Hello everyone, my name's Elliott and I'm from Montreal, Canada. I'm a 21 year old student who has always enjoyed problem solving and math as well as being a natural risk taker. Like most poker players, I was eager to get started before even being 18 years old but I played mostly for fun. In the past, I have played on and off and have gone on decent runs, at least for me. I started off by putting 20$ into Full Tilt Poker and ran it up to 1.2k by winning a MTT and placing well in others along the way. I eventually started playing in HU Hypers that I didn't belong in and my bankroll didn't support. So naturally, I eventually lost a good amount of that money. I then proceeded to withdraw the remainder, which was roughly 700$. I've decided to give it another shot with a 100$ bankroll. I understand how to be disciplined, not tilt and use proper bankroll management, but it can be a challenge at times. I will do everything in my power to be disciplined and control the tilt factor.

I am well aware that I am under-rolled for the action I'm getting into, but not to the point where it will be that detrimental. The micro stakes are soft enough not to need 100 buy ins. Eventually I will get my roll up and move up in stakes, as well as head into more heads up hypers. I believe the strongest part of my game is heads up, so I hope to work on other parts as well. I do not want to deposit more money, I want this to be a one-time run up, so I'm going to be cautious about my bankroll even though it's not that much. I do wish to play some live games eventually, but that might not be in the near future. As for reviewing hands and studying, that's something I will need to concentrate on doing more. I watch some poker videos on the daily, but I should be looking over my own play more thoroughly.


What I will begin playing:
Micro MTTs
Micro Satellites
Micro HU Hypers
Freerolls

I am aware of the variance of HU Hypers, which is why I will begin by one tabling them. I believe that my skill level is more suited for higher stakes in HU Hypers, but I am not bankrolled for them yet. I also purchased a basic sharkscope package and opted in/reset my statistics for this thread. I plan to update this as often as possible to let everyone know how I am coming along and I will post pics of my bankroll amongst other things. I will be playing on FTP.

My main goal is to reach 10k from playing, which is ambitious for the stakes I am playing. I hope to get as close as possible by the end of Summer. I also hope to bink an avatar tournament as it has always been a goal of mine, so I think I will put my FTPs towards tournament tickets. Lastly, I want to maintain a positive attitude and mentality and just focus on making the best possible plays that I can. The result is not as important as making the correct decision and that is something I need to realize and improve on.

Starting Bankroll: 100.00$

GL !!

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I didn't manage to play this weekend since I was out for most of it. My SharkScope membership ran out so I had to resubscribe and something got messed up so now I had to reset it. It doesn't really matter since I had barely started this challenge. I play to get going on this challenge since I basically haven't started. I'm going to reset my bankroll to 100$ since I had to reset my SharkScope as well. It's going to be hard to play tonight with all the NHL playoff action though...

Current Bankroll: 100.00$

best of luck with your goals will be following!

I just completed my first session even though there wasn't much volume. This was mostly due to the time and there not being much traffic compared to usual. I was two tabling hypers which I found myself to be very comfortable with as I was pretty focused. I also think it might be simply better to just focus on the same type of game at the same time. In that sense, I mean only play hypers in a session or only play MTTs in a session. I played pretty well and I was disciplined, with the exception of a couple plays. One play, I called an open jam with KQo like the 4th hand in and he had A7 and it held. Another I got it in with 2nd pair and lost. I was more disciplined when it came to picking my check-raise spots. Instead of just doing it off a hunch, I did it with good equity which generally leads to better results. I honestly ran very well also though. Sometimes even when you're not running well but just running as you should (EV wise), it can be feel as though you're running good. I definitely had a mix though.


Regarding my bankroll, I would honestly prefer to have an option to hide it as I find it makes me more results oriented instead of making the correct plays. I saw there were some scripts and what not, but honestly I'm not really sure how to implement them. If anyone has some input, please let me know!

Current Bankroll: 121.55$ | +21.55$

Nice 1st session. Keep it going. Good luck!

