Jump to content

Blog: Grind on the mind


SkilfulPoker

Recommended Posts

Hi all, I decided to start a blog here to share progress with a bankroll challenge I've started. I plan to update here about once a week with updates of how the challenge is doing, and will be posting adhoc updates daily on my twitter and website (www.skilfulpoker.com).

I'm starting with £180 (208 euros) and will be playing until I reach 10k. I'll be playing a variety of different formats, and also playing sats to win a Unibet Open Package along the way, however long that might take. :Cash:

The one rule I have is I can't buy into anything if it's more than 5% of my bankroll. Will next update here in about a week, and hopefully I'll be reporting we have a balance that is in profit :Haha:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 116
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Good luck with your goals! I like the idea of having a site dedicated to daily updates. It keeps you motivated and inspired to play your best.

I debate
Should I smile like everything's good and pretend that life is great
Or should I let the world see the real me and not hide this pain
I tried to be like the rest of y'all, sorry I just can't
I'ma probably die this way
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey everyone!

So update time. Things did not go as planned. A friend has been learning Omaha recently, and I kind of fancied giving Omaha a bit of a go. I played some 10nl Omaha and lost, then played a bit more and lost again, hardly surprising given the variance in Omaha!

This is where things went a bit pete tong... I decided to play some 25nl cash... Woops... Yeah smart move move up when you're losing :laugh:

Lost a stack or two there, and decided to revert to my old faithful 20NL Banzai... old faithful simply because I left with a 300 euro stack once :D Lost a few of those , So I deposited another 100 euros I played a couple of 25 sngs too and vamoose.... last week my little challenge ended up -300 in the negative!

Well here's a nice little video for anyone thinking of trying something similar :)

Discipline at bankroll management has been a hurdle for me in the past 5 years I've been trying to get good at poker. I've been fortunate to meet some great friends through poker and I also love playing the game. I have a very solid game technical wise for at least the micros... but I can be so impatient!

The good news is as things stand I am in both double trouble tournaments next week (how cool is Unibet that losing players, get this opportunity every week?).

The last few days I have enjoyed getting back into watching some Twitch Streaming. At the start of the week I watched UhlenPoker and that was very enjoyable. I really like his calm, methodical, layed back style of just plugging away at the pots (maybe because I want to be more relaxed, and laid back when I play myself :P ) he plays 400nl on Unibet and I reccomend checking his stream out.

Later in the week I had a great time watching Jason Sommervile 'run it up' for wcoop with a few deep runs, and I've been learning a fair bit about mixed games, if Unibet had any I'd for sure be trying a few now! Last night I enjoyed railing Mercier, Shaun Deeb, Negreanu, Sauce, and others playing 1k/2k 8 game on another site, with some commentary from Nanonoko.

It was my birthday recently and I've taken the disciplined decision to not go out and party! This is because I've decided to leave the party lifestyle to one side for a bit and try to be ultra calm, relaxed and disciplined on and off the table! I love going out and partying, drinking, clubbing, but I've decided to commit towards achieving my goals with poker for the next 6 months or so and that involves being more responsible all around. No work, no gain right.

Plan going forward

I've just deposited 180 and I'm going to grind cash, sngs, and mtts, with no buyin higher than 4, I'm also going to grind a Unibet Open Package from satellites buying into nothing higher than 4. Going to update pretty much daily here for the next while to keep that focus going.

I'm also going to keep an eye on the challenges etc and update here with how I'm doing at clearing the monthly Poker challenges. Unibet's a great site, and there's a lot of potential to have alot of fun playing poker while achieving some decent results with a bit of a methodical approach, so that's the plan going forward.

Oh I'm also going to study alot! I'm going to video record an hour of my play a day and review it after, post-game. Lastly I'm going to try to sat into the Sunday entitled because it's a very cool MTT, but I'm going to need to be disciplined and not buy into any sat for more than 5 euros. :)

br.png.addcaecee4e261a4eca162791265e64a.png

Gl at the tables if you're playing this weekend!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually think you should focuse on one thing :) pick the one you like the most cash/sng/mtt and stick with it :) if you keep playing all the games without bankroll management you're never gonna evolve :) i suggest to start at cash 2 tabling 4NL and when u get to €300 add 2 more tables and withdraw €100, try to play a good game 4-6 tables till you hit like 25NL. Then if you still want to switch to anything else you can do it because u have the discipline and good habits build up. i wish u best of luck in youre journey.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

SkilfulPoker wrote:

Day 2 Update

Played 64 4 euro 5man  SNGs ran kind of bad yesterday and ran ok today.

