The Past
It's fair to say I've had an eventful past three years or so when it comes to the financial situation in my life. The long and short of it is I gambled and invested my way from a couple of hundred pounds all the way up to a peak of just over £50,000 in June last year. Since then however things have gone downhill pretty quickly largely due to a bit of complacency on my part I think. I ended up with a huge chunk of money disappear basically overnight due to the company I was invested in going into administration. As a result now I'm back to the situation I was in around three years. Obviously looking back now I have serious regrets, the main one being not setting some money aside for a situation like this. Moving forward I'm hoping the experiences I've had will serve me well. Using failure as fuel for my future success!

The Challenge
I'm starting with just £100 and I'm going to use whatever methods I feel best to earn me a good return on this investment. The initial plan is to play poker at the microstakes as well as do some sportsbook arbitrage to hopefully build my bankroll so I can then look at expanding into other areas. I do have a few more ideas about where I want to go with this in future but obviously it's all dependent on how well I go to begin with. Main thing I want to focus on is self-discipline and hard-work, these two things are key in achieving anything.

The Goals
My short-term goal is to increase my bankroll by +50% each week for the first five weeks. This may seem quite aggressive but I think it's totally possible when dealing with the lower amounts. One longer-term goal is to try and get to the stage where I can cash-out £5,000 from this challenge to pay for a family holiday next summer. A goal of this thread is to inspire and show people that it is possible to build up a small amount of money into something much bigger through successful gambling and investing ventures to live an alternative life outside of traditional employment.

The Updates
I plan to update every Monday with how I've done the previous week with a breakdown of profit/loss from each different area. I'm going to give myself three extra days the first week to hopefully help me get off to a flying start!

Just thought I'd give a quick update given I'm halfway through my first (extended) week of this challenge.

Glad to report things have gone pretty well so far and I'm well on my way to reaching and potentially surpassing my target for the first week. Actually really enjoyed the poker sessions I've been putting in, only playing NL2 at the moment but fairly happy with the way I've been playing and progressing.

Sessions Played
07/05/21 - played 3 sessions totalling 4hr 10m
08/05/21 - played 2 sessions totalling 5hr 15m
09/05/21 - played 2 sessions totalling 3hrs
10/05/21 - played 3 sessions totalling 6hrs
11/05/21 - played 3 sessions totalling 4hr 25m

So putting in decent hours and still on the large part keeping my cool even when variance was running it's course against me and the occasional bad play.

Also what's been useful considering I'm not playing with my own poker software/HUD yet (plan to in the future hopefully!) is that the poker site I play as an in-built sort rudimentary kind of HUD that tracks how players are playing against you over the course of the time you spend at the table with them and you can even set it up to your own ranges if you like.



I'm not sure if this a more common thing across all poker sites now but it's something worth taking into consideration when playing that your opponents can now see this information also. Although I'm unsure how many players down at the micros would know how to use this information to their advantage.

Subsribed. GL!

Week 1 Update
Disappointed to report that the second half of my extended week didn't go as well as the first half and I fall well short of my £50 profit target. A few poor football bets (staking too much) really played on my mind and then I ended up titling and playing bad poker after losing a number of stacks playing HU against an aggressive player in the same evening.

Overall though I have been happy with how I've been playing poker it's just on the odd occasion where I have let myself down. At the microstakes especially it's all about keeping patient and not trying to force things. I feel like maybe I did burn out and let factors outside the poker affect my play. I do know when I'm not playing my best, I tend to play too aggressively, I play too many hands and also play hands quickly and call too widely.

Poker Sessions Played
12/05/21 - played 3 sessions totalling 6hrs 35m
13/05/21 - played 2 sessions totalling 3hr 30m
14/05/21 - played 2 sessions totalling 3hr 40m
15/05/21 - played 2 sessions totalling 3hr
16/05/21 - played 1 session totalling 1hr 10m

Week 1 Results
Sports Arbs +£2.75
Football -£14.75
Horse Racing +£2.85
Poker +£17.67

Week 1 Profit: +£8.52
New Bankroll: £108.52

Week 2 Goals
Stay disciplined in my staking plan with football bets. Keep putting in the hours playing poker at NL2. Try reach £50 profit target for this week.