Well I've just finished my second session and it went well. I dropped some money into MTTs today which did not go well but fortunately I'm playing the most micro MTTs as I'm not even buying into 3.30s yet. I definitely feel as though I have an edge at that level but my bankroll can't support that variance yet. I play the 1$ tournament every chance I get as it gives three 26$ tournament tickets guaranteed to top three and it's a pretty soft tournament. I hope to win some tickets for some future shot taking at bigger MTTs. My hypers went decently and I had a few hands that I wanted to post, but honestly I'm not even sure how to as my hand history didn't even show the hands. It just showed the results of everything I played. There was basically one hand where the board was JJ2 and I cbet with A4 and got jammed on and thought about it and hero called and he had complete air with 103. Come to think about it, it's not that much of a hero call because his line only really makes sense with a 2 or smaller pair or two over cards. He wouldn't do that with a J unless he was a donk or legit thought I would call with worse and I did not think that was the case. Anyways here's the total graph of my hypers so far and this is what I will be posting from now on, the cumulative graph.



I would still like to know how to hide my bankroll though, I'd rather not see it while playing as I find I sometimes feel more of a need to win when I'm down in a session. In reality, I should have the same drive to win each and every match and not have any sense of desperation.

Current Bankroll: 124.65$ | +3.11$

Edit: I realize that the graphs I have been posting have been in Canadian Dollars instead of USD which is what my bankroll is, so I will be changing that for future graphs. I was wondering about that, glad I noticed it

I'm back with another update regarding my challenge. I have completed my first one hundred Hypers and I am very happy with the results. I feel as though I ran just a little above EV, but nothing crazy. There are so many fish and donks at this level which is notable since I open sit the lobbies. There was one guy who was a reg, but playing like eight tables, so I increased my tables to three in order to take advantage of him since he was a weak opponent. It seems as though I'm comfortable playing three tables, but I'll stick with two for now. A couple other regs played me and after 1-3 games immediately stopped. Most of the game play was standard with no real crazy swings.

Part of the rules that I set in place for my challenge are a bit different than your average challenge rules. My challenge will be tougher because I transfer profits to my buddy's account for safe keeping so that I don't go on mega tilt and blow it. It's sort of a way to pay myself as we go, to help stay motivated. I only see my bankroll as working capital and when I do the small transfers, it's no longer part of my bankroll. The percentages correspond to how much of the profit I transfer. If I have a losing 100 games (which I hope isn't the case, but is likely) then there won't be a transfer. Here are the rules I have in place:

TRANSFER REQUIREMENTS
• Edge Reward Payments (100%)
• Knockouts from MTTs (100%)
• MTT Scores (50%)
• Centennial Hypers (25%)
• FTP Bonuses (100%)

The MTTs I played weren't very helpful as they're eating into the profit/bankroll but that's just the variance. Also, realistically, I've only played a few so not a good sample size. Here are the graphs after my first 100 Hypers:


So it's notable that my bankroll will actually be less than last time since I made a Centennial Transfer. Maybe in the future I'll add a separate running total for how much I have transferred as it could be interesting to see.

Current Bankroll: 122.00$ | TRANSFER

My latest session was pretty crazy for my standards. At one point I was just getting coolered non stop. It was top pair vs random two pair, suckouts, rivers, you name it. It didn't really tilt me, just felt as though I was seeing the other side of variance. The swings that occurred were heavy but I took a break and came back later to turn it all around and then some. Although, when I took a break, I kept having a nagging feeling to get back and turn things around, it did bother me more than it should have, which I really dislike. I just grinded it out which is a good feeling since if I can do it once, I can do it again. I ended up playing mostly random fish and had a couple reg wars. A couple of the regs playing 3-4+ tables are soft. They essentially play push fold and by the time we're both all in, I have most of the chips anyways. Not to mention their play on the flop/turn/river wasn't that great. I think the main reg I was playing just stopped sitting me at one point or took me off his program auto-sit because I was destroying him. There was one reg with a blackcard status that was pretty good and I don't know what he was doing playing these Micros, but I should avoid him as much as possible. All and all, I'm glad that I got back into the grove.

I played a couple MTTs as well and honestly the variance is ridiculous in them. Not even going to bother getting into that, but basically bricked them all. I need to get some MTT runs soon in order to make MTTs worth it for me.

Anyways here's the graph since last time, it had like a ~40 game downswing which was pretty tough to deal with and led me not to have more profit at 200 games, so no Centennial Transfer.



