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Nightshopper's MTT & SNG Challenge


nightshopper

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Hey everyone! I'm not a regular customer of this unibet community forum, but I am a very regular viewer of the Unibet poker streams on Twitch. I've been playing poker on Unibet for a few years now, but I don't always play as disciplined as I want to. Recently I decided to 'just' play three evenings a week. Now I decided to start a kind of challenge and also to share it with the community. I play MTT's and SNG's and I start with a bankroll of €100. The main rule is that I don't spend more than 1% of my bankroll on one tourney. That means for now I can only play nano MTT's, some €1 MTT's like the Falling Star Bounty and the Space Madness Bounty and €1 SNG's. Of course I can also play €1 qualifiers. That will allow me to sometimes play €5 MTT's like my favourite one, the Ante Solar. When my bankroll is €200 I can play stuff like the €2 Singularities, the Zenith and the Wormhole. And so on... 

Since I only play 3 evenings a week this challenge will probably go pretty slowly, but the main goal for me is to play with discipline. I'll post my progress here and of course you can also find me on the Unibet poker streams on Twitch :atisfied:

Tonight will be my first evening of this challenge. I still have 2 tickets for the €25 Neptune Rebuy, so I'll also play that one tonight. Since one buy in and an add on for that MTT equals 50% of my bankroll, this is a big high roller for me 🆒 If I get in the money in that one, the winnings won't count for this challenge.

Let's gooooooooo!

 

 

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@nightshopper first of all good luck in your challenge! I started my blog in the end of last year and it really helped me a lot to stay discipled and respect my bankroll management. The last one is one of the most important things in poker, not only it keeps your bankroll safe, but it also helps a lot with the tilt topic. For me it is very hard to get tilted, when I get some bad beat, which costs me 1-2% of my bankroll instead of 10-20% for example. Show discipline and patience and the results will come in the long run!

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Thanks guys! I've been playing online poker for almost 20 years now, but always recreational. Discipline and tilt always have been an issue for me, but I keep on looking for ways to make it better. Not playing every day is one of those things.

@successlaw When I play I usually start somewhere between 19h and 20h CET. During the week my evening usually ends around midnight, depending on how deep I run of course. In the weekends I often play a bit later.

@LeVsKaRa I'll take a look at your topic, it's useful to read how someone else approaches this issue. In theory I know everything of course, but in practice the emotions often take over. But as you said, I really hope a blog can help me with that.

@Merenitsu It's nice of you to think I have discipline, from now on I'll try to show you I do have it 😉

My first day of this challenge went well. I played 5 MTT's, 4 qualifiers for tickets and 2 SNG's. In the €150 Falling Star Bounty I got 9th with some bounties, in the €150 Space Madness Bounty I got 3th with some bounties and in the Mothership Poker Main Event (the @elron66 homegame) I got 6th and ITM. I also won a €2 and a €1 MTT ticket. No cashes in the SNG's.

Starting BR: €100

Profit:           €8,99             

New BR:  €108,99 

Ticket BR:    €3,00

 

Oh, I also played the €25 Neptune rebuy since I still had two tickets for that one. Unfortunately I busted 5 from the money. But it's ok, I'm gonna focus on this challenge from now on. Discipline for the win 👼

 

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My second session started as a disaster. I played the €50 Space Madness Bounty, €300 Leaderboard Low Bounty, €200 Supernova Nano, €50 Sputnik Omaha Nano, €150 Space Madness Bounty and a qualifier for a €5 ticket. I cashed none of them. I wasn't playing terrible I think, but things just didn't go my way. But I also played 11 €1 SNG's: 4 wins, 2 2nd places and 5 not ITM. I ended up with a profit of 84 cents :atisfied: Not great, but after my MTT disaster evening I feel good about it.

Starting BR: €108,99

Profit:                €0,84             

New BR:       €109,83 

Ticket BR:         €2,00

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  • 2 weeks later...

13/7 Losing session moneywise, but won a €2 and a €5 MTT ticket. 

Starting BR: €109,83

Loss:                 €4,03            

New BR:       €105,80

Ticket BR:         €9,00

 

15/7 No big results, very small profit.

Starting BR: €105,80

Profit:                €1,00             

New BR:       €106,80 

Ticket BR:         €9,00

 

16/7 I played mainly SNG's, but it didn't go well.

