Hello everyone, I'm a ACR 25/50nl grinder who has built up a online roll of 5k and I just took out my whole online roll to move onto 1/2 live. Im 18 and I have an extreme passion for the game of poker and love to learn all I possibly can to get better (moved from losing 2nl to winning at 50nl in 6 months of playing poker, which I'm quite proud of). I've decided to dedicate this whole summer to grinding live poker so I can build up a roll of about $25,000 which will allow me to play 2/5 live comfortably before college starts in the fall.

I will be playing 90 days straight for 10 hours a day on average. After the 90 days is over I will then decide if I want to take poker on professionally if everything goes well. I know this sounds absurd and I've been told I'll burn myself out by several people but I know that I have the physical and mental willpower to accomplish this challenge and do so without losing my love for the game. This is the only time in my life that I will actually have the opportunity to do something absurd like this and see if I actually do have a future as professional poker player. I really feel like I'm wasting my time in college and I the idea of working a normal 9 to 5 job makes me want to achieve my poker dreams even more due to my hatred of strict schedules. I want flexibility in my life and thats what poker offers me and a normal job just simply doesn't. I also love in live poker that I can meet and conversate with new people every single day which isn't the case in a lot of jobs. I know that I will have to sacrafice certain aspects of my life this summer to accomplish this challenge and move onto the next level in poker and I've accepted that. The sacrafices a I have to make and dedication I will have to have remind me of a quote that goes somewhat like "Eat oatmeal for a year, so you can eat caviar for the rest of your life."

Anyways I thought people would enjoy following my progess for this challenge so I will be posting my daily results on a constant basis. My first day of the challenge starts later today so wish me luck! Also I wish all who read this the best of luck on the felt.

First Session = -$200
Grade on Play= D-

Whelp first day was a huge mental blow and I hope I will learn from the mistakes I made.... I was up 1800 playing 1/2 live (Ran really bad overall too and somehow still was up a lot over 10 hours) and decided that I should just go a full 24 hours because I wanted to make a solid 10 buy ins on my first day.... and feel accomplished for playing 24 hours straight... Why would I do this??? Im so mad at myself.

I just don’t understand my mental motivation for this. My bankroll is only $5,000 why wouldn’t I just walk away and start over tomorrow with a bankroll of $6800 that’s a huge increase in my bankroll percentage wise. Some other mistakes I made were not keep to my opening ranges and opening complete bull**** which decreased my profits significantly because every time I seemed to open up some trash I lost a big pot. I also would show all my hands after the hand was over!!! Why am I just giving away free information for no reason at all...

Now onto my biggest mistake which has crushed me mentally for right now... I was 20 hours in and up 1800. I was crashing extremely hard off the caffeine I was using to keep me up and mentally exhausted as humanly possible... So anyways there is one guy at the table who has a stack of about 1.1k anyway I 3bet bluff his open with 73o. WHY??? Completely emotionally based and it just angers me so much that I would do something so stupid in retrospect when I tell myself that I want to take poker professionally/seriously. Anyways the board comes with a flush draw and I flop no pair... I bet and he calls. Turn completes flush draw and I know he has the flush due to timing tells and still I end up bluff on turn and bluff shoving into him on the river and he tank calls and I lose 1.1k of my 1800 profit.

20 minutes after that I ended up calling all ins with nothing and going all in blind and just punting off my 1800 profit... in a span of 30 minutes. I feel so disappointed in myself for being such a degenerate... I will now never do any of this **** again and learned my lesson to not be such a complete idiot. I do hope I truly learn my lesson I really don't want to be a degenerate and I want to win money in the long run and doing completely stupid **** like I did this first session... there is just no way I will ever become a professional.

I need to make a change... I can’t believe I did all this tilt/degenerate **** when I've been working on my mental game extremely hard.

I can't see through all the red flags.

Well I just woke up after that 22 hour session and I'm feeling much better. I believe I have learned from my mistakes and will now incorporate strict rules while playing this next week so I can get use to having a more serious mindset while playing. I'm still dissapointed in myself for doing such a stupid thing but its best to realize your mistakes and then move on with it and try your best not to repeat them. Ill be playing 1-2 at the same casino or 1-3 at another casino tommorow (still havent decided) Im excited for tommorows session so I can follow my new rules and prove to myself that I am in fact a serious player and not just some tilting degen.

It take a lot more than one session to prove your not a degen.

Make decisions as if it were tomorrow and you are looking back upon your decision. This will make it easier to quit in real time.

Never thought of it that way thanks for the a different/ helpful perspective. I will write this down and keep this in mind for ny future sessions.

Second Session= + 162 Hours played = 4
Grade on play= C+
Bankroll = 4,962

Started off the session with a ruff two pair vs set and quickly went in the red for for -300 at 1/3. Im very glad I didnt feel any frustration at all about the hand and felt as if I played the hand pretty well. I also feel great that mentally I didnt feel any tilt or degen feelings at all after losing a quick 300 30 mins into the session. I just told myself to take a deep breath and keep on playing. My table was full of sharks but I held my ground fairly well and always had a good sense of where I was at in the hand espically two big hands which im very proud of how well I played them. I was also a lot stricter with following my ranges. One mistake I noticed is letting go of hands when opponent obviously has you beat and it doesn't matrer if i have TPTK opponent's are just NEVER bluffing in some spots and in these spots I usually still end up calling for some stupid reason. I lost about 200 just because of these calls today and moving forward I will not be making these sigh calls anymore.