Current Bankroll: 132.15$ | +10.15$

I didn't put in very much volume at all in my latest session as I was just playing some MTTs and I decided that I don't want to hypers with MTTs in the same session. Alternatively, I played some 2.25 Turbo 6Max instead and did decently. The sad thing about those is that since only the top two pay, it doesn't matter what position you come unless it's top two. I won one, and came third due to coolers several times which was frustrating. I don't know how many of these I plan on playing, but I'll mix them in when I'm playing strictly MTTs. I ran accurately in the MTTs and final tabled a really small one. I came in as the short stack and there were a couple hands I would like to post, but I don't have the ability. Basically I ended up coming 4th due to some bad beats, but it's alright because I was fortunate earlier in the final table to get a double up, when I jammed open ended into top two pair and made my straight. After following my transferring rules, it seems as though my bankroll did not really fluctuate since last time, but everything I transfer is pure profit so that's good.

I have a question for everyone. What should I spend my FTPs on? I would normally buy tournament tickets and play some tournaments or play satellites with the points, but maybe there's something with better value. For now I'll just collect them until I figure it out.

Anyways, that's really all for today since I'm going out tonight and won't be playing later on haha. I'll most likely be playing this weekend though, enjoy everyone!

Current Bankroll: 132.58$ | +0.43$ | TRANSFER

I played a pretty quick session today as it really didn't consist of very much volume. I played a couple MTTs and they went pretty standardly and I bricked them. Basically just chipped up and then lost some standard flips like AK<QQ and such. I'm never really bothered about situations where I know I made the right play, even if the result is not ideal. I ended up winning a 0.55$ flipout which is nice. The final table was very soft as expected. I busted most of the field and then ignored the request to deal heads up and took it down. I went to start another session and began playing some hypers, but I got a phone call from my buddy and that basically ended up my session prematurely. Here's my overall graph since starting this thread:



Current Bankroll: 133.76$ | +1.18$ | TRANSFER

It was a rather decent Sunday for poker. I honestly didn't think that I was going to get much volume in since I had some sports to play, but I had some free time at night. I'm glad I finally figured out how to get the hands and use them in the hand converter. I posted a couple threads around 2+2 with some hands where I needed some added opinions. I'll link those here instead of posting those hands.

I'm not sure how many hypers I played today, but I focused on MTTs mostly. I didn't mix the two styles in the same session though. The hypers went decently, there were only one or two opponents who gave me a bit of an issue. They instantly declined after a few games anyways, but I tried to adjust the best I could.

Here's the threads I made:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/18...-25-a-1438212/
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/23...urney-1438252/

Here are a couple other hands I thought were interesting:

1.


2.


I'd appreciate any input on the hands. The first hand the villain was playing like a psycho and the second hand I thought that this would be the best way to extract value and down play my hand.

As for the MTTs, I had some decent results so I'll post my overall graph. I managed to final table the 1.10$ Rebuy and I got to the table ranked fourth in chips. I ended up busting in fourth with KK<AA AIPF. Pretty brutal way to go out, but it was a nice 40$ score. After that score, I made sure to do an MTT Transfer.


Current Bankroll: 155.50$ | +21.74$ | TRANSFER

On the first hand if villain was overly aggro the call down is ok I guess, but better play against someone that is that aggro with just king high is to check flop and call turn and river bets imo.

Second hand you could even iso to 75, otherwise I think it's wp.

Also: What do you think are the best resources for mtt strategy? I think about mixing in some mtts one day or the other to break the routine ofjust playing hypers. Thanks in advance and GL

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1) push pre
2) cbet flop

Yes I agree, could have argued to make it 75, either way I think it was okay. As for MTT strategy, I watch some of gripsed youtube videos where he does hand history reviews of players who bink medium/big tournaments. I find it pretty helpful and clear. You also get to see some strange plays that work or don't and you can then find out why. Thanks for the support!

I'm not sure if I'd push K6 suited pre when I'm that deep. As for cbet, yes I could have but I was trying to conceal my hand.


I'm going to update with my hypers as I've reached 300 total games and think it would be a good place to show some progress. Since my latest 100 hypers was profitable, I'll do a Centennial Transfer. Overall I'm pretty happy with the hypers results so far, I just hope to keep it up. I also had some interesting hands that I'll share.