Starting BR: €106,80

Loss:                 €2,50             

New BR:       €104,30

Ticket BR:         €7,00

 

21/7 I spent a few days in France with family, so didn't play any poker for a while. My first evening back at the tables was the best since the start of the challenge. First I got 3rd in the homegame of Unibet streamer Lulu Luna for a €7,97 profit and then I binked the €50 Galaxy Nano for a €18,6 profit.No matter what the buy in or the prize money of a tournament is, a win always feels good 🆒 I also feel good about the boost of my BR, but the most important thing for me is that I feel motivated to play with disciplined bankroll management. After all, that is what this challenge is about.

Starting BR: €104,30

Profit:              €24,89             

New BR:       €129,19 

Ticket BR:         €7,00

165396271_Aantekening2020-07-21235801.png.68e490726bcccaf4240590e09f70c09f.png

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Another winning session. No cashes in the €1 Falling Star Bounty, €2 Singularity (with a ticket) and Comet Nano, but a 4th place in the Sputnik Omaha Nano and an 8th place in the Galaxy Nano got me a €6,22 profit. At one point I only had the Sputnik Omaha Nano left. I fired up two SNG's but I also one tabled for a while. Most of the times I play four tables at the same time. But certainly when I feel tired I think it's better to reduce the amount of tables, so I make better decisions.

Starting BR: €129,19

Profit:                €6,26             

New BR:       €135,45

Ticket BR:         €5,00

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Another very nice evening yesterday! In the Space Madness Bounty Nano I got a small profit. I didn't get many bounties, but I got to heads up. I was very close to winning it, but eventually I couldn't get lucky. That sucked, cause now my total profit was only €3,41 while his bounty alone was worth more than €6. 

I decided to use my €5 ticket for my favourite one, the Ante Solar. My good Twitch friend @AntManB joined me and we got heads up. Of course he luckboxed his way to the win :dissatisfied:No just kidding, it was a great heads up and as usual he played great. I was very satisfied with my second place and a profit of €16,67.

Starting BR: €135,45

Profit:             €15,52             

New BR:      €150,97

Ticket BR:        €2,00

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Waw, this challenge has started pretty great. The beginning of tonight was a disaster though. I didn't cash the Galaxy Nano, but that was my own fault. Bluffing away a big part of your stack is a stupid thing to do in the nano's, there are plenty of opportunities to win pots in non fancy ways. Not saying you should never bluff in them of course, but I don't think you need to to get far in them. I played the Zenith with my last €2 ticket, but didn't cash. In the Falling Star Bounty I won one small bounty and in the MotherShipPoker Homegame of @elron66 I got unlucky twice in a row, losing AK preflop all in back to back against KT and A5.

But then I played the 150€ Space Madness Bounty which started off great with an early double up. At some point it went downhill but I managed to get ITM. I made it to the final table with a small stack, but at the right moments I doubled up. The problem was that I didn't win any bounties at the final table. But... I got heads up and his bounty was 21 euro, while mine was only 4 euro. We started with like 125BB each and we switched positions several times. After I got lucky in a big hand I managed to stay in first place and bink it for a €30,92 profit. I'm not a player that easily binks tourneys so winning the Galaxy Nano and this one in one week makes me happy :atisfied: But again, I'm even more happy with the disciplined BRM.

Starting BR: €150,97

Profit:             €27,43            

New BR:      €178,40

Ticket BR:        €0,00

 

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Not a good evening at the tables yesterday. I did get a 3rd place in the MotherShip Launchpad of @elron66 and I got my money back in the €150 Falling Star Bounty, but that's about it. I played 7 SNG's: one 1st place, one 2nd place and 5 not ITM. Overall I lost almost €6, but I did win a €2 and a €1 ticket. 

I must confess, winning 'big' - compared to the stakes I play, I mean - and then losing, has been a problem for me in the past. Mentally it was like I was entitled to keep the money I had won. So losing a part of that meant I had to win it back as soon as possible. The main goal of this challenge is to keep me from playing higher stakes than I should, wether I'd do it because I win or because I lose. I must say it didn't feel good to lose yesterday, but I tried to focus on the good feeling I got from not playing to get my losses back and the thoughts that I've been running hot since the start of this blog and that my results have been great. Of course it's a good thing this works for now, but the real challenge is to keep it this way. For certain players this might sound easy, for me it is not. But so far I'm happy with both the results and the discipline.

If other players of the community recognize certain things about discipline and tilt, please feel free to post about it in this blog. It's an important issue and I'm sure  players can help each other with their struggles.

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The mental game is something I understand and also experience in good and bad ways but it isn't something I have actually read up on or watched videos about. We all know poker has variance and the main thing you can do is accept that there will be good days and definitely there will be bad days. You kinda have to switch your emotions off when playing and keep thinking about making good decisions. Something I've noticed when watching training videos of pro's playing live (as in real time online) is that they barely blink when villains suck out etc. Play like a robot as they say lol.

