$3000.01 to $18000.01 and beyond (180-mans)
09-15-2013
, 07:15 PM
I completed my previous challenge of $300.01 to $1800.01 in August last year and you can find that thread here:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...-mans-1110594/
with my final graph from the challenge here:
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5222/...llgraphcom.jpg
Now I have added a 0 to both numbers!
Sept 2012-June 2013
I didn't play much poker in this period. The only poker of note would be that I randomly won a $5 hyper for a few hundred dollars one night and on a separate occasion I came back from a night out (drunk
) and started playing loads of hyperturbo SnGs for $15, $30, $60 and $100! Here is my graph from that night:
So yeah I got super lucky
Anyway, I mainly focussed on the final year of my degree in Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Warwick. I applied to all the standard graduate jobs and landed a very well paid graduate job in London on the proviso that I achieve a 2:1 in my degree (something which I did not see as very likely to happen). Nevertheless, the opportunity arose to go to Vegas for the WSOP with 2 of my poker friends fairly cheap sharing a house between 8 of us, so I decided to go on 22nd June for 3 weeks, just 2 weeks after finishing my final exams.
At this point, in my mind Vegas was just one last shot at winning something big from poker before starting a very ordinary 9-5 working life in September.
June 2013-July 2013 Vegas
Before I carry on, I should quickly mention this isn't some ridiculous success story about how I won loads of money quickly. I didn't.
However, I had one of the best times of my life out there and met a load of cool new people. 5 of my housemates were professional poker players and while we were out there, they had quite a few 5 figure scores between them as well as cleaning up 2/5 and 5/10 cash tables. I learnt a lot from them.
However, I had only taken $2800 to Vegas and had decided to play 1 WSOP event for $1k (selling 50% at 1.1MU). Long story short I left Vegas with nothing but some memories I also felt very frustrated at getting knocked out my WSOP event very close to the money with TdTh vs Ad3d on Kd9h5d8s 
but such is poker. I shouldn't complain because I hit a 2 outer in the first 2 hours winning KK vs QQ on 359Q 
More to the point, while I was in Vegas, I was ecstatic to hear that I had somehow achieved a 2:1 in my degree, which guaranteed that I had my job for when I get back.
However, 2 days later, the company who had hired me made 2,000 job cuts and I quickly called up and discovered that the graduate scheme had been cancelled, leaving me with no job for the year. However they had to give me £2.6k because I had already signed a contract. This was all the money I now had to my name.
July 2013-Sept 2013
Since getting back to England, I didn't feel compelled to rush about applying for jobs and have made the decision to try to take the year out and see what I can do with poker. I think it is very unlikely that this will become a long term goal. I will most likely apply to jobs again in a few months for schemes which start in august or September next year. In the meantime I have a year to kill.
Obviously in the back of my mind, the ideal situation is to win a LOT of money from poker and justify not getting a "real" job for one more year. Also, I hope to be able to go to Vegas again this year.
In these past 2 months, I had 5% of one of the poker professionals who I met in Vegas, when he played the Sunday Million and he came 6th for $40k, bagging me $2k more.
I, myself, have also just been mucking around playing $5-$25 hyper turbo MTTs and happened to win $2k from them. Having also spent quite a lot of money on general life expenses, it means I now have about £3500 to my name, which is about $5k.
Sept 2013 Onwards
I have felt like I needed some structure to my life for this year, so starting from tomorrow, I will have monthly goals for poker and for fitness.
The Fitness
I figure that even if poker goes very badly for me, I would feel some sense of achievement from this year if I could get physically fit, so I joined a gym and will start eating completely properly from tomorrow. I have already had an induction at the gym and the personal trainer has put me on a 5-week intense fitness regime before starting proper muscle training. However, it is still up to me to stick to these routines.
The Poker
I know from my previous challenge that I am profitable at $2.50 180-mans and I am fairly sure that I am therefore also profitable at $8 and possibly $15 180-mans. However, I know that I have a lot of room for improvement and I need to watch more strategy videos and possibly get coaching to play more optimally.
So my plan is to start with $3000.01 and play a mixture of $2.50 and $8 180-mans until I have $4500.01 in my account. Then I will add $15s. Once I get to $10,000.01, I will add in the $35 180-mans as well as small stake MTTs (This is a massive incentive as I love playing MTTs!)
