest. Playing when everyone is in bed is the best time of day to play - no distractions - but the obvious consequences are frustrating. I simply must figure a way to reconcile my appetite for growth with my need for proper rest. As stated before, switching over to huge tournaments once in a while rather than daily cash game play might work, but how often am I available for a 6:00 or 7:00 pm game that lasts 5-6 hours to win, and with minimal distractions or conflicts? Perhaps I need to find the answer and accept playing a lot less.

Bankroll Stays Above $30 for Over 3 Weeks

2008-07-21T01:06:00.003-04:00

On the face of it, the fact that I'm happy about a headline like this seems rather sad. However, my next longest previous stint above $30 went only about 2 weeks. I've invested $30 since last September, and I now stand at $46.67. I've played on $10 for nearly 8 months, and once during that time my total bankroll was a mere dime. So I suppose you could say that since September 3, 2007 I've added 55% to my $30 investments. I'm still not very good at the ring games, but I'm at least treading water. I'd like to get the bankroll back above $50 and keep it there a while. I think $50 is a big enough bankroll that I can begin to enter some really big multi-thousand player tournaments for a dollar buy-in. As I've said before, and demonstrated in my recent comeback from being way under a dollar, winning a few really big tournaments is what will propel me toward my goal. Maybe once I get above $50 I'll begin to play in one or two of these tournaments per week. In the meantime, I think my ring game play is becoming a little better and beginning to show a little more consistency. If I can play the ring games well enough to keep the bankroll above $50, I'll have enough cushion to enter some really big $1 tournaments.

Back in Business!

2008-06-30T15:56:00.004-04:00

For only the 5th time since this experiment started about 10 months ago, I will go to bed with a bankroll over $50. Rock bottom for me was May 8 when I was down to just $0.10.

I've been fortunate to add over $9 in the two days since I hit paydirt in the 10 FPP freeroll. Incidentally, I won $85 at Argosy over the weekend in about 3.5 hours of play. With my new understanding of how cash games are played, I am very excited about the future of this experiment.

Big Win Gives New Start! Bankroll Goes from $0.71 to $42.21

2008-06-28T01:47:00.002-04:00

Click on the screenshot to read the details of my big FREEROLL WIN! I had slipped to under $1.00 this morning, and had to go back to playing freerolls to get enough to buy in for the minimum one dollar in cash games. I very nearly won the tournament! I went into heads-up with a chip lead, and my two pair lost the final hand to a full house. I really dreaded the long climb back up to $50 to get another chance to keep it. Holy cow, if I can't keep it this time, I don't deserve to keep trying.

Back at it Again

2008-06-22T22:33:00.002-04:00

By May 8, I was down to $0.10. I had become very busy with training for my triathlons, and then on April 28 I became the head lacrosse coach at WHS, which devoured all my time up until June 1. Since May 8 I occasionally played on FFP freerolls when I could, until finally I won enough money this week to get up over a dollar again. I really have not played much since early May.

In the meantime, I've been doing some reading. I read Harrington's Tournament Vol. III earlier this spring, and recently finished his Cash Games Vol. I. I started Cash Games Vol. II today. I'm pretty sure Vol. I won me $85 at Fortune Bay Casino in Minnesota this month. I really understand the difference between Tournament play and Cash play much better now. I hope Action Dan comes out with Vol. III for Cash Games. I found the workbook results very revealing.

Still not much to celebrate

2008-04-12T22:37:00.003-04:00

I'm not broke, but that's about all I can say for now. I'm plugging away playing a little bit less these days. I think that is a good thing because I've been training for a triathlon (next week is race day) and I've been busy with some other things. It is hard to balance everything and get plenty of sleep. I've played 19 weeks on $10, so I am happy that I'm hanging on to re-load #2. Sure would like to see some real progress building the bankroll, though.

Readership Increases!

2008-03-30T09:56:00.002-04:00

Matti - Thanks for the post. It is encouraging to know someone has an interest in this experiment and my blog.