If you really struggle there are books and probably videos online about this subject if you want to improve your mental game. Your post shows very common mental game issues most people struggle with I guess. Chasing losses is known enough in the poker world (and gambling) but sometimes it's best to just quit and even take a day off or more. Thats what I sometimes do, if I don't feel like it I don't play and if I have been losing 'too much' I sometimes just take a day or 2 off playing poker just to kinda reset the mind. I still watch poker videos in the meantime to keep the poker brain going but keep away from playing myself as it would just add 'stress' and that's what I was trying to avoid.

I remember like 10 years ago or w/e I was playing NL100 on stars like a fish I was back then and I won 10 buy-ins in one day and I felt amazing.

Then I lost 10/12 buy-ins the next day so back with both my feet on the ground 🤣 hated the game haha

 

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Yesterday I played 3 normal MTT's, 3 bounty MTT's and one qualifier. I don't think I played bad, but I got unlucky in a few important spots. I won some bounties though, so the total loss was only €2,15.

Starting BR: €172,61

Loss:                 €2,15           

New BR:       €170,46

Ticket BR:        €2,00

@P0kerM0nk Thanks for your reply, much appreciated! I did read a part of The Mental Game of Poker, maybe I should do that again. However, for me there has always been a big gap between theory and practice. I think you point out a very important issue: you should play like like a robot and avoid emotions. But that also means not being too excited when winning pots or money. You describe it yourself: you won 10 buy-ins on NL100 and felt amazing. After losing all of your buy-ins you hated the game. I think it's normal that poker makes you feel all those things, but I understand that big emotions often lead to bad poker decisions. Not only the negative emotions, but also the positive ones. 

But yes, you also say you should keep thinking about making good decisions. The decision should be your focus, not the result. The thing is I've been playing online poker for ike 20 years. I've read books, I watched video's, I watched Twitch streams,... But I haven't studied for a long time. The combination of running a family and doing a job that can be mentally heavy makes me tired, so in the evenings I don't have the energy to study. Another thing is that if I play with strict BRM I can be a winning player on Unibet on the micro stakes, without having to study. The reason why I bring up this subject is that I think that when you do study, it's easier to focus on making the right decisions whereas now I take a lot of decisions based on experience and feeling. I always think: if I would stream poker and have to explain the decisions I make, I would struggle with that. So I know it would be better to study again so I would be able to focus more on my decisions instead of the outcome, but that is gonna take a lot of mental energy which I don't always have in the evenings...

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Yesterday evening I read a bit in The Mental Game of Poker and I watched some video's on YouTube about hand selection and maths. I played the Titan Nano to practice some of the stuff I learned. I will never be a math wizard - that's an understament - but it felt really good to think about some of this stuff in a more conscious way.

Because I was one tabling I remember a lot of spots, which isn't always the case when I play four tables at the same time. In one hand I hit top pair with a decent kicker on the flop. On the turn a second 2 hit and my opponent shoved. I realize this isn't enough information to discuss the hand, but my point is that I made the call without really thinking it through while I had made well considered decisions before that hand. It was an emotional decision. I mean, are you saying you called the flop with lowest pair, hit your miracle 3-outer on the turn and just shove on me? You know what, I call you! Oh... Right... You really did call with lowest pair, you really did hit your miracle 3-outer and you really did shove on me... So basically what I'm saying here is that I was playing good and made well considered decisions, but in one single hand I made a quick, emotional decision and could have lost a very big chunk of my stack. I didn't cause I hit my miracle 2-outer on the turn, but it made me realize this is a big leak. Although all of this may sound obvious, I'm sure I'm not the only one with this leak. It might be a good idea to play less tables for a while, so I can try to make well considered decisions the whole tournament. My next poker evening the goal will be to play two tables instead of four. 

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I did what I promised myself to do and that was two tabling. I combined it with Twitch and I also tried to watch some poker video's, but I was too tired and not focussed enough for that. Since I got far in both of them I only played two MTT's all evening. No cash in the Comet Nano, but I got 3rd in the Zenith :happy: I played that one with my last €2 ticket. Thanks to this result my BR is almost at €200, so I can almost play €2 tourneys without a ticket.

Two tabling definitely helped me to play more focussed. As I said I was tired, so four tabling wouldn't have been good anyway. But normally I would have four tabled, just because I always do it. Maybe my goal should be not to four table anymore, at least for a while. I can play three tables when I don't feel tired at all, but most evenings I do feel rather tired so two tabling might be the way to go. To be honest, this sounds boring to myself, but I think I have to look at it in a different way.