The main reason for these numbers is that I think you need a 250-300BI rule for 180-mans, as you can easily lose 150BIs due to variance. Therefore, if my account ever drops below $1500.01, I will have to re-evaluate and remove the $8 games. Hopefully this never happens!
I am comfortable 16-tabling so I will start by trying to have 8 $2.50 games and 8 $8 games up at all times during sessions. I should also note that I use Holdem Manager.
The Ultimate yearly goal is $15k profit, but this is just a rough guide to a long term goal. I may get nowhere near. I may far exceed it. I am excited to find out.
The Routine
An average weekday for me will be:
8am-9am Swimming
12pm-2pm Gym
3pm-11pm Play Poker
These are the 3 main things that I will set myself goals for: Hours playing poker, in gym and swimming. The time in between can include studying 180-mans either through videos or analysing my own play.
Obviously, I will not do these 3 things every single day. So some days I may play poker for a lot longer. Also, I will not be going swimming or to the gym on weekends, but I will be playing poker.
Goals for each week
When I set my mind to doing something, I usually do it. So I do not feel a need to set punishments for not reaching these goals. The main reason for this is that I WILL meet these goals.
I will do weekly updates on this thread every Sunday evening.
Can't wait to start tomorrow! Wish me luck
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...-mans-1110594/
with my final graph from the challenge here:
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5222/...llgraphcom.jpg
Now I have added a 0 to both numbers!
Sept 2012-June 2013
I didn't play much poker in this period. The only poker of note would be that I randomly won a $5 hyper for a few hundred dollars one night and on a separate occasion I came back from a night out (drunk
) and started playing loads of hyperturbo SnGs for $15, $30, $60 and $100! Here is my graph from that night:
So yeah I got super luckyAnyway, I mainly focussed on the final year of my degree in Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Warwick. I applied to all the standard graduate jobs and landed a very well paid graduate job in London
on the proviso that I achieve a 2:1 in my degree (something which I did not see as very likely to happen). Nevertheless, the opportunity arose to go to Vegas for the WSOP with 2 of my poker friends fairly cheap sharing a house between 8 of us, so I decided to go on 22nd June for 3 weeks, just 2 weeks after finishing my final exams. At this point, in my mind Vegas was just one last shot at winning something big from poker before starting a very ordinary 9-5 working life in September.
June 2013-July 2013 Vegas
Before I carry on, I should quickly mention this isn't some ridiculous success story about how I won loads of money quickly. I didn't.
However, I had one of the best times of my life out there and met a load of cool new people. 5 of my housemates were professional poker players and while we were out there, they had quite a few 5 figure scores between them as well as cleaning up 2/5 and 5/10 cash tables. I learnt a lot from them.
However, I had only taken $2800 to Vegas and had decided to play 1 WSOP event for $1k (selling 50% at 1.1MU). Long story short I left Vegas with nothing but some memories
I also felt very frustrated at getting knocked out my WSOP event very close to the money with TdTh vs Ad3d on Kd9h5d8s but such is poker. I shouldn't complain because I hit a 2 outer in the first 2 hours winning KK vs QQ on 359Q More to the point, while I was in Vegas, I was ecstatic to hear that I had somehow achieved a 2:1 in my degree, which guaranteed that I had my job for when I get back.
However, 2 days later, the company who had hired me made 2,000 job cuts and I quickly called up and discovered that the graduate scheme had been cancelled, leaving me with no job for the year. However they had to give me £2.6k because I had already signed a contract. This was all the money I now had to my name.
July 2013-Sept 2013
Since getting back to England, I didn't feel compelled to rush about applying for jobs and have made the decision to try to take the year out and see what I can do with poker. I think it is very unlikely that this will become a long term goal. I will most likely apply to jobs again in a few months for schemes which start in august or September next year. In the meantime I have a year to kill.
Obviously in the back of my mind, the ideal situation is to win a LOT of money from poker and justify not getting a "real" job for one more year. Also, I hope to be able to go to Vegas again this year.
In these past 2 months, I had 5% of one of the poker professionals who I met in Vegas, when he played the Sunday Million and he came 6th for $40k, bagging me $2k more.