In a few short days, I will have been playing for 4 months on the same $10 buy-in from Dec. 3. Honestly, for me this is quite a milestone, especially considering the absurd number of hands played since then....I'd rather not count them. In that sense, it has turned around my game from an obviously losing one, to one that is at least not losing. So far I am not a winning online player. The longer this experiment goes on, the stronger my resolve grows. I can now hope that if I can go from a losing player - buying in a few times a month - to a player who can at least play within a bankroll for several months without going broke, that there is some reason to expect that I might continue to improve, catch a few tournament wins, and test myself at the next higher limits.

I have shown that I can grind at the cash tables for long periods of time without going completely broke, but that also demonstrates that it won't make me rich at my current level of play. Either through grinding or several tournaments pay-outs, I need to grow the bankroll to the point where I can afford a tournament buy-in that will pay big. (Or several tournament wins at the lower limits.) I have always been a better tournament player than ring game player. I intend to stay with this experiment, and I'll know after one year whether I have any hope to reach $10,000. If I am still at $10 after one year, I just may not have what it takes to get there. On the other hand, if I continue to improve and I'm up to $100 or $200 by then, there may be hope to continue.

If you are interested in getting a handle on your bankroll, or tired of constantly buying in every few weeks, or want to improve your play and are not too proud to prove yourself at the .01/.02 tables, this experiment is for you. I don't think I've posted this article, Starting from Zero yet, but it is dated April 30, 2007 when Chris Ferguson was about a year into his project. He was still at the lowest limits then, but within 6 or 7 months he was to $10,000.

I am no Chris Ferguson, but I can't wait to see where my bankroll will be on September 3, one year into my experiment. By the way, if you run into Chris Ferguson, I'd love to hear what he thinks about my experiment. I'm always open to advice from the pros.

NBCT99

Gettin' Stuck

2008-03-29T10:36:00.003-04:00

This aint easy.

I've been stuck at under $10 most of the last two weeks. I finally tried a 45 player Sit & Go to break out of the doldrums, and apparently it worked. I was in very good postition to win and got drawn out on (river) for a second place finish and a $10 prize. I may begin playing more tournaments, but I've been down that road before, and if I don't money 4 or 5 times in a row, I second guess that strategy. I do believe that only a tournament win or wins can propell me to a new level in this experiment, but it is now a matter of having a bankroll large enough to cushion 10 or so tournaments without big payouts. Maybe I should stop worrying and play in 10 or so 45 player S&G's and see what happens.

Meanwhile, I got busted out of a 53 player tournamnet at Argosy over break. The worst part about it was that it was the only sunny and warm day of break and Dad called me a half hour before the tourney and wanted to play golf with me. Duh.

Still Hanging On

2008-03-18T21:32:00.001-04:00

The Rest of the Story....

2008-03-17T23:45:00.003-04:00

Of course, I went all-in. Seat 6 called his last $1.66 and Ted folded! The pot was now $4.97.

Qh came on the turn to complete my flush, and to make the victory more complete the 9d came on the river to complete the counterfeited straight. (I was really only focused on hitting the flush or even the straight flush.)

After going through the hand with Poker Tracker I found out that PokerStars provides the value of the opponents' mucked losing calling hand. Seat 6 had raised it up to .52 with pocket 7's before the flop, and was eager to call my all-in move after flopping trips! I did beat him two ways, looking back at it, but according to Poker Stove, I was about a 3-2 dog after the flop. If I input the hand correctly, Poker Stove is telling me that after the flop I was about a 38% chance to win and Seat 6 was about 60%. I don't know what Ted folded after I went all-in and got called. Maybe he was playing AK. In this analysis, it appears that I was an underdog and might have made an incorrect play.

I just could not get away from this hand, and I could not imagine forcing myself to make a difficult decision later in the hand, or worse, two difficult decisions that might slowly bust me. I was sticking with the hand for better or for worse, and I didn't mind getting it all in right then and there. After all, someone might fold, and I did not mind enlarging the pot with so many outs.