Week 2 update
Another disappointing week I'm sad to report. I was feeling unwell a couple of days during the week and then was busy this weekend so my hours put in really suffered. I'm still very determined to keep going with this challenge, I'm close to getting my rakeback for the month and I'm committing to putting in some serious volume this week and hopeful to earn another rakebake bonus by the end of the week. Overall still happy with my play at NL2, I forgot to mention that I'm actually playing at tables in Euros so it's actually slightly less than my currency equivalent at these stakes (£1.73 is the max buy-in). I'm up 13 Buy-ins over the two weeks so far, which is decent going I think. Definitely looking at moving upto NL4 very shortly, I don't think there's a huge difference in level of play.

Poker Sessions Played
17/05/21 - 3 Sessions (4hr 45m total)
18/05/21 - 3 Sessions (3hr 45m total)
19/05/21 - 3 Sessions (4hr 30m total)
20/05/21 - 3 Sessions (4hr 50m total)
21/05/21 - 2 Sessions (3hr 30m total)
~ 21hr 20m Total Time Played ~

Week 2 Results
Sports Arbs -£0.44
Football +£1.63
Horse Racing -£6.70
Poker +£5.34

Week 2 Profit: -£0.17
New Bankroll: £108.35

Week 3 Goals
Put in at least 45 hours at the poker tables this week and earn the two rakeback rewards. Try reach £50 profit target for this week.

Week 3 Update
Feels like there was finally some sort of lift off this week with me recording a decent sized profit for the first time. I felt my concentration at the poker table was getting better, still making the odd mistake but overall happy with how I'm doing. I even had a little one buy-in taster on NL4 and NL10 tables just to give me an idea of what the quality of play is like. Ended up doubling up both times up against poor players trying to bluff on dry boards! So that gives me confidence going forward that there isn't much difference between the level of play and that I should be able to move up the microstakes and maintain a good winrate. Annoyingly an unexpected expense came up and I had to withdraw my bankroll on Saturday morning which meant I haven't been able to play over the weekend, although I think a few days away from Poker can have it's own benefits. I'm disappointed that two weeks running I've missed out on the opportuntity to play poker at the weekend, which is probably the most profitable time to be playing. I always think it does take a little bit of a mindset shift to be able to work at weekends though because it's traditionally when peopling are socialising and having fun. If you want to succeed those are the sort of challenges and distractions you need to overcome. I was able to put a little money back into my poker account today (will have my full bankroll back by the end of the week) so I'll be back grinding at NL2, I'm thinking for perhaps the last week before I move up. I managed to activate one of my rake bonus for the month so £8.64 of this weeks profit comes from that.

Poker Sessions Played
24/05/21 - played 3 sessions totalling 5hrs
25/05/21 - played 3 sessions totalling 5hr 15m
26/05/21 - played 2 sessions totalling 4hr 15m
27/05/21 - played 2 sessions totalling 2hr 40m
28/05/21 - played 2 sessions totalling 4hr 5m
~ 21hr 15m Total Time Played ~

Week 3 Results
Sports Arbs +£2.53
Football +£1.21
Poker +£45.94

Week 3 Profit: £49.68
New Bankroll: £158.03

Week 4 Goals
I want to schedule sessions better and work on overcoming procrastination so I can put in more hours.

I'd stop arbing if you want to keep your sports betting accounts. GL man.

Thanks for the concern. I've labelled it arbing on here but I guess it is more matched betting involving free bets/promotions/free spins that sort of thing. Inevitably though if you are doing this sort of thing eventually your sports betting accounts will get closed, as they will if you are a winning punter. It's just unfortunately how things are, thankfully there's plenty of different sports betting accounts you an create out there. This is actually one area of my challenge I haven't really been taking maximum advantage of yet, having a small bankroll is a bit of an obstacle for this at the moment because it does require a lot of money having to be moved around in different accounts.

Week 4 update
I exclusively focused on poker this week. I must say I feel I'm getting better with my concentration during sessions. But ultimately I still do find it tough to sit there and play my best game for three hours straight. It's probably already been said by many people but I think the game of poker can bring out and really show and tell you a lot about yourself. Probably one major flaw in myself is that I can get overly self-critical of myself, one bad session can seem to lead to me doubting myself when really I need to look at the broader picture and recognise what mistakes I'm making to improve going forward. I'm thankful to be saying I'm going to be moving upto NL4 from next week, from what I've read around there's usually not a great difference in player quality. So theoretically at least I should be winning twice as much as I have been doing at NL2. Whilst my obvious goal is monetary to keep improving my bankroll going forward I think the focus as got to be on the poker and playing your best game. I'm looking to watch a few more videos and read bits of poker books I have to keep my mind refreshed on the basics you need.