I, myself, have also just been mucking around playing $5-$25 hyper turbo MTTs and happened to win $2k from them. Having also spent quite a lot of money on general life expenses, it means I now have about £3500 to my name, which is about $5k.
Sept 2013 Onwards
I have felt like I needed some structure to my life for this year, so starting from tomorrow, I will have monthly goals for poker and for fitness.
The Fitness
I figure that even if poker goes very badly for me, I would feel some sense of achievement from this year if I could get physically fit, so I joined a gym and will start eating completely properly from tomorrow. I have already had an induction at the gym and the personal trainer has put me on a 5-week intense fitness regime before starting proper muscle training. However, it is still up to me to stick to these routines.
The Poker
I know from my previous challenge that I am profitable at $2.50 180-mans and I am fairly sure that I am therefore also profitable at $8 and possibly $15 180-mans. However, I know that I have a lot of room for improvement and I need to watch more strategy videos and possibly get coaching to play more optimally.
So my plan is to start with $3000.01 and play a mixture of $2.50 and $8 180-mans until I have $4500.01 in my account. Then I will add $15s. Once I get to $10,000.01, I will add in the $35 180-mans as well as small stake MTTs (This is a massive incentive as I love playing MTTs!
) The main reason for these numbers is that I think you need a 250-300BI rule for 180-mans, as you can easily lose 150BIs due to variance. Therefore, if my account ever drops below $1500.01, I will have to re-evaluate and remove the $8 games. Hopefully this never happens!
I am comfortable 16-tabling so I will start by trying to have 8 $2.50 games and 8 $8 games up at all times during sessions. I should also note that I use Holdem Manager.
The Ultimate yearly goal is $15k profit, but this is just a rough guide to a long term goal. I may get nowhere near. I may far exceed it. I am excited to find out.
The Routine
An average weekday for me will be:
8am-9am Swimming
12pm-2pm Gym
3pm-11pm Play Poker
These are the 3 main things that I will set myself goals for: Hours playing poker, in gym and swimming. The time in between can include studying 180-mans either through videos or analysing my own play.
Obviously, I will not do these 3 things every single day. So some days I may play poker for a lot longer. Also, I will not be going swimming or to the gym on weekends, but I will be playing poker.
Goals for each week
- 40 hours of playing poker
- 4 Gym sessions (6-8 hours)
- 3 Swimming Sessions (2-3 hours)
- 10 Hours Studying (analysing my own play or watching videos)
- 50 hours of sleep (Sleep is important for getting fit and for playing poker!)
When I set my mind to doing something, I usually do it. So I do not feel a need to set punishments for not reaching these goals. The main reason for this is that I WILL meet these goals.
I will do weekly updates on this thread every Sunday evening.
Can't wait to start tomorrow!
Wish me luck
Last edited by Bazza2103; 09-15-2013 at 07:29 PM.
09-16-2013
, 03:36 PM
09-16-2013
, 06:06 PM
First Poker Session
A few hours ago I was nearly down $300, having got very unlucky. My EVBB/100 was about 8 but my actual was -15....
My EVBB/100 with Kings was about 250 and my actual was -350...... I had literally lost KK vs Ax 6 times, twice in very crucial points, one of them being a 45k pot on the final table of an $8 game which resigned me to 8th.
But I saved the day! by winning my first ever $8 game for the best part of $400. My only other FT in the session was a 2nd in a $2.50 which bags about $80.
I am very happy with my volume getting in 66 $2.50 games and 41 $8 games, in just 6 hours.
The $8 games register a lot slower than the $2.50s so it seems like my sessions will be about a 60:40 split of 2.50s to 8s.
I will post proper updates like in my old thread at the end of every week. For now, here is the graph for my first session:
I am very relieved to get off to a winning start.... just Always feels good. I won't be going to the gym tomorrow as I will need more rest days when I first start, so hopefully I will play more poker. Next gym sesh is wednesday
A few hours ago I was nearly down $300, having got very unlucky. My EVBB/100 was about 8 but my actual was -15....
My EVBB/100 with Kings was about 250 and my actual was -350...... I had literally lost KK vs Ax 6 times, twice in very crucial points, one of them being a 45k pot on the final table of an $8 game which resigned me to 8th.