What about implied odds? There was already $1.80 in the pot. If I put in $1.92 after the flop and both players could call (which is basically the case as I had seat 6 covered to within just a few cents), didn't I create a scenerio of implied odds offering me more than 3-1 on my money if both players called? If both players called $1.92, the pot would be $7.56, laying me odds of 4-1. If so, I'd need a 25% chance to win the hand to break even. As it turns out, I was about a 38% chance against Seat 6, and apparently better than that against Tedward since he folded. Of course I didn't know that at the time, but it appears in this analysis I made the correct play. I would like to have known this at the time, but as I said before, my gut was telling me that this was the only play.

What do you think of my analysis?

I went on to play another buy-in or two and finished Monday night (now pronounced Money night) at $9.11. If I had lost that hand, I'd be at $2.52 and steaming. Looking back, I'm not sure whether I'd have had the sense to get away from the computer. I might have busted out twice and gotten below the minimum buy-in.

For now, I'm still alive.

Finally, A Hand Worth Writing About

2008-03-17T21:55:00.006-04:00

OK Anonymous, I know you really want some analysis of interesting hands, not just a reflective droning of my idiosyncrasies. Here is a hand worth reading about, and one I want to go through again myself just so I can know whether I made the correct play in the heat of battle. I'll have to consult Poker Stove on this one. It felt like the right play at the time, and I'd like to know how you'd play it, at least after flop. I'll take the blame for the two calls that got me to the flop to begin with.

Perhaps what makes this hand all the more interesting are the following factors:
1. When I bought in, my entire bankroll was $3.52. I was in no position to take unnecessary risks if this experiment was to continue.
2. When the hand was dealt, I had reached the point that it was time to wait for the blinds and leave the table; I was up quite considerably - $2.44 on the table after a $1 buy-in. In fact, I had decided ahead of time to leave immediately after a big win so as not to have to wait for the blinds (putting my stack at risk by being available.) This in itself could be the subject of a post, and had I tracked my performance while waiting for the blinds, I suspect I'd find that I've lost a ridiculous amount of money in the hopes that I'd double an already doubled stack while waiting for the blinds to reach me. I've risked and lost a ton of money doing this. When you hit one or two big a hands in this position it is sweet, exactly because under Ferguson's rules it is so rare to triple up, quadruple up, or more with one buy-in. It is just so tempting to stay. In fact, I decided to stay and wait for the blinds in case a monster hand came.
3. I was seat 5, Tedward was seat 7. He and I had been winning each other's chips and it was getting a little personal.
4. The hand itself and the way it unfolded. I was dealt a suited gapper - 10-8h. I can't wait to have Poker Traker show me how much I've lost with the middle suited gapper. It will be a lot. I can't seem to fold this hand preflop. Anyway, there I was with my 10-8h and I call the .02 blind, and Tedward makes it .12 to go (and has me covered with over $3 in chips.) I roll my eyes thinking I should never have called the blind with a speculative hand with no margin in my bankroll. Take the money and run, don't lose a dime of it now. But, as it was, I called the .10 raise. Seat 6 between me and Tedward raises it .40 to .52. Ted and I call to make the pot over $1.80 and to the flop which came 6h-8s-7h. Holy cow - high pair, a flush draw, an inside straight draw, not to mention a back door straight flush draw. How can I get away from this? My big worry was a higher pair - someone raising it up pre-flop with 10's or J's.

$1.80 in the pot and $1.92 in front of me. After the flop I was first to act. My heart was pumping, my mouth was watering, my gut was telling me to get my chips into the middle NOW. Remember Harrington's first-in vigorish? I was feeling it. I didn't know any other way to play it, except to put my chips in. I couldn't calculate the odds fast enough, and the timer was warning me to play.

How would you play it? Surely someone would bet out if I didn't, and then another decision on a slippery slope. My gut said shove it in. Before I put it into Poker Stove and compute the odds, how would you have played this hand post-flop?

Stay tuned for my decision, along with the results of Poker Stove and how the hand ultimately turned out....

Monday Night Poker

2008-03-17T16:32:00.002-04:00

Alright, every time I go on a losing streak I learn something, which explains why I'm a genious.