1. I think if he had a better hand he would have check raised or led out so I checked river to allow a bluff since some draws also missed.



2. I didn't even think he had the nuts here, I thought he was either on a draw or had top pair/two pair. Not sure what to make of this hand except should have bet bigger on the flop possibly.




Here's the hypers graph so far:


Current Bankroll: 145.76$ | TRANSFER

Just doing a quick update since I binked a small tournament for ~37$. I'm glad I binked it because I bricked all the other MTTs and ran pretty badly in some hypers also. The tournament was the 1.10 back up plan that I came fourth in the other day. After completing it, I made sure to do an MTT Transfer. The field is relatively soft and I exploited a lot of situations and was chip leader with 30 left and essentially just took it all the way to the end and closed it out heads up. There was one interesting hand when we were heads up that was crucial.

1. I bet small on river for two reasons, one I did not think he had very much and two because if I do get check raised, I'd rather it be smaller than bigger. Once he check raised me, I thought my hand was bad since he played it pretty strongly, but he didn't check raise big enough so I was sort of priced in to call and it turned out well.




Current Bankroll: 150.93$ | +5.17$ | TRANSFER

Well you said villain was playing like a psycho (so I assume very aggro) and in that case OS with K6s at that depth is fine imo though I'd probably shove K5s-K3s and mr-call K6s, might also be fine to limp and call shove depending on his SOL and 3bs stats.


1) think betting turn is too thin here. Think check-call river is.... fine, there's some Kx and 2 pairs in his range probably like J5, J8, 85, though often I think Kx raises otf which makes the call better otr. Would like to have some reads that villain bluffs missed draws first though.

2) Yeah JT is def in his range, but anyways wp imo


Solid graph and gl

He was playing like a psycho but I didn't know to what extent until that hand happened.

1. You're right that it's too thin on the turn and I didn't really have any reads. I was going off the feel I got.

2. I think that hand is just a cooler. There are a lot of other hands he could have had, I just ran into the top of his range.

Thanks for the feedback mate, I appreciate it.


I have a few more hands to post of different situations.

1. This hand I just think is an excellent spot for a check raise.


2. I wasn't entirely sure where I was until the turn. I felt I was ahead on the turn and really didn't want to be check raised off my hand as I was trying to get to showdown. When he checks the river after the turn checked through, I thought about what hands I could try and extract really thin value from.



3. I didn't really like how I played this hand, but I was glad I called. My turn bet is bad unless I bet bigger I think as the K is a scare card and I need to make villain pay to see draws. I think my bet turned my hand face up in a way. When he barrels river, I thought he had a missed draw, but it was a close call.



4. This hand was in an MTT where I think I was getting a good price to defend and when he min bets the flop, I'm almost always calling. When he slows down on the turn I think he has two over cards and I'm trying to get to showdown. When the river comes and basically ruins my showdown value, I decide to turn my hand into a bluff because it does make it hard for him to call unless he has a really good read since my bet looks like value. Although, I do think that a superior player would have called down with an ace possibly.

Since my last update, I have played a few mini sessions. I haven't put in much volume with hypers as I've been playing more satellites and MTTs. I've also been playing some 6 Man Turbos/Hypers just to add tables while playing MTTs. It's amazing how soft these games become once they're three handed and heads up. I managed to win one satellite for 11$ and I unregistered and took the tournament money. I'm not sure if I'll spend the tournament dollars like regularly or buy into the MiniFTOPs that it was meant for. Either way it doesn't really make a difference and I'll just include the tournament dollars as though it was my normal bankroll. I'll post my overall graph and some MTT hands I found interesting.


I have some school work to focus on in the upcoming days, so I don't think I'll be playing much if anything. During the weekend I might get into some games but we'll see.

1. I 3bet to get it in here and once he calls, it's a pretty bad call in my opinion. I wasn't sure what to put him on, but once the flop came I was trying to lead him along so I cbet small. I think it was just a cooler.



2. In this hand, there can be great value from limping aces in early/middle position. I noticed that one villain was very aggro and had been squeezing so I limped to try and induce a squeeze. Someone donked out instead, because the villain flatted the min raised then once I shoved the villain I had intended to target folded. It worked out well though.