Hand Help NL2, 6max, NLH
One hand that I'd be interested to here people's thoughts on, I don't have the exact details but I think I have all the adequate details to form an opinion. The BTN is a reg at this level, playing a pretty standard range.
I was dealt KK in the SB
EP raises to 0.06
BTN re-raises to 0.24
SB (Hero) calls 0.24
EP folds
~~ Flop was pretty harmless, rainbow three low cards highest being a 10
Hero checks
BTN raises 0.28
Hero calls
~~ Turn, another harmless card, no straight or flush combinations on board~
Hero checks
BTN raises 0.56
Hero calls
~~ River , another 10 pairing the board
Hero Checks
BTN shoves all-in (1.60 or so)
Hero Calls
BTN Shows AA
and wins the pot with two pair (Aces and Tens)
===================
Looking back on this hand I think I completely butchered it. A 4-bet at these stakes against that sort of opponent is basically always going to be a monster hand so I'd narrow it down to (JJ, QQ, AK, AA, KK). Looking back I'm not liking the flat call out of position, maybe a 5-bet would have been better? (a call then would have told me I'm up highly likely against AA). I don't think I can get away from calling the flop and turn with a pretty harmless looking board for KK but then the shove on the end I think I've got to fold in this spot? At the time I wasn't thinking straight and for some reason felt like maybe they was trying to rep a ten and scare me out of the pot and I was pretty confident they didn't have one so I ended up calling down. Or maybe I'm just overthinking this hand, player could just have easily had QQ or JJ in a situation like this. Be interested to hear any opinions on this.

Poker Sessions Played
01/06/21 - 2 sessions totalling 4hr 20m
02/06/21 - 4 sessions totalling 7hr 20m
03/06/21 - 3 sessions totalling 5hr 30m
04/06/21 - 3 sessions totalling 8hr 20m
05/06/21 - 4 sessions totalling 7hr 10m
~ 32hr 40m Total Time Played ~

Week 4 Results
Poker +£19.17

Week 4 Profit: £19.17
New Bankroll: £177.20

Week 5 Goals
Start playing NL4, look to put in good hours and make note of any differences in play at this new stake.

Weeks 5, 6, 7 and 8 Update
It's been a month since I last posted an update in here. In that time I've been really busy watching almost every football game from Euro 2020 and The Copa America. I'm fairly happy with how my football betting has been going, my only concern is that I do get too aggressive with my stakes sometimes I need to learn to wheel that in because I feel after years of watching football I am really good at reading games in-play so need to force things and chase back losses with bigger bets, need to keep the long-term view. Laying Spain to win against Croatia at low odds when 3-2 up going into the final stages of the game was probably my best bet so far.

Due to all the time spent on the football my poker has taken something of a back seat, especially during week 6 and 7 of the challenge here. Week 5 was my first week at NL4, and honestly I found it tougher than I thought it would stepping up from NL2, the pool of players did seem very nitty and tough to make a good winrate at. Since the success of my football betting I decided to take a shot further up the stakes at NL10 and NL20 and honestly so far I've found that to be more comfortable level to play for me, I feel like there's a lot more logical play going on at this level and it's easier to bluff spots against regs. I think the extra thought and concentration needed against slightly better player has improved my focus and game. Even at these stakes you do get a number of poor players who seemingly just stack off for fun. Like I always preach having patience and playing a good solid game of poker is the road to great success at these stakes. An added bonus of playing higher up the stakes is the increased rakebake, with the rate I'm hoping to play this coming week I should make around £40 in moneyback alone from that providing I can play break-even poker or better of course.

Overall I'm feeling confident with how things are going, just over £650 in profit over 8 weeks might not be as quickly as I was hoping but it's still decent going and the bigger bankroll allows me great flexibility in what I choose to do going forward. The football is nearly over with now so the focus will largely be back onto poker this week, putting in the hours and hopefully reaping the rewards.