First of all, I suck at poker. I guess that's why I'm doing this.

Now that that's out of the way, check out my latest revelation. I suck a lot less on Monday nights. How much less? Looking back to Jan. 1 (the same period of time in which I gave up $27 on Fridays), I have made $33.92 on Mondays. Not surprisingly, I spend much less time playing on Mondays. The three days I play the most I am way down; the three days I play least I am way up.

Less is more.

Now I need to figure out what to do on Friday nights. Wanna go play poker?

It Don't Take No Software to Tell You Everything....

2008-03-15T12:04:00.002-04:00

Does it matter what day of the week it is?

After a frustrating Friday night losing about $7, I became curious about my Friday night play. On or around December 1, prior to my blogging days, well into this experiment, I had played an enourmous number of hands in November because I was basically too sick to do anything else. I played a huge amount on the weekends, where a quick analysis revealed I had lost $45 on Saturdays and Sundays since the beginning of my experiment.

With this in mind after my dismal Friday night performance of marathon play, I became curious if my Friday nights were costing me money. In fact, going back to Jan. 1, my Friday night play has lost me $27. With my bankroll currently under $10, it is cause for reflection. I can remember thinking last night how tired and grumpy I was - I was short on sleep all week. But, Friday night was my night to vegg out, eat pizza, and play poker. I should have gone to bed rather than play so much. Duh. I wonder if that will show up in Poker Tracker!

Jesus Speaks (Red Letter Edition)

2008-03-13T22:59:00.004-04:00

Ever wonder what it was like for Chris Ferguson to grow his bankroll from $1 to $20,000? What challenges he faced, what it was like to move up in the limits? How many tables at a time he played? How hard it was for a pro to actually do it? Click here and scroll down the list of Podcasts all the way down to #2 and listen to Chris describe what he went through to make it from $1 to $20,000 online...hear what he has to say and maybe you will see why I feel a little better now about my experiment so far. (He lost his first dollar and had to re-load.)

Am I Serious? PokerTracker v3.0 beta 6?

2008-03-10T20:53:00.003-04:00

I made the leap and got a statistical program for analyzing my hand histories. Lucky for me, the beta version was out for free. Now, I need to become familiar with it enough to make it useful. Anonymous, if you are out there, I'm ready for the tutorial. I can see that it is a truly amazing program that can tell virtually everything about one's play, as well as the opponents' play against you, and hopefully it will reveal holes in my play I can profit from fixing.

Today's title alludes to whether I'm really serious about making money at this, or just playing to play. Unfortunately, too often I'm playing just to play. Ironically, I seem to know exactly how to play, but I don't have the discipline or patience to follow through and do it.

Sort of a metaphor for the human condition, isn't it?

I'm really disappointed in my loosening play. The good news is that I'm not going broke and re-buying. In that sense, this exercise has improved my level of play. In fact, an analysis of my records shows that in the two months prior to this experiment, I deposited $60 (in $10 increments) to PokerStars. That means online poker (at that time) was costing me $30 per month; I have only deposited $30 in the last six months, and I have not made any deposits at all for three months. I suppose I should be happy about the $10,000 challenge to the extent that it seems to have saved me a lot of money and delivered on one of its promises: to escape the non-stop deposits to my PokerStars account. (I prefer not to discuss the significantly higher amounts of my several 2006 deposits. It kind of scares me to think about the kind of money I was using to play so "recreationally." I know that that same money would be worth a lot more if it were in my PokerStars account now. Tempting, isn't it, to just load up the online account and start with real bankroll? But I don't deserve it yet. For me, it must be earned.)

The fact remains that I am under $20, and only now (as in the last two days), seeming to take it seriously again. I have become too willing lately to take chances - playing desperate rather than smart; wanting to win fast instead of playing correctly.

It's funny how I always sit down for a very short blog that turns out to be an hour-long analysis of my play.

I'm not sure whether to celebrate going three months without a buy-in, or to berate myself for squandering 80% of my $50 high mark. April 2 will mark the end of the first six months of the challenge. Stay tuned.