Played some 4nl cash also. and some 4 euro headsup SNGs.

+25 euros.

results2.jpg.6389663c23f06a9b73c97bb2fedb9b69.jpg

Going to play another 100 of the 5mans then update again.


nice,congrats man!

Fear knocked at the door, Faith answered and nobody was there.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OMG!! This did not go well, I degen'd my bankroll away again yesterday, ❤️♥️❤️ 20nl Banzai! I played 100sngs and was 2 buy-ins down which tilted me.

Ahem. Got a hope and a prayer left for the continuation of the challenge tomorrow, as I'm in both double trouble tournaments! will let you know how they go! 👍

Link to comment
Share on other sites


@SkilfulPoker wrote:

OMG!! This did not go well, I degen'd my bankroll away again yesterday, ❤️♥️❤️ 20nl Banzai! I played 100sngs and was 2 buy-ins down which tilted me.

Ahem. Got a hope and a prayer left for the continuation of the challenge tomorrow, as I'm in both double trouble tournaments! will let you know how they go! 👍


Ouch mate. Benzai is fun but a complete donk fest. What's your current BR at? Did you degen it away entirely, or do you still have enough to possibly cash in a couple tournaments and make a run again.

I debate
Should I smile like everything's good and pretend that life is great
Or should I let the world see the real me and not hide this pain
I tried to be like the rest of y'all, sorry I just can't
I'ma probably die this way
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey guys... busted both double troubles. I'm pleased with my play in both.

In first there was 200 players left, and I barreled QQ8K with air, after donking into 4 players, the King overcard was a good card to barrell on especially as I had a read my opponent was really loose. Unfortunately I didn't anticipate on his stacking off range being as loose as his stacking off range, and he stacked off for a 1.5 pot sized bet on the turn... for 20bbs with a naked 8 hmm...

The second double trouble tournament, I opened raised first hand to 90, MP  flatted, blind shoved, I called 5k (blind structure is fast in these and half hour in you have about 25-30bbs if you dont accumulate chips). I had 99. Blinds showed AK, and he hit a King so that was good night Saigon.

This little blog is entering a new phase now... the sole purpose is to transform from a fish into a winning player... Starting at 4nl.

The rest of this post is cross posted from my blog: -

This is a simple challenge, transform from a poker degen into a winning poker player. I’ve been playing poker for about 6 years, and never had any success due to extremely poor bankroll management, and terrible mindset while playing.

Having wasted literally thousands throughout the years, I’m starting at the bottom with this challenge and working my way up. I’ll be working with a succesfull poker player, who will be solely in control of when I move up, and what if any ‘shots’ I take, also if I want to play anything outside of the regular cash games, such as MTTs or SNGs I’ll have to get the OK from him first.

What is a poker degen? Pretty much anyone that does not follow correct bankroll management or spews buy-ins away when they are losing. I tick both of these boxes, and have done throughout all the years I’ve been studying this great game. Don’t be a degen, I can tell you from experience it really isn’t all that rewarding, and I have quite a bit of experience when it comes to poker degeneracy!

But no more. This is likely the x hundredth time I’ve attempted to change my ways and become a winning poker player. What is different this time? The most important difference this time I would say is that I am going into this challenge very much with my eyes wide open. I know I am a poker degen, and every time I sit down to play currently it is a poker degen/recreational player that is sitting down to play. This means I have to be totally on guard for any degenerate tendencies and either quit or ❤️♥️❤️ them in the bud as they surface during a session.

I’m going to be sharing this journey with you every step of the way, there’s going to be a lot of work on the mental game, and a lot of hours put in grinding. I’ve taught players in the past how to beat microstakes and have a solid technical game, so I hope to give you some free coaching along the way too. I’ll try to make at least 1 video per week to share with you of my own play as well as keep my twitter updated daily about how the challenge is going.

My favorite site is Unibet, so I’m going to be playing a fair bit on Unibet at 4nl. But I also need some hands for my friend and coach to review, so I’m also going to be playing on ipoker at 2nl, 4 tables a day to get some hands to review.

The deal I’ve struck with a friend who is helping me, is that I can only play when he is online for the short term (so as to limit my degen tendencies!) and I must play at least 1 hour of maximum 4 tables on a tracked site, so he can review my play. I want to help as many people on the way, so I’ll be not only making one video per week of my own play, but also video recording and sharing my session reviews with my coach weekly (probably 2-3 times a week) hopefully they’ll help others learn as well.

If you are following the challenge be sure to say hi!

Cheers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good luck mate, I'll definitely be interested in following your progress.