But I saved the day!
by winning my first ever $8 game for the best part of $400. My only other FT in the session was a 2nd in a $2.50 which bags about $80.I am very happy with my volume getting in 66 $2.50 games and 41 $8 games, in just 6 hours.
The $8 games register a lot slower than the $2.50s so it seems like my sessions will be about a 60:40 split of 2.50s to 8s.
I will post proper updates like in my old thread at the end of every week. For now, here is the graph for my first session:
I am very relieved to get off to a winning start.... just
Always feels good. I won't be going to the gym tomorrow as I will need more rest days when I first start, so hopefully I will play more poker. Next gym sesh is wednesday
09-16-2013
, 07:24 PM
09-17-2013
, 05:45 PM
2nd Session
Just a quick update. I just played a very good session with an EVB/100 of 16 and an actual of 21. The only disappointment is that I only played for 4 hours :/
This is good bearing in mind that over the large sample of my last challenge both numbers were about 12.
Anyway, I was down $63.39 with my last $8 game playing with me about 4th of 18. I ended up coming 2nd! but lost a 6:1 chip lead heads up! :O losing 69 vs Q4, TT vs A9 and A6 vs AK
I can't complain though because I could have easily been knocked out 4th, when I won a J8 vs 88 for 7BBs in a blind battle.
That means I had a +$200.85 session and puts me well on my way to $1.5k profit when I will add in the $15s.
I am fully prepared for an inevitable downswing soon, but let's keep the profit coming as long as possible! :P
I should mention that I am going to fail my goals for this first week for a variety of good reasons. I am going to see a uni friend at his new house in London tomorrow to watch the champions league. I support Chelsea :P
Then my girlfriend is coming to stay at mine from Friday to Sunday
I am thinking that 40 hours per week may be an unrealistic target that I should drop to 30, seeing as most weeks I am going to have something social to do which puts me out of poker action for a day or 2. We'll see how I do when I have a completely free week next week
For now though, here is my very good looking session graph
And here is my overall graph so far:
Just a quick update. I just played a very good session with an EVB/100 of 16 and an actual of 21. The only disappointment is that I only played for 4 hours :/
This is good bearing in mind that over the large sample of my last challenge both numbers were about 12.
Anyway, I was down $63.39 with my last $8 game playing with me about 4th of 18. I ended up coming 2nd!
but lost a 6:1 chip lead heads up! :O losing 69 vs Q4, TT vs A9 and A6 vs AKI can't complain though because I could have easily been knocked out 4th, when I won a J8 vs 88 for 7BBs in a blind battle.
That means I had a +$200.85 session and puts me well on my way to $1.5k profit when I will add in the $15s.
I am fully prepared for an inevitable downswing soon, but let's keep the profit coming as long as possible! :P
I should mention that I am going to fail my goals for this first week for a variety of good reasons. I am going to see a uni friend at his new house in London tomorrow to watch the champions league. I support Chelsea :P
Then my girlfriend is coming to stay at mine from Friday to Sunday
I am thinking that 40 hours per week may be an unrealistic target that I should drop to 30, seeing as most weeks I am going to have something social to do which puts me out of poker action for a day or 2. We'll see how I do when I have a completely free week next week
For now though, here is my very good looking session graph
And here is my overall graph so far:
09-19-2013
, 05:46 PM
Ok so the session ended up $75, which I am fairly relived about. I feel like I played pretty badly and got into loads of spots where I had no idea what to do. This is shown by my EVBB/100 only being about 2 this session, but fortunately my actual was 10, and this luck is the only reason I had a profitable session. It was purely saved by coming 2nd in an $8 game. I'm fairly happy with my volume getting in 101 games in about 6 hours.
Here's my overall graph so far:
I'll probably play one more small session tomorrow and then I'm not free until next week
Here's my overall graph so far:
I'll probably play one more small session tomorrow and then I'm not free until next week
09-23-2013
, 12:47 PM
09-23-2013
, 12:57 PM
Week 1
Poker Hours = 16 (Had other commitments this week)
Gym Sessions = 3 (moving up to 4 sessions once I am fitter)
Swimming Sessions = 0 (I won't include swimming until I am fitter)
Total Games Played = 272
Profit = $332.14
Breakdown of Week:
$2.50 Games Played = 160
$2.50 Profit = $188.95
$8 Games Played = 112
$8 Profit = $143.19
Overall Profit = $332.14
Bankroll = $3332.15
Overall ROI = 25.6%
Overall $/hour = $21.31
A good first week considering it wasn't a full week.