Hand Analysis

2008-03-03T21:43:00.003-05:00

I'm somewhat reluctant to offer hand analysis because it can quickly turn in to a whining session, like yesterday when I flopped a straight and got drawn out runner runner by a flush on the river. (I did play it too slow with several small bets; after all I wanted some action with an obvious straight draw on the board.) Or later when I came all-in with Aces behind a re-raise and got two calls and got busted by K9 with a straight.

We've all been there, and this is more whining than analysis.

Today, I guess I may have learned something about JJ. Twice I've put in huge raises 10 times the blind or re-raised 5 times the raise. Both times I was re-raised and ended up all-in before the flop. I was beaten the first time by Pocket Aces, (which made trips on the river) and beaten the second time my AK offsuit, I think by a king on the river or turn, maybe on the flop. The alternative play is to make a moderate raise or just call a raise and see if any overcards come on the flop. Well, in these hands, I'm not sure that would have helped.

For example, even in the hand against AK and a K did come on the flop, I probably would have bet out to follow up my preflop aggression. Against AA the flop came out benign, so I would have been very aggressive against a very non-threatening board. In both hands I feel I was doomed to lose a lot of money or go broke whether the flop seemed dangerous or not. Even as I sort through this, I'm still not sure which is the better way to play JJ pre-flop. Maybe I should consult my library.....my bankroll is going the wrong way; maybe reading instead of playing would save me some $$$.

Chris Ferguson Update

2008-03-01T18:20:00.007-05:00

In my last post, I mentioned that I'd need a huge win in a tournament with hundreds or thousands of players to meet my $10,000 goal. Today I read a tip from Ferguson courtesy of Full Tilt in which he discussed "running bad." It was quite fascinating for me on a number of levels. First, in the article was a link which led me to information on his breakthrough tournament win, quoted here.....

"Then, on November 26th, 2006, Chris made a major breakthrough, turning a $1 tournament buy-in into to $104 in prize money by finishing second in a 683-person tournament. Even with that huge bankroll boost, it still took Chris nine more months of hard work to reach his goal and break the $10,000 dollar mark."

But perhaps more interesting is what he said in the new article about what happened to his play (and his bankroll) once he hit the $10,000 mark....

"Even though I hit my goal, I decided to keep playing and rapidly built up to $28,000. Three months later I was down to $9K. ""

The article goes on to discuss the difference between tilt and playing well through a bad spell, even when the results are not good. I recommend it; I think it is a very worthwhile read.

Alright, deer_nevets, this is where you finally make another post and lavish praise on my figuring out how to use text as a link!

As for my recent play, I've had some bad beats, but I'm afraid that I become impatient and try to manufacture huge hands rather than waiting for them to develop on their own. I try too often to make money fast. Occasionally, maybe once every couple of weeks, this happens on its own through nothing but solid play; and when it does, I seem to expect it to continue for days. Taking a look at my graph, it is apparent that I'll need to really be aware of the quality of my play during the days following a huge gain.

Be patient with me, this may take a couple of years. I still have a lot to learn....

Find me (NBCT99) at Poker Stars at the .01/.02 tables.

No News is Bad News

2008-02-26T23:37:00.002-05:00

Nothing good going on in my poker game right now, except that I've cashed in my last two 45 player S&G's. I have not had many opportunities to dedicate over 2hours to play a 45 player tournament, so I have not played many. I am under the impression that it will take 2 or 3 huge tournament finishes (in tourneys with hundreds or thousands of players) for me to acheive my goal. That's how Chris Ferguson did it; after several months there was a breakthrough tournament that gave his bankroll a huge boost to work with.

I did, however, make about $40 at the Polish Poker Parlor on a recent snow day. I had to plunk down $90, but ended up at $131.

I am quite pleased to see a comment posted, and it leads me to believe there might be someone out there accepting the $10-10,000 challenge.

Can't wait to hear about Vegas, and I hope to get down to the boat soon - maybe Spring Break.

Boy, I Needed That!

