Hi all,

I'm a low-stakes cash game player who's been playing poker very recreationally for a couple of years now (low volume as I'm pretty busy in life). Had a few months off, and just opened up my Stars account to find $80 I'd apparently forgotten about! As I'm a poor student, I thought I'll just see how far I can make this go without depositing any additional cash.

I want to branch out, and so I'm going to spend the summer playing and studying MTTs in order to try and get better at tournament poker. I've always naturally been better at cash games, but I do find tournaments more exciting. I've sort of been spurred on to do this by something that happened a couple of months back - I took down my first ever MTT! It was a live £13 game at the local casino and after a 7 hour session I took it for the £200 up top (51 runners with 23 rebuys). Was such an exchillating experience and sitting down at that final table (I'd played and run like God the whole way so I had more than half of all the chips) was such a great moment. I want to bring this online and hopefully improve my game!

So, here's the challenge: $80 in my Stars account. I'll play very small stakes ($0.55, $1.10) MTTs until I reach maybe $200 or so, and then I'll add in a couple of $2.20s and so on. I'll be using Jennifear's cash out strategy, and probably aim for 3-5 tables at once (I would play more in cash, but I want to make sure I'm making the right decisions in the MTT as I'm waaaay more of a fish here). Every session, I'll post a schedule before, and try to send brief live updates in every break because a couple of other posters here did that and I thought it was a really nice stylistic feature for PGC threads! Then after the session I'll post a more detailed review. I'll also be doing a few sats to try and hit a bigger score! First session will likely be tonight!! Sorry for the long post, just needed to do the intro!

All the best!

Time's 22:00 so I'll be starting the session inn about 2 hours time. Looking forward to getting this started and getting some cashes, hopefully! Expect the first update at 01:00.

So, here is the schedule I'll be playing in this session. 10 tournaments starting between 00:00 and 3:00. Included a couple of satellites and a couple of rebuys (although until my bankroll gets a fair bit bigger I won't be taking additional shots in these). The style I play in MTTs is generally very aggressive, I'm not afraid to take risks to try and chip up, so I generally have quite a low ITM% but when I do I often have a big stack. My strategy is never to think about min-cashing; I always enter a tournament with the aim of winning it and play accordingly. The exception to this is in satellites where obviously it doesn't matter whether you get the last seat or the first seat (I seem to have a knack for sats which is why I'm doing a few!).

Because time is limited for me to post during the breaks, I'll refer to each MTT by the number I've given it so I don't have to write out the full names.

MTT #1: 00:15 - Mini Sunday Wrap-Up Deadline Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Turbo), 8 Seats GTD.

MTT #2: 00:16 - Big $7.50 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Turbo), 5 Seats GTD.

MTT #3: 00:20 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 15 Minutes), $150 GTD.

MTT #4: 00:30 - $1.10+R (Splash), $3K GTD.

MTT #5: 01:05 - $1.10 NLHE (6-Max, Hyper-Turbo), $750 GTD.

MTT #6: 01:10 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 45 Minutes), $50 GTD.

MTT #7: 01:30 - $1.10 NLHE (6-Max), $1.5K GTD.

MTT #8: 01:49 - Hot $16.50 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Hyper-Turbo, Deep), 5 Seats GTD.

MTT #9: $1.10+R NLHE (Turbo), $500 GTD.

MTT #10: $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 25 Minutes), $50 GTD.

Sign me in !

Why $1 Rebuy > $2 KO? The KO events seems to fit better with your BRM.

glgl !

Thanks for the gl's!

On the selection thing, the main reason is I have a real soft spot for rebuy's. With my tiny BR I didn't want to go up to including $2 tourney's yet. The plan for the $1.10 rebuy's is to literally just spend that $1.10. Fields are super soft and a bunch gets added to the prize pool from people just going crazy on them during the rebuy period so the min cash is usually a decent amount. That's pretty much the reasoning behind that!

I will do some KOs in future sessions though - they're a really good way to reduce variance because obviously you can get paid some cash even if you don't make it to 'the money'!

01:00!

MTT #1 - Busted after 27m.

MTT #2 - Busted after 28m.

MTT #3 - Completed. Finished the 15m in 22/157 runners, cashing for $2.73.

MTT #4 - Running, 25m in. Starting stack was 3K, up to 3.9K so far with the average being at 6.3K. Haven't rebought at all and I won't if I bust.

02:00!


MTT #4 - Busted after 1h 4m in 545/847.

MTT #5 - Busted after 20m.