Week 5 Results
Sports Arbs +£3.98
Football +£66.53
Poker +£10.07

Week 6 Results
Sports Arbs +£25.61
Football -£106.24
Horse Racing +£18.69
Poker +£25.48

Week 7 Results
Sports Arbs +£16.13
Football +£194.03
Poker +£9.35

Week 8 Results
Sports Arbs +£16.71
Football +£190.33
Horse Racing +£12.10
Poker +£96.70

Totals
Week 5 Profit: £80.58
Week 6 Loss: -£36.46
Week 7 Profit: £219.51
Week 8 Profit: £315.84

New Bankroll = £756.67

I mean this is true, but surely it is not worth it to get accounts closed while staking so little.

Ideally I would be staking more but I only started this with £100 remember, looking at expanding that in the future. Still plenty of offers and sportsbooks out there I haven't even signed up for yet. Focus been on the poker and football betting at the moment though. Literally just been doing free bets/spins that take me a small amount of time to do at the moment.

Week 9 Update
Been playing two tables at NL20 this week. Had a really poor start to the week and was down six buy-ins worked hard the rest of the week and managed to claw myself back into profit on the final session. I was in a spot of bad variance and combined with being card dead lead me to playing poor poker. Trying to force plays and calling far too lightly on occasions. I suppose I should take some positives from the fact I ended the week in profit despite knowing a made some clear errors I just need to work on my leaks. Staying patient and disciplined when things are going against me.

I don't know if anyone's got any advice about how to play AK at these stakes, on four separate occasions I got it all-in with this hand pre-flop and was beaten and it feels at best you are going to have what 45% equity up against a pocket pair? or be totally crushed against Aces or Kings. Maybe these situations are just inevitable sometimes, What do you think the standard line is when you raise pre-flop with this hand and get 3-bet on (making the assumption here that players play tight and don't 3-bet lightly) I've been playing it shove all-in but I'm thinking maybe flatting could be the correct play? Especially if you feel you can outplay the player post-flop. The only issue then is that if you hit your A or K it is a massive scare card for anyone with a pocket pair and a good player will fold and you'll lose your action. If you miss you are going to end up check folding it a lot of the time. Would be great to here people's opinions on this.

Poker Sessions Played - w/c 05/07/21
MON - 4 sessions totalling 7hr 40m
TUE - 3 sessions totalling 3hr 20m
WED - 1 session totalling 2hr 30m
THU - 2 sessions totalling 4hr 10m
FRI - 3 sessions totalling 6hr 45m
SAT - 4 sessions totalling 5hrs
SUN - 1 session totalling 2hrs
~ 31hr 25m Total Time Played ~

Week 9 Results
Sports Arbs +£3.23
Football +£48.82
Poker +£16.29

Week 9 Profit: £68.34
New Bankroll: £825.01

Week 10 goals
With football at large on summer break now I'm going to be back focusing solely on Poker and the Sports arbing this week. I would love to get upto the £1k mark by the end of the week to make it a nice round £200 per week. I have put a lot of work and effort into this put hopefully I'm slowly starting to prove you can make a living doing what I'm doing if you stay committed and keep the faith.

Week 10 Update
This week didn't go to plan really. Kept running into the old problems of stacking off too lightly, which is frustrating. But I'm trying to be kind and forgiving of myself it's no use beating yourself up over mistakes. Got to just use them as fuel to get better and learn. Even despite numerous mistakes over the course of the week I ended just 4 buy-ins down for the week, which I don't think it's too bad considering all the money I felt like a left on the table with bad plays. Calling off a 5-bet all-in jam against a nitty reg with KK when I was deepstacked was probably my biggest mistakes of the week (so obvious they had AA) that along with getting stacked off against a player slow-playing trips on a dry board when I only had two pair. Numerous other examples this week, I just need to learn to stop trying to force things and find the fold more often when in spots like this. I think Poker is often a mental challenge more than anything, it's manging thoose ups and downs along the way and still playing a solid game and making the correct decisions. It's as simple and as hard as that! One bad mistake changed my 7hr+ session on Saturday from a very good one to a barely profitable one.