2008-02-17T23:20:00.002-05:00

It looks like I have a history of getting lucky, peaking, and playing badly the next night. In this case, I hit $50 and then went on a slide. After not doing much at the .01/.02 tables today, I decided to enter a 45 player S&G. I won the tournament, which paid $14. It was a good way to finish a frustrating 2 days. Saturday I tried to go to Argosy but I-71 was closed and I had to turn around and go home. This morning, I drove down for the $115 88 player tournament, but it was sold out when I got down there. The wait was way over an hour for a seat at a cash game, so I went home with no poker for the second time in 15 hours.

Maybe I'll try more 45 player tourneys; when my bankroll was smaller, it didn't seem to make sense. I'm ready to give it a try more often. Maybe some time away from the ring games will do me some good. I'm happy to have figured out how to include my dates on the graph; I'd been working on that for a while.

Benchmark!

2008-02-13T22:17:00.006-05:00

Alright, poker fans, I finally finished a night over $50. I'm trying to put this achievement in perspective. While it is a huge gain over my December 31 $2.76 shown above, and to think that on this third and final buy-in (I had dropped to below $1 and had to use some of my FFP's in mid-December to earn enough money in freerolls to get enough to have $1 so I could afford to buy into a cash game) it feels like quite an accomplishment. I was literally under a buck; in fact, check out my entries from December....

I was determined to not have a 4th buy-in, so played the FFP freerolls to get back up to minimum buy-in range. Here are some more recent entries from this week...

Wow this was going to be just a short entry...

Yes, on one hand it is quite an accomplishment. But I have so far to go. Or do I? I have grown my bankroll by a factor of 97 since December 7. If I can repeat this feat in the same amount of time, I would be almost half way to my goal ($4,985.80) by April. It is true that as my bankroll (and therefore buy-in) increases, my rate of changes increases much faster.

One other thing to consider....the level of play. I am still at the .01/.02 tables. Perhaps when I move up in the limits I will meet with resistance from superior players. But after all, poker is poker, right?

The longer I'm at this, the more convinced I am that I will make it to $10,000. It's good to be naive!

OK, Not So Boring Tonight...

2008-02-12T00:19:00.000-05:00

A Long, Snoring Blog?

2008-02-11T18:10:00.000-05:00

Was that a typo last night?

The Long, Boring Slog...

2008-02-10T22:53:00.000-05:00

Here is my last week session by session...I'm stuck right now between $28 and $38. Getting rivered a lot. Pretty much sick last week, but did get more sleep than in weeks before. Feeling much better now, and look forward to more rest and exercise this week. Off to bed, it's 11:00 now, bedtime!

NBCT99

What does tilt look like?

2008-02-03T16:53:00.000-05:00

Here is what I've been up to since Jan. 26. The goal I set New Year's Day (.30-.50 profit each day or $18 by Jan. 31) was met, but since I got greedy last week, things have not gone as well. The two graphs above represent session by session and day by day for the last week or so. The bottom one is as of Saturday, Feb. 2.

I'm pretty sure that I got so excited about this experiment that I actually went a little overboard and played way too much. Synonymous' post expressing concern about 3:00 a.m. posts says a lot. Poker fans, I've run up a sleep deficit. Now I'm actually achey and sick.

The remedy? I'm going to bed by 11:00 5 nights per week in February. (Don't larugh, I know it is nearly midnight - I'm cleaining up after a Super Bowl party.) As for poker, less is more. I'll be playing fewer sessions, and probably just about everyday, but I expect the quality of my play to improve as I get proper rest. I have not been rested lately, and I plan to become more effective in my all my various roles. I've also vowed not to get too greedy in February.

Thanks for checking in....You can check back here to see what impact proper rest has on poker.

By the way, if you are reading this, shouldn't you take the $10 to $10,000 Challenge?

If you see Chris Ferguson, let him know how I'm doing.

The Bigger Picture

2008-01-30T23:32:00.001-05:00

I am happy that my blog is growing, but it began so hapazardly that I think I'll take an entry now and then to explain some more of what you see.