MTT #6 - Busted after 8m in 28/63 runners.

MTT #7 - Busted after 10m.

MTT #8 - In progress for 6m. Starting stack was 10K, we're on 8.1K with the average at 10.9K.


Awful day for us so far. Playing far off my best and running poorly to boot. 3 more MTTs left so hopefully we can go deep in one!

03:00!


MTT #8 - Busted in 123/134 after 11m.

MTT #9 - Busted after 1m.

MTT #10 - Busted in 32/80 runners after 14m of play.

Well, this was a truly atrocious start, unfortunately. I'm really not too worried because I think we played decently, although not our A-game. We were unfortunate in many respects, picking up very few hands, and then getting it in as a favourite and losing in big pots many times (AK v AQ, AA v 99, 99 v 77). Hopefully we're due some run good in our next session! Anyway, it's not the best start, but I'll try to be back at the tables and get some good volume and results in tomorrow!

We didn't really get deep in any tourneys, busting very early in most of them in spots where we really should have doubled up. Tomorrow is a new day!

Bankroll at start: $80
Profit/Loss: -$8.27
Bankroll at end: $71.73

GL

Just an FYI re-buys should be treated as at least 3x the bi for BRM. In other words you should be insta rebuying and at least adding on later in these

Thanks man. On the re-buy point, that seems like good advice. I'm just not sure of the benefit (being fairly new to MTTs). It seems like a poor deal to double your buy-in at the start when the low blinds mean stack sizes are less relevant than later on in the tournament. If you're on a small roll like me, is it not just worth taking a punt with the starting stack and seeing if you can double up early on? But yeah, I probably will only be playing the occasional rebuy until I do have enough to justify firing a couple of barrels at them!

Same reason you buy in for the max in cash games, you want the ability to get max value from your hands.
Deeper is better versus recs etc

Ah, well I suppose that is true! Yeah, I'll keep those to a minimum until I hit like move up a little then.

So, going for a bit of a longer session this time, hopefully get up to 8 hours and 31 MTTs for the day with this. Planning 21 in this session, so let's hope for a couple of decent cashes to get the challenge back on the right track.

MTT #1: 12:02 - Bounty Builder $7.50 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Turbo, Deep), 30 Seats GTD.

MTT #2: 12:10 - Bounty Builder $22 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Hyper-Turbo, 1R1A, Deep), 20 Seats GTD.

MTT #3: 12:20 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 15 Minutes), $150 GTD.

MTT #4: 12:20 - $1.10 NLHE (Progressive KO), $2K GTD.

MTT #5: 12:30 - $1.10+R (Splash), $2.5K GTD.

MTT #6: 13:00 - $1.10 NLHE (3-Stack), $750 GTD.

MTT #7: 13:10 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 45 Minutes), $75 GTD.

MTT #8: 13:24 - $1.10 NLHE (Progressive KO),

MTT #9: 14:10 - Bounty Builder $16.50 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Hyper-Turbo, 1R1A, Deep), 35 Seats GTD.

MTT #10: 14:15 - $1.10 NLHE, $1.5K GTD.

MTT #11: 14:30 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 25 Minutes), $100 GTD.

MTT #12: 15:15 - $1.10 NLHE (Turbo, Progressive KO), $2K GTD.

MTT #13: 15:16 - Big $7.50 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Turbo), 15 Seats GTD.

MTT #14: 15:24 - $1.10 NLHE (Progrsssive KO).

MTT #15: 15:40 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 15 Minutes), $150 GTD.

MTT #16: 15:40 - $1.10 NLHE, $1.5K GTD.

MTT #17: 16:02 - Bounty Builder $11 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Turbo, Deep), 50 Seats GTD.

MTT #18: 16:06 - Hot $5.50 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Hyper-Turbo), 5 Seats GTD.

MTT #19: 16:20 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 15 Minutes), $200 GTD.

MTT #20: 16:30 - Mini Monday 6-Max Mega Sat: $1.10 NLHE (6-Max), 10 Seats GTD.

MTT #21: 16:40 - $1.10 NLHE (Turbo, Zoom), $1K GTD.


Here's the schedule, first update at 13:00!

13:00

MTT #1 - Busted after 41m.

MTT #2 - Busted after 21m.

MTT #3 - Busted after 8m. Came 96/162 runners.

MTT #4 - Running for 35m. Accrued $0.50 in cash already with 2 KOs. On a stack of 7.8K, up from 3K, with the average at 4.7K.