Current Bankroll: 191.64$ | +40.71$

I decided to throw in a quick update since I did play a small session yesterday even though I won't be playing today due to school work. I basically used my tournament dollars to play the MiniFTOPs event and busted with QQ<KK. I then won a satellite for another 11$ MiniFTOPs event and ended up busting the same way. So that did not go well, but it's okay to take a shot from time to time. Especially since I won it through a satellite. I also managed to reach 400 hypers and I am pretty happy about how it has been so far. I ended up doing a Centennial Transfer since my latest 100 hypers were profitable. Here's the graphs:



Current Bankroll: 171.37$ | -11.00$ | TRANSFER

Just a quick update since things aren't going too well. I just bricked a bunch of MTTs as I'm not running well, but playing decently. It was essentially the same scenario for the 6Max Hypers/Turbos. I'm not very tilted but can't seem to win a race today. Anyways I'll post one hand that I thought was interesting, but in hindsight I would change how I played it.

1. So I pick up pocket threes in the big blind and am happy to see a flop with them. I was hoping to make a set and once the cbet and call come in, it's a good price to see one more street. On the turn I hit the gin card and check to induce some bets and once I check raise and get one caller, his range should definitely be an Ace or at this level, possibly a flush draw. I think I should have check raised the turn bigger too. On the river I decide to bet over pot to make it look like I bricked my draw, but knowing what he had I should have jammed to extract maximum value.




Current Bankroll: 160.19$ | -11.18$

Well I've been running pretty brutally lately in the 6Max Hypers/Turbos so I think I should give those a rest for a while. The frustrating part is that it's always on the bubble too. Anyways, I grinded out a solid amount of heads up hypers and it seems as though the other styles are just eating into the money I make from hypers. I should probably just focus on hypers for now and maybe a few MTTs, no more 6Max for a while. I'll post my overall graph and a couple hands I found interesting.

1. This opponent was committed to his bluffs and when you don't believe them, you just don't believe them. His play was trying to get me off exactly what I had, or roughly the same type of hand.



2. I checked river to induce, was hoping to get more value this way.





Current Bankroll: 171.59$ | +11.40$

I've been on a bit of a downswing playing hypers so as soon as I realized that I was close to 500 games, I thought it would be a good place to stop and take a break. It's always good to stop and look at the bigger picture. In my latest session, I wasn't playing well and got coolered a lot, but mostly I wasn't playing well. In the moment, it feels as though everything is going to ****, but realistically, it's not that bad. Since my latest 500 hypers were profitable, I'm going to do a Centennial Transfer. After losing a bit and the transfer, I decided to just even it out and withdraw to 150.00$. Here's my progress after 500 hypers, I'm pretty content with it.



Current Bankroll: 150.00$ | TRANSFER

Since last update, I've only played a couple really small MTTs and I ran brutally in them. That made it easier for me to just concentrate more on Hypers. I was having a great few sessions where I really felt as though I was focused. I played a couple of the top regs at this level and quite frankly, I definitely think I'm one of them. It's crazy how differently I play against regs and fish sometimes. Overall it was a good latest 100 Hypers and I'm pretty happy with how it went and the volume I'm putting in. Another profitable 100 hypers means another Centennial Transfer.


I have quite a few hands that I'd like to post and discuss, but I decided to just post a select few. There's one that was against a top reg at this level and I made a post in the Hyper section. I'll post the link below.

1. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/18...-play-1440304/

2. This is an instance where I decided to turn my hand into a bluff. His flop bet was either a feeler or an inducing bet. Since I was not sure, I decided to flat since most flopped sets would. When the Ace peels off and he bets small again, I thought it would be a good spot to check raise.



3. In this hand, I decided not to slow play since the board was pretty draw heavy. I bet small to induce and once he raised, I figured I'd 3bet in order to induce him to jam. Dream flop for a very loose open haha.



4. This situation is just one where my opponent showed no interest in the pot and wanted to get to showdown. Once I made a pair I decided to go for very thin value.




Current Bankroll: 165.95$ | +15.95$ | TRANSFER

I've hit a pretty brutal downswing as of late. The run bad is brutal, but the only way out is to keep grinding and put in the volume. I dropped like 8-10 buy ins to a complete donk/fish where he was jamming with complete trash and hitting over and over. As soon as I won a few back, he snap declined. Going to grind through.