Synomous left an interesting comment about multi-table playing and stats. I agree 100%, and that is one of the reasons I like to stick to one cash table at a time. I much prefer to enter my stats into the spreadsheet one table buy-in at a time. 99% of my data is taken this way, the only exception I can think of was "I Got Stupid." For each buy-in, I track the date, amount of buy in, number of hands dealt, cash out amount, plus or minus amount for the buy-in, and total bankroll. For many buy-ins, I also note the % of hands played. When in tournaments (which I have barely played since January 1) I also track the same information as above plus the amount of T$. T$ is prize money won in a satellite which you can use to buy in to a later event. I actually got the idea to do this from a player I met at a cash table last fall who was also doing the Chris Ferguson challenge. Now I regret not writing down his name; maybe I actually did and forgot about it. I'd like to check in with him now. I'm not sure how Chris Ferguson dealt with satellites, but before January, I would enter a $2.20 satellite for the Sunday 100 Grand Tourney (at :25 past each hour) where 20% of the field will be credited $11 worth of T$ as a token for a satellite entry into the Sunday 100 Grand. Or you can use the 11$ T$ for entry fees to sit & go tourneys (or any other tourney for that matter.) At any rate, it is fairly easy to break the top 20% of a field and be credited the $11 T$. I'm considering using a bunch of this T$ to finance WSOP satellites this spring. As of now, I have no T$, and when I do, I don't count it as part of my bankroll.

Back to the charts you see. The one above shows my daily bankroll beginning September 3 when I deposited $10 to my account which had $0.21 in it at the time. You can easily see the points at which I needed to re-load. I can also generate one from the same time frame that shows my bankroll after each and every buy-in.

So far, the only charts I've revealed are my daily bankroll totals, and only since my re-evalutation of my approach around New Year's. These numbers indicate my total bankroll when I log off each night. I also track my bankroll after each buy-in. Tonight, for example, I had six buy-ins, always playing only one table at a time. I only lost my total buy-in once out of six times tonight, which is better than my average.

A couple final thoughts about the blog...It is costing me some sleep. I have long wanted to become involved with blogging, and I'm enjoying learning my way through creating and maintaining one. I wish I new at the start all I know now about how to create a blog; I would have made some better links to Ferguson's rules, etc.

I do very much enjoy the feedback I get. It's funny, because I was quite shy about my goal in the beginning, vowing only to reveal it once I had the $10,000 to show what I'd done. The idea of the blog obviously shot that down. Still, I'm not sure I'm ready to share my little project with folks I see and interact with every day. I still like the idea of doing it first and revealing it once it's done. It's funny, the longer this thing goes, the more convinced I'm going to make it. I'd really like to search out other amateurs who have made a serious attempt at this. I did find one blog entry from a guy who had begun the challenge in 2006, but there were no follow-up posts.

Thanks for reading my blog, and I welcome your thoughts.

Coop

I Got Stupid!

2008-01-28T23:04:00.000-05:00

For nearly a month, I maintained very good discipline. Then, in one night, greed made me stupid. Greed made me forget that you cannot "force it" in poker. It is actually comical how it all happened. I decided I did not want to lose my 7 day winning streak, and I was frustrated at the time about something that had nothing to do with poker. In this frame of mind I found myself down a couple of bucks last night. Rather than turning in for the night and getting back at it another day, I was determined to go to bed ahead. I almost ALWAYS play one table at a time, except maybe one cash game and one tourney at the same time, occasionally. So in order to get ahead before going to bed, I'd play a couple of tables at once. If one extra was good, two extra would be better. So, I played 3 at once. More hands, so I'd catch up a little quicker that way and I could just go to bed sooner.

Bad idea.

I lost some ground here. I lost my mind here. My stash went from $47.02 to $32.05. All because I was not willing to play well, take a very small loss, and get on with it. No, I apparently thought I could will my way to a profitable session. And why not? I'd figured a way to profit $45 or so in a few weeks playing a $.01/.01 game. I was determined to figure it out and make it happen. I had figured out a way to come back when I had dropped down to under $3, so I could figure this out, too. I found out again why I don't play multiple tables, and I had to re-learn that there are ups and downs, and sometimes minimizing your downs can be as valuable as winning. If I had minimized my losses last night, I'd be about $13 farther ahead of where I am now.