MTT #5 - Running for 25m. Just missed a chance to have a huge stack when I got it in against a whale with AQ vs his KJ and lost. Luck started to pay me back (although not really) when I sucked out with 66 as a short stack in an all-in against TT and AA but I'm still left short of where I was before the AQ hand! So irritating! Started on 3K, now on 5.1K with the average stack at 5.8K.

Severe lack of cards with no pairs higher than TT anywhere yet. The challenge is dealing me a brutal slice of variance right now but we got a decent stack in the KO, so let's go for a deep run!

14:00

MTT #4 - Up to 13.2K here with the average at 9.7K. Running for 1h 35m. Also got 4 KOs for a cash of $1 so far.

MTT #5 - Short-stacked in the splash. 9.5K currently with the average at 21.4K. Reg is closed, 283 out of 619 runners left (we're 194th) with 107 making the money. Running for 1h 25m.

MTT #6 - Busted after 26m. Top set v flush draw.

MTT #7 - Busted after 40m. But we made the final table (even though it wasn't paid it was still a decent positioning) with a 7/63.

MTT #8 - Running for 30m. Starting stack of 3K, down to 2.6K. Average is 4.7K.

MTT #4 - Managed to acquire $2.75 in bounty cashes so far with 5 knockouts (the last one for $1.75). Also just got to the money, so with 270 left and 279 getting paid I've min-cashed for an extra $1.30 so far. Currently 137/270, with 20.6K, average being 25.2K. Lost a big all-in with AQ against A5 or I would have been a lot higher up! Still, we have some blinds and hopefully we can kick on and hit the final 10 tables in the next hour! Running for 2h 35m.

MTT #5 - Busted after 1h 48m in 242/619 runners. Disappointing but we lost a couple of crucial flips so could have been a different story.

MTT #8 - Still in here after 1h 30m with a stack of 7.6K, average is 8.2K. Reg is still open so unsure of the payout structure yet.

MTT #9 - Busted after 18m. Incredibly bad run where we got it in with 80% twice in a row and lost both!

MTT #10 - Busted after 34m after getting it on the turn with two pair against top pair. He rivered a better two pair. No cards the whole game. Really getting frustrated by this point - running awfully.

MTT #11 - Busted after just 7m in 71/117 runners.


Running really bad but not going on tilt and playing pretty well, so not too unhappy with my performance! Hopefully we can go deep in MTT #4.

16:00

MTT #4 - Still in the mix after 3h 35m and starting to get deep. We only have 30.9K with the average at 62.8K. 88/111 with 2,249 total runners. Been completely card dead. Best hand we've had the whole tourney is JJ. Need some cards soon. Already cashed for $2.75 in bounties and up to a $1.80 from the payout structure as well. If we can double up and start making up for some of this runbad I feel good about a final table.

MTT #8 - Busted after 1h 53m after losing two all-ins where we got it in ahead in a row. This is one of the worst runs I've ever had but I'm trying my best to stay calm and not tilt! We did get $0.63 for two KOs though.

MTT #12 - Lost most of our stack after running our AK into an A9 (surprisingly we lost haha). Busted after 24m after losing with AK pre again.

MTT #13 - Busted after 20m.

MTT #14 - Starting stack of 3K, we're on 2.2K and the average is 4.6K. Running for 30m.

MTT #15 - Busted after 10m. Finished 95/198. Got it in well ahead again and got drawn out on.

MTT #16 - Running for 15m, we're on 3.4K up from 3K starting. Average is 3.3K.

PLEASE GO AWAY RUNBAD. Seriously, it's got to the point where I'm expecting to lose every time I get it in! Trying not to tilt and just about mana going.

I really enjoy the way you update, but you might get spoken to by a mod.
I think it would be more standard (and even +ev) to do your session notes at the conclusion of your session.

You really should be so focused during your session that you don't have time to update us until the end.
Much more effective methods as well as +ev methods that you can do during your break (bathroom, water, stretch, see the sun).

Just some advice! I really enjoy this challenge particularly because so many people today duck and dodge the grind part of poker. People don't understand that the grind is what makes poker enjoyable and something I really miss (grinding WPN .25c).

Good luck, and I'll keep watching this thread! Considering a small personal challenge myself!

Hi Knittle,

You are probably right (and hadn't considered the mods, don't want to anger them!). I'll start doing it at the end of the session. Yeah I love the grinding! When you do it for such small stakes it allows you to forget about the money and focus on playing which is the best way to learn I reckon!