Apologies for not posting this on Sunday.
I'll be starting my first Week 2 session in an hour or so and will hopefully reg until midnight
Main Goals for Week 2
Poker Hours = 16 (Had other commitments this week)
Gym Sessions = 3 (moving up to 4 sessions once I am fitter)
Swimming Sessions = 0 (I won't include swimming until I am fitter)
Total Games Played = 272
Profit = $332.14
Breakdown of Week:
$2.50 Games Played = 160
$2.50 Profit = $188.95
$8 Games Played = 112
$8 Profit = $143.19
Overall Profit = $332.14
Bankroll = $3332.15
Overall ROI = 25.6%
Overall $/hour = $21.31
A good first week considering it wasn't a full week.
Apologies for not posting this on Sunday.
I'll be starting my first Week 2 session in an hour or so and will hopefully reg until midnight
Main Goals for Week 2
- 30 Hours of Poker
- 3 Gym Sessions
- 5 Hours of Strategy Videos
09-23-2013
, 08:01 PM
Start of Week 2
Woop I came 3rd in another $8 game meaning I just had a +$367.14 session! I even lost AK to K3 for a 120k pot to get knocked out 3rd! So bizarrely I feel kind of disappointed not to have won more! Especially seeing as it is such a huuuuuge jump from 3rd to 2nd to 1st. I also lost a 15k pot to bubble on my other $8 game AK to QJ For a few minutes I was speculating about having a +$1k session!
Haha oh well it is still a veeeeeeeeeeeeeery good start! Wooooooop I am actually at $35/hour overall at the moment. Unfortunately I do not think this is sustainable!
I'm a bit disappointed only getting in just over 4 hours of play with 71 games. Need more volume tomorrow!
Session graph:
Overall Graph:
Woop I came 3rd in another $8 game meaning I just had a +$367.14 session! I even lost AK to K3 for a 120k pot to get knocked out 3rd!
So bizarrely I feel kind of disappointed not to have won more! Especially seeing as it is such a huuuuuge jump from 3rd to 2nd to 1st. I also lost a 15k pot to bubble on my other $8 game AK to QJ For a few minutes I was speculating about having a +$1k session! Haha oh well it is still a veeeeeeeeeeeeeery good start!
Wooooooop I am actually at $35/hour overall at the moment. Unfortunately I do not think this is sustainable! I'm a bit disappointed only getting in just over 4 hours of play with 71 games. Need more volume tomorrow!
Session graph:
Overall Graph:
09-24-2013
, 06:52 PM
So it turns out I can lose! Just had my first losing session. Got in 95 games in over 5 hours and lost $234 :/
Highest finishes were 2 4ths which is definitely the most frustrating place to finish. I made 2 misclicks this session too! :O need more concentration!
Chin up for tomorrow's session
Overall Graph
Just had my first losing session. Got in 95 games in over 5 hours and lost $234 :/Highest finishes were 2 4ths which is definitely the most frustrating place to finish. I made 2 misclicks this session too! :O need more concentration!
Chin up for tomorrow's session
Overall Graph
09-27-2013
, 08:42 PM
Last 3 days
On Wednesday I made $3.91 in a session so didn't update my thread but wooooooooo profit!! :P
I chose not to play yesterday, but I just played for 4 hours now. A couple of hours ago I was down about $300 and feeling quite down cos of it :/ but I ended the session up $250! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I came 2nd in 2 $8 games annoyingly losing both heads up dominating. $130 difference between 2nd and 1st! That's more than the whole first prize in the $2.50s!
The weird thing so far is that I am actually down $52.22 from the $2.50s, but up $774.70 from the $8s.
I'm not worried though because I know that I am profitable at the $2.50s from my last challenge. It's just a little bizarre. Very nice to get off to a flying start with the 8s though.