I already knew this stuff from reading books; just as I already knew the basic rules I came up with on Jan. 3. Somehow it occasionally takes my own experience to really bring a lesson home. If it weren't so dumb, it would be kinda funny! Actually, episodes like this remind me of how I could figure out a way to avoid the pitfalls of an experiment like this, and just be determined to play smart and win money. Don't get dumb or greedy, and let the good play win for itself.

I'm gonna make it to $10,000, but now it will just take about 4 days longer.

Almost $50!

2008-01-27T03:22:00.000-05:00

Up to $39 Thursday and now up to $47.02. I moved up to the .02/.05 game and did OK. The dollar amounts increase as my overall bankroll increases. I know this cuts both ways, but I'm on a 7 day winning streak.

I also slid deer_nevets a ten spot so he could begin his challenge. I think he is up about 10% already!

By Popular Demand....

2008-01-24T23:35:00.000-05:00

Alright, poker fans, here is the list I came up with on Dec. 31. I needed a style of play that would eliminate the drastic swings of my bankroll. I needed steady, consistent growth, even if it would be slow. This is the list of guidelines I developed within the framework of the Chris Ferguson Rules. Check out my progress since that day at the top of the page.

Progress Since January 3

2008-01-16T19:47:00.000-05:00

On January 3 I looked at my bankroll that was nearly depleted for the third time and began to investigate what had gone wrong. I made a chart of my daily bankroll from the beginning date September 3, 2007 to January 3, 2008. The chart revealed a roller coaster of high peaks and deep valleys in my bankroll. How could I go about changing my play to ensure a chart that would show a slow, steady, upward growth? How would I have to play differently within Ferguson's rules to see the results I wanted? I was determined to figure out how to do it, so I made an additional list of guidelines to follow, beginning January 3. So far, after nearly two weeks, I have managed to get the shape of graph I'm after. In fact, I was hoping for $0.30-0.50 profit per day and to end January with $18-20. I have actually averaged about $1.55 per day and have already exceeded $20 in the first half of January.

Do you want the set of rules I used to multiply my bankroll by nearly 10 in less than two weeks? Stay tuned....

0 to $10,000 Update

2008-01-16T18:08:00.000-05:00

Last night I finished 30th of 3,672 in a $0.50 Tournament and won $2.94 to bring my current total to $23.02. I have started playing tables with larger average pots now that my risk tolerance has risen a little. I had begun to play at tables with lower average pots beginning Jan. 3 as my bankroll was quite low. I have always played at the $0.01/0.02 tables for this experiment.

Check me out - I'm NBCT99 at Pokerstars.

Chris Ferguson's Bankroll Management Challenge

2008-01-08T21:20:00.000-05:00

I am on a quest to match what Chris "Jesus" Ferguson did. Well, almost.

Chris took one dollar and grew his bankroll to $20,000. Then, he started with $0 and played freerolls until he could afford money tables, and grew his online bankroll to over $10,000! He did this by following 3 basic rules. Read his rules for bankroll management here http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/pro-tips-archive.php?player=Chris%20Ferguson&tip=100

Since I am only an amateur poker player, I have decided to give myself a head start. I decided to start with a $10 deposit online and follow these rules and with solid play, make it to $10,000!

I started in September 2007. Got up to about $20 within a few weeks, but a month later my balance was below $1 and I could no longer buy into a cash game. I re-loaded another $10 on October 6 and grew my account to over $53. This re-load lasted about seven weeks until I went below $1 again in early December. Never, ever give up!

Third time is a charm: on December 4 I decided to re-load a second time and try it again. One month later I am at $18.08 and I am confident I will not have to re-load again.

Tonight I finished 110 out of 2,665 in a $1.10 Tournament and won $3.47.

Follow me as I make it all the way to $10,000!!