Poker Sessions Played - w/c 12/07/21
TUE - 2 sessions totalling 4hr
WED - 2 sessions totalling 6hr 5m
THU - 3 sessions totalling 5hr 5m
FRI - 2 sessions totalling 4hr 20m
SAT - 4 sessions totalling 7hr 35m
~ 27hr, 5m Total Time Played ~

Week 10 Results
Sports Arbs +£14.71
Horse Racing +£5.10
Poker -£67.61

Week 10 Loss: -£47.80
New Bankroll: £777.21

Week 11 Goals
More effort into studying this week, read some of the poker books I've got every day and watch videos online to improve my game. Stay focused and disciplined in poker and try to stop calling down in spots I clearly shouldn't!

Subscribed, GL with this

Thanks

Week 11 Update
Sadly another losing week to report. I think I fell into the trap of focusing too much on playing and putting volume in and not enough on studying my own game. Looked back at some of my hands this week and noticed I've been playing too many marginal hands in situations that I shouldn't be, especially OOP. Strange when I thought I had my hand ranges pretty much dialled in on automatic, it feels like maybe under the pressure of a loss over me and focusing on putting in the hours I forgot something so basic. Always been a big advocate at the micro stakes of keeping it simple and the hand ranges you play is paramount to that. A couple of times this week I found myself titling slightly which further contributed to the loss figure. My sole focus was on poker this week, I think I'm going to extend back to a few of my other areas next week and hopefully take the heat of my poker play. I feel like I play my best poker sometimes when I've the knowledge of having made money elsewhere in the week, maybe it's a taking the pressure of myself thing. All being said a significant chunk has been taken out of my bankroll so I'm only going to continue at NL20 for another £100, if I can't turn things around then I'm going to move back down in stakes.

Strangely despite being on a 16 buy-in downswing over the past couple of weeks. I still feel pretty confident going forward that the games I play in are very beatable. It's just a matter of bringing my best game to the table on a consistent basis.

Poker Sessions Played - w/c 19/07/21
MON - 4 sessions totalling 6hrs
TUE - 3 sessions totalling 5hr 55m
WED - 3 sessions totalling 6hr 5m
THU - 3 sessions totalling 7hrs
FRI - 4 sessions totalling 4hr 15m
SAT - 2 sessions totalling 3hr 30m
~ 32hr 45m Total Time Played ~

Week 11 Results
Poker -£181.08

Week 11 Loss: -£181.08
New Bankroll: £596.13

Week 12 goals
Make sure I'm playing the correct hand ranges and study more!

Week 12 and 13 Update
A difficult couple of weeks for me, had to eat into my bankroll for some expenses so took the step down early in week 12 (after a poor start anyway) from NL20 all the way back down to NL2. Then proceeded to play that throughout week 13, been doing okay at that level. Turning a profit anyway. Frustratingly I staked too highly on football bets this week just gone (bad idea chasing a loss after one of bets when down last minute) which has put another dent in my bankroll. There's an enhanced rakeback promotion going on at the moment so focusing in on putting in good volume at NL4 this week.

End of the 13th week marks a quarter of a year mark with this challenge. Honestly by this point I was expecting to have done significantly better and made lots more progress to be honest. In hindsight I think perhaps it was a mistake to jump up straight to NL20 given I had more funds to do so. I feel a lot more comfortable and confident at NL4 now. I feel like it takes a good couple of weeks to get use to the players in the pool and how players can play differently at each stake. Plan going forward is to work my way up the stakes in a more traditional manner, no skipping stages along the way.

Week 12 Results
Sports Arbs +£13.82
Horse Racing +£43.09
Poker -£72.41

Week 13 Results
Sports Arbs +£15.11
Football -£157.68
Horse Racing -£4.49
Poker +£24.47

Week 12 Loss: -£15.50
Week 13 Loss: -£122.77
New Bankroll: £457.86

Week Goals
Stay Disciplined with football betting and keep putting in the hours at the poker table.

Week 14 Update
Always more difficult to post these updates after a poor week but I think there's often more to learn from these weeks than ones where everything runs smoothly. I'll start with the bad and my ill-disciplined betting when it came to both Football and Horse Racing, the later was mostly by mistake as I ended trying my hand at trading pre-race and didn't trade out my bet in time before the start of the race, no excuses though it was my own silly mistake. Then ended up placing a few bets I wouldn't normally make to try and recoup the loss (always a dreadful idea). It's the betting equivalent of tilt I would say. Just like that I need to learn to take a longer-term view, one lost bet (or hand at poker) isn't a problem it's the bad reaction to it that is.