Second Session= -$560 Hours Played= 1.5
Grade on play= F-
Bankroll: $4402

Session started well but then I made huge mistakes which snowballed very very quickly. I've given up on the 10 hours a day for 90 days straight challenge and have changed it to 900 hours played in the remaining 100 days of the summer.

I feel like forcing myself to play 10 hours a day is just not enjoyable/ optimal. Also by committing myself to 10 hours a day of poker, it feels as if my whole life is about poker and nothing else. This leads to my emotions for the day being based solely on how I did in poker that day AKA. Bad poker day = Bad Life Day, Good Poker Day = Good Life Day. I took a break on 5/20 and 5/21 due to family obligations but I plan on continue working as hard as I can with poker but trying to not be so obsessed with it that it controls my life. Also something that I'm trying really hard on is learning from my mistakes so that I don't make them again and I feel this blog has helped me realize my mistake and move on from them while trying my best to not repeat them as well.

As of 5/23 I'm going from LAG to Tag. I'm looking forward to this change in my playstyle as I think it will be much more profitable from my last one.

I feel like forcing myself to play 10 hours a day is just not enjoyable/ optimal. Also by commiting myself to 10 hours a day of poker, it feels as if my whole life is about poker and nothing else. This leads to my emotions for the day being based solely on how I did in poker that day AKA. Bad poker day = Bad Life Day, Good Poker Day = Good Life Day. I took a break on 5/20 and 5/21 due to family obligations but I plan on continue working as hard as I can with poker but trying to not be so obbsesed with it that it controls my life. Also something that I'm trying really hard on is learning from my mistakes so that I don't make them again and I feel this blog has helped me realize my mistake and move on from them while trying my best to not repeat them as well.

As of 5/23 I'm going from LAG to Tag. I'm looking forward to this change in my playstyle as I think it will be much more profitable from my last one.

Fourth Session= -$498 Hours Played= 1
Grade on play= B
Bankroll: $3908

Whelp in the 2 hours of my last 1/2 sessions I've lost over 1k... I played quite well today but just variance destroyed me. All in with two overs and the nut flush draw for around 650 pot and I brick out with 65ish% on the flop :\. Then I got it all in on the turn for another $600 dollar pot with 84% equity and lost to the river. Have lost 20% of my bankroll and I'm starting to doubt myself pretty hard at this point. I think I'm a good player but the results are just not there.

I was buying in with $300 so I could maximize profit when I hit big against a fish but now since I have only $3908 that leaves me with less then 20 $200 buy ins. I'll not be buying in for $300 until I have reached at least $7.5k.

I really hope things turn around soon.

In 3 sessions you went from

"I will be playing 90 days straight for 10 hours a day on average. After the 90 days is over I will then decide if I want to take poker on professionally if everything goes well. I know this sounds absurd and I've been told I'll burn myself out by several people but I know that I have the physical and mental willpower to accomplish this challenge and do so without losing my love for the game."

to

"Session started well but then I made huge mistakes which snowballed very very quickly. I've given up on the 10 hours a day for 90 days straight challenge and have changed it to 900 hours played in the remaining 100 days of the summer."

What happened to your mental willpower to accomplish this challenge?

I'm still playing the same amount of hours. I just realized that forcing myself to stay at the table for 10 hours when I'm having a bad day just isnt a good idea. I still plan on completing my goal of 900 hours over the summer but just with different sessiom lengths.

You just need to figure out your rhythm. I'm a live player, I know I perform best taking small breaks every 2 hours and a longer lunch/dinner break around the 6 hour mark. I can do the 10 hour sessions, however, I end up in autopilot mode.

Nothing wrong with adjusting your buy-in. I started off my challenge buying in at mostly $100 and $200 buyins Nov-Feb. Now I'm comfortable with buyins up to $1k at homegames and $500 at 1/3. Take your time, find your groove, build the BR and take breaks.

GL.

5th session= +23
Hours Played= 7
Grade on play= A
Bankroll =3934


Best session I've ever had.This session might of not been the best profit wise but self confidence wise its was the best I've ever had. I bought in for 200 made it up to 300 i ended up flopping the nut straight vs two pair... all in on turn with 91% and got sucked out on the river for my whole stack.

Guess what bought in for 200 again and the same exact scenario happened again! It was brutal.

I bought in a 3rd time for 200. I ended calling an all in with top set against a open ender and he got there on the river. It was so brutal to see him get there... I wasn't mad or anything. Just so dissapointed in how I was going to have another 3 buy in loss day.

I was about to leave the casino but i decided I should use my comp dollars to get something to eat and relax. Anyways after I was done eating I decided I shouldn't be down because I played every pot great getting all the money in as a huge favorite. I just knew I shouldn't be mad at something I cant control. I decided to go get my saftey buy in (1 buy in I keep in my car) and if i lose this one I'll be done for the day. I ended up continuing my disciplined and grade A level playing. Things finally turned around! I got it in as a 70% favorite twice and held!!! I won a few small pots here and there and ended up coming all the way back from -$600 and proffiting $23. I feel so great about not giving up and continuing on through the terrible variance. Very excited for tommorow.

You do realize you were down 1660ish in less than 10 hours before this comeback? I'm not sure what style your are playing but you are losing buy ins way too fast. Slow down grasshopper!!
Nice comeback btw!!