Starting BR: €170,08

Profit:              €20,12           

New BR:       €190,20

Ticket BR:        €0,00

 

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No big scores yesterday, but I won the €15 Gargle Blaster Nano. No big money, but having a third bink in these first three weeks definitely is a confidence boost. The plan was to only play two tables at the same time. At one point it were three because I wanted to play LuluLuna's homegame :) I really think I play better with less tables. Four tabling can be okay for a while, but I'm having difficulties staying focussed with four tables for several hours. One thing that strikes me is that when I'm more focussed I make folds I wouldn't always make and that I think are good folds. Obviously not folding in the right spots is a very important leak, cause it ends tourneys you'd otherwise might cash. When I'm not focussed enough I often make emotional calls in spots I should fold.

Starting BR: €190,20

Profit:                €3,04           

New BR:       €193,24

Ticket BR:        €0,00

 

 

 

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Small loss yesterday. I played 3 MTT's (and a freeroll), 2 qualifiers and 5 SNG's. Most of the time I had two tables running, sometimes it were three. This means I'm not at €200 yet, but I'm glad I won a €5 ticket cause this means I can play the Ante Solar :atisfied: Probably not tonight, since I already played too many evenings this week. I have to admit I didn't do well in that compartment of the discipline this week. I played 5 evenings instead of 3. Not playing tonight seems like a good plan, I will do my best ;)

Starting BR: €193,24

Loss:                 €1,93          

New BR:       €191,31

Ticket BR:        €5,00

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The plan not to play didn't quite work out 😏 I regged the €200 Leaderboard Low Bounty, but that was over after a few hands when my QQ ran into KK. Then I decided to watch a few SNG strategy video's. Nothing too fancy or complicated, just some basic advice. I'll never be the guy that counts combo's, but watching some of these simple strategy video's already influences the way I play. One of the video's was about typical mistakes people often make in SNG's.

1. (Over)playing too many hands in the early stage

2. Playing too passive as the shortstack

3. Taking too many risks as the medium stack

4. Not applying enough pressure as the big stack

I tried to take these things in account and it made me play some hands differently than I normally would. None of this stuff was new to me, but that doesn't mean I'm always applying this knowledge.

The results were good: I played 10 SNG's (only 2 tables at the same time) and had 4 wins, 3 2nd places and 3 not ITM. I was running good, but I also hope watching the strategy video made me play better :)

Starting BR: €191,31

Profit:                €6,62        

New BR:       €197,93

Ticket BR:        €5,00

 

 

 

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No cashes in my 4 MTT's (Falling star bounty, MotherShip Launchpad, Sputnik Omaha Nano and the Ante Solar with my ticket), but thanks to the 6 SNG's I still made a small profit. 87 more cents and I can play €2 tourneys :happy: I know I could decide to do that already, but I wanna do it right :geek: 

I never played 3 tables at the same time. When I come to a point that I feel my focus is good enough I might go to 3 tables, but I won't do that when I just started playing the €2 buy ins.

Now that I'm about to move up in stakes, I have to think when I will move down again. I decided I'll move down when I lost 20% of the BR I started the new stakes at. In this case: I start playing max. €2 buy-in games at €200, so when my BR drops down to €160 I have to move down to max. €1 buy-in games. Question for you guys: do you think this is a good point to move down in stakes?

Starting BR: €197,73

Profit:                €1,40        

New BR:       €199,13

Ticket BR:        €0,00

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I played some MTT's and SNG's the last week, but no big volume. No big results either. Yesterday I started playing some €2 buy-ins, but apart from a 6th place in the €50 Galaxy Nano it was a bad evening at the tables. 

Starting BR: €199,13 (3/8/20)

Loss:                €5,97      

New BR:       €193,16 (8/8/20)

Ticket BR:        €0,00

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Very good evening yesterday! I played 8 MTT's and 1 SNG. The €200 Leaderboard Low Bounty was a crazy one for me. I kept getting it in bad and kept on sucking out 😛 It always happened to bigger stacks, so I didn't get any bounties but I got 3rd for €13,73. The best part of the evening was winning the late €100 Singularity for €31,52 :happy: Instead of adding some SNG tables as I would normally do I single tabled it when I went deep, which made me focus better. Very happy with the result of course!

Starting BR: €193,16

Profit:              €35,84     

New BR:       €229,00 

Ticket BR:        €0,00

 

1976683668_Aantekening2020-08-10011425.png.52894f35272903a7a201b700a6f1ea4b.png

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