Hi everyone,

So as per some advice from Knittle I have decided to cut the live updates. It's too tight to write them in the 5 min breaks and also make tea and go to the loo and stuff so from now on I'll do a session preview and a session review at the end. With that in mind, let's see how our 21-tournament session today went.

Not very well! We cashed in three of the tournaments.

In MTT #4, we made a deep run, cashing for $5.77 ($2.75 from bounties and $3.02 from payout structure. We came 49th out of a huge field of 2,259. It's a shame we couldn't go a bit deeper but we were card dead for large parts of the tournament.

In MTT #8, we busted before the money but still made a little cash from bounties, with $0.63.

In MTT #21, we made another fairly deep run, finishing in 58th out of 1,141 for $3.46.

We busted all the other tourneys before the money, in a session which was hugely frustrating. I genuinely was pretty happy with my play, but we did run very badly. One of the things which I was happiest with was how we didn't let the frustration get to us and go on tilt. I'm hoping to play a small session later tonight after I've had a bit of a break, but for now we're off to a big loss in our bankroll! May have to replenish it sooner than I thought if we go busto! Also forgot to mention I cashed $0.88 out for my cash out strategy after the last session (I cash out based on volume rather than results, 8% of my buy-in).

Bankroll at start: $70.85
Profit/Loss: -$13.24
Cashout: $1.85
Bankroll at end: $55.76

Not bad man! Those days happen. Wait until the 20+ MTT streak with zero cashes :P

Tip: Mix in some 180-man tournaments as well as single table SnG's? They can really help with short-stack play and FT play deep in tournaments (as for SnG's) and the 180's are pretty soft!

I'll be keeping track! Good luck man.

So, we're going to fire up another quick session, that make it around 12 hours of play today. I often find when you're on a downswing you just have to play through it, because the winds will change eventually. Feeling good after going for a short run, cooking a healthy meal, and watching a couple of episodes of Fargo (would recommend). So, we've got 12 more tournaments to go for here. Here's the schedule!

MTT #1: 22:06 - Hot $7.50 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Hyper-Turbo), 5 Seats GTD.

MTT #2: 22:20 - $1.10 NLHE, $1.5K GTD.

MTT #3: 22:30 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 25 Minutes), $100 GTD.

MTT #4: 22:32 - BSOP Sao Paulo Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Splash), 1 Seat GTD to $82 Qualifier.

MTT #5: 23:10 - Bounty Builder $16.50 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Hyper-Turbo, 1R1A, Deep), 25 Seats GTD.

MTT #6: 23:14 - Mini Monday 6-Max (Late Edition) Sat: $1.10 NLHE (6-Max, Turbo, Deep), 8 Seats GTD.

MTT #7: 23:40 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 15 Minutes), $150 GTD.

MTT #8: 23:45 - $1.10 NLHE (Progressive KO), $2K GTD.

MTT #9: 00:15 - Mini Monday 6-Max (Late Edition) Deadline Sat: $1.10 NLHE (6-Max, Turbo), 8 Seats GTD.

MTT #10: 00:16 - Big $7.50 Sat: $1.10 NLHE (Turbo), 5 Seats GTD.

MTT #11: 00:20 - $1.10 NLHE (Time Tourney: 15 Minutes), $150 GTD.

MTT #12: 00:30 - $1.10+R NLHE (Splash), $3K GTD.


Mixing it up with some interesting looking tourney's here (and I definitely don't want to go above $1.10 ones so basically playing all of them to keep 3-5 tables going. Let's hope for a deep run or two and start making our way back up!

I can't wait for that 20-streak haha! I suppose that's why you gotta play stakes you can afford with your bankroll! Yeah I might have a look at those actually, never really dabbled with SNGs before (apart from HUSNGs which I did for a bit)! Cheers for the tip! I am noticing that the fields for these MTTs are a lot softer than I was expecting, seems to be more fish than in the micro cash games.

Good luck bro! Will be railing to see how last nights session went!

I realise you were saying that you get on well in satellites but I think you've got to re-evaluate what you're playing.

Your schedule is almost all time and satellite tourneys, which is not the same as playing that number of full MTTs (bigs, hots, whatever) in terms of the effect on your roll and potential profits. You're limiting yourself by only being able to win a tiny amount in the time MTTs or a seat in the satellites, rather than the money at a typical MTT final table. It might be worth mixing in the 0.50/1.00 45s-180s at least.

The time tournaments are next to useless for building a roll given the limited money.

Just a thought. GL!