It appears that your ultimate issue is poor bankroll management (poor being a substitute for woeful/dire/epically abysmal :P). And unfortuantely this isn't something that can be fixed by reading a book or watching a video.

It is all about the mental game. If I get it all in with AA against A10, I'll lose 1 in 5 times. I dont remember the four times I won, but I sure as hell remember losing because it used to drive me bat-❤️♥️❤️ crazy and I, like you would go and stack off.

To my knowledge, I never really did anything differently but one day I was looking at my results and was like - "If I hadn't stacked off on tilt there and there, then this week would have been a winning one." So i looked at the week before, same story, and again and again and again.

From then on I started accepting bad beats, almost like the cost of doing business - hell most of the time I am over the moon when someone calls me with nonsense, I got them to put their money in the pot when they were behind!

Not sure if that mindset will help you but bankroll management is definitely the number one thing for you to work on just now.

I also totally agree with what was said above. Find a sweet spot and stick to it. Mine is 5 man SnG's for the moment. My ROI is about 18%, I'm ITM 43% of the time and happy just now just to plug away at low stakes and watch my bankroll develop. I have no interest in playing low limit cash games, or MTT's because I've found what I am good at - and despite cash games an MTT's also being NL Hold'em, don't kid yourself that they are the same game. So I strongly suggest finding what you enjoy, and what you are good at and grinding it out there until you can do it consistently.

Also keep track of your results, Unibet don't allow tracking software so a simple spreadsheet is what I use to work out my ROI, ITM, P/L etc. This initially let me see what my most profitable games were.

 

Good luck chief, look forward to reading more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 thanks mate for your post, interesting to read. Good point about not being able to improve behavioural weaknesses by reading a book etc for sure. Also good point about the ultimate issue being poor bankroll management. More than the technical game, more than anything, that has to be the sole reason I play when I play for the time being, simply to practice solid bankroll management.

Interesting that you managed to fix your mental leaks , there's hope for the rest of us then i guess :D

Nice job on the 5man SNGs. In an ideal world if mental game was no issue for me that's what I would be playing too, I think i have a bigger edge in the SNGs but the variance is more brutal than cash, where you can take a low variance approach and at the moment I think it best to take the low variance approach. Also my friend who is coaching me is a successful cash grinder, and not a sng expert, so from a pure coaching EV point of view, cash seems to be the way to go.

I just deposited on Unibet and this is my starting bankroll:

account.thumb.png.735d6c7af138bcfb47e6d6deb55901e2.png

I also have 20 stacks at 2nl on a tracked site which I'm using to get some hands to review with my coach so I will be able to post some graphs in here as well as my Unibet bankroll updates, from 2nl going forward.

I'm sticking pretty much exclusively to cash with the odd exception (e.g. I'll play the unibet community league this month, as that'll be fun to get more involved with the community).

Thanks again for stopping by, interesting reading your post!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic that you've got someone coaching you! That's something I myself would greatly benefit from at the cash tables!

Looking forward to the videos and really hope you follow through on this, it would be great to see you in action and we as a community can get a feel for how you play.

See you at the tables!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers Sierra,

Played 318 flops, was 4 stacks down at one point, but finished 2.5 stacks up so a mental game victory which is good.

I went right back to basics today, and constructed my opening ranges (with a bit of help) from scratch. Now i'm working on committing them to memory. In the past I always knew the approximate range I wanted to open, and kind of opened 'around it'. But this is a bit haphazard, so am doing things properly this time around.

I have a whiteboard which is handy which I'm writing them on to test myself, will take a few days but i think I'll have each opening position committed to memory before too long.

br.thumb.png.dd9f6094af7e754fab9b6b1e884fab1a.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice comeback, great job Sir! As I see you are close enough to reach the next reward. Do you have any plan to use the €4 MTT ticket? Would you exchange it to cash game ticket, divide it to SNG or Banzai tickets or simply try to boost up your bankroll with a yolo tournament?😛

Link to comment
Share on other sites


@psrquack wrote:

Nice comeback, great job Sir! As I see you are close enough to reach the next reward. Do you have any plan to use the €4 MTT ticket? Would you exchange it to cash game ticket, divide it to SNG or Banzai tickets or simply try to boost up your bankroll with a yolo tournament?😛


Thanks psr, haha i love the name yolo tournament, seen as this is all about degen --> winning player I guess I'll do the sensible thing and have it converted into a 4nl ticket if it clears :D allthough I will be needing a few yolo tickets at some point as I'm going in for the community league this month! are you in it? did you play last month?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...