I can't play tomorrow because of a friend's birthday but I'll hopefully play 12 hours against all the Sunday fish :P
Here's my overall so far:
On Wednesday I made $3.91 in a session so didn't update my thread
but wooooooooo profit!! :P I chose not to play yesterday, but I just played for 4 hours now. A couple of hours ago I was down about $300 and feeling quite down cos of it :/ but I ended the session up $250! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I came 2nd in 2 $8 games annoyingly losing both heads up dominating. $130 difference between 2nd and 1st!
That's more than the whole first prize in the $2.50s!The weird thing so far is that I am actually down $52.22 from the $2.50s, but up $774.70 from the $8s.
I'm not worried though because I know that I am profitable at the $2.50s from my last challenge. It's just a little bizarre. Very nice to get off to a flying start with the 8s though
. I can't play tomorrow because of a friend's birthday
but I'll hopefully play 12 hours against all the Sunday fish :PHere's my overall so far:
09-29-2013
, 08:28 PM
WHY CAN'T I WIN HEADS UP!!?? Just lost a HU getting it in 3 times dominating and losing them all KT to K8, A9 to A6 and A8 to A5! $130 difference
Aaaaaaaanyway, I actually just had a very good session winning $360 in about 4.5 hours of play. I am quite disappointed that I didn't put in a huge volume sunday but I didn't feel too great when I got up today so didn't start until late.
Week 2
Poker Hours = 21 (Very disappointing)
Gym Sessions = 3 (moving up to 4 sessions once I am fitter)
Total Games Played = 348
Profit = $749.32
Breakdown of Week:
$2.50 Games Played = 197
$2.50 Profit = -$309.89
$8 Games Played = 151
$8 Profit = $1059.21
Overall Profit = $1081.46
Bankroll = $4081.47
Overall ROI = 36.1%
Overall $/hour = $29.45
Week 2 Graph:
Overall Graph:
Despite being a very good week monetarily, that shouldn't hide the fact that I have no excuse for not playing more hours, so for this I am very disappointed in myself. Next week I must hit at least 30 hours!
Also, it was a very bad week for the $2.50s, which was fortunately hidden by the fact that it was an incredible week for the $8s.
I'm wondering if maybe I do not concentrate on the $2.50s as much or if I play a bit worse (like shoving too loose) because it is less money. Obviously, I haven't got a big enough sample to prove this but I'll keep an eye on it and crunch some stats at some point soon. It would be very weird if I persistently lose/break even at the $2.50s but crush the $8s!
I should also mention that only 1 hour of strategy videos got watched, despite the fact that I have access to many many good 180-man strategy videos. Need to work on this too :/
Only goal for week 3: Play at least 30 hours with no excuses
Just lost a HU getting it in 3 times dominating and losing them all KT to K8, A9 to A6 and A8 to A5! $130 difference Aaaaaaaanyway, I actually just had a very good session winning $360 in about 4.5 hours of play. I am quite disappointed that I didn't put in a huge volume sunday but I didn't feel too great when I got up today so didn't start until late.
Week 2
Poker Hours = 21 (Very disappointing)
Gym Sessions = 3 (moving up to 4 sessions once I am fitter)
Total Games Played = 348
Profit = $749.32
Breakdown of Week:
$2.50 Games Played = 197
$2.50 Profit = -$309.89
$8 Games Played = 151
$8 Profit = $1059.21
Overall Profit = $1081.46
Bankroll = $4081.47
Overall ROI = 36.1%
Overall $/hour = $29.45
Week 2 Graph:
Overall Graph:
Despite being a very good week monetarily, that shouldn't hide the fact that I have no excuse for not playing more hours, so for this I am very disappointed in myself. Next week I must hit at least 30 hours!
Also, it was a very bad week for the $2.50s, which was fortunately hidden by the fact that it was an incredible week for the $8s.
I'm wondering if maybe I do not concentrate on the $2.50s as much or if I play a bit worse (like shoving too loose) because it is less money. Obviously, I haven't got a big enough sample to prove this but I'll keep an eye on it and crunch some stats at some point soon. It would be very weird if I persistently lose/break even at the $2.50s but crush the $8s!
I should also mention that only 1 hour of strategy videos got watched, despite the fact that I have access to many many good 180-man strategy videos. Need to work on this too :/
Only goal for week 3: Play at least 30 hours with no excuses