I think I have mentioned it previously but I'm convinced that succeeding at this is all about mindset. Or at least you won't be successful without a good one. It's as simple as that really. I'm still confident in my ability to beat the odds when it comes to these things I'm involved in. When I'm in the correct place mentally it feels like the easiest thing in the world, whether it be making correct plays on the poker tables or placing a winning in-play bet on the football.

I'll finish on a positive note and say my week at NL4 went reasonable well, it's true that around two/thirds of my winnings came from rakeback. But I feel like it's the best week I've played at the stake level and I was making good plays the majority of the time. Also finding it more comfortable putting in the hours and focus. Going forward i'm going to keep going with NL4 this week coming, hopefully another successful week at this level and I'll consider moving up and taking a shot at the next level.

Poker Sessions Played - w/c 09/08/21
MON - 4 sessions totalling 9hr 5m
TUE - 3 sessions totalling 5hr 40m
WED - 3 sessions totalling 6hr 20m
THU - 3 sessions totalling 5hr 5m
FRI - 2 sessions totalling 5hr 20m
SAT - 3 sessions totalling 5hr
SUN - 1 session totalling 1hr 45m
~ 38hr 15m Total Time Played ~

Week 14 Results
Sports Arbs +£13.73
Football -£127.68
Horse Racing -£128.40
Poker +£64.63

Week 14 Loss: -£177.90
New Bankroll: £279.96

Week Goals
Keep putting in the hours at the poker table, I'm setting a maximum limit of £10 stakes on my betting for now also.

Week 15 and 16 Update
Still battling away with this at moment. That's how it honestly feels at times. Feel like I've been really down on my luck with my football betting lately and maybe I have over staked slightly but I feel like I've been pulling out good selections and things are just going against me. That's the way it goes sometimes, playing poker as well I should be more comfortable with the idea of variance but it's still very annoying picking out a selection at a good price and them losing due to a referee decision or some unlucky goal. It's international week in the football world so I'm going to take a break from betting on that and put my focus on the poker. I feel like I'm getting better at grinding the tables, I seem to be making more right decisions and keeping my calm with greater frequency. Been reading and listening to some inspiration stuff this week which has got me really fired up. The idea of really pushing yourself and getting out of the comfort zone to realise what you are truly capable of is something that's really appealing to me. My results at the poker tables aren't exceptional but I fully believe if I have the skillset and the passion to learn new things and push my way up the stakes to a decent level. I'm going to keep playing at NL4 for the time being but I am going to slowly try my hand at moving upto NL10 from next week for sure, I may even give it a go this week to get a taster for what the level is like.

Week 15 Results
Sports Arbs +£7.29
Football -£98.66
Horse Racing -£25.66
Poker +£0.79

Week 16 Results
Sports Arbs +£14.19
Football -£60.88
Horse Racing +£57.23
Poker +£37.20

Week 15 Loss: -£64.92
Week 16 Profit: +£47.74
New Bankroll: £262.78

Week 17 goals
Focus on poker this week, looking to put in some serious hours at the table and earn rakeback rewards. Want to put in a minimum of 40hrs this week, hopefully upto 50hrs. Let's try and get a three figure profit for the week also!

Week 17 Update
Managed to hit my 40hr target for the week but felt a little burnout so decided to take today (Sunday) off. Feel like my play has been fairly solid and I reckon I got in somewhere around 14,000 hands this week. So the winrate isn't all that great which surprises me a little as I think I've been playing fairly solid throughout. Unfortunately the horse racing and football betting is still letting me down badly. All I can keep doing is keep analysing my bets and plays to keep improving and moving forward. I have ventured into short deck and PLO games this week and I must say they do seem softer than the NLH tables, although maybe it's a little too early to come to any conclusions as I've only played a small sample size there. My initial plan was to move upto NL10 this week but I think I'm going to stick with NL4 considering my bankroll hasn't been moving in the right direction and although i'm turning a profit at the level I want to improve my winrate before moving up further.

Poker Sessions Played - w/c 30/08/21
MON - 4 sessions totalling 9hr 25m
TUE - 3 sessions totalling 5hr 25m
WED - 2 sessions totalling 5hr 30m
THU - 3 sessions totalling 4hr 50m
FRI - 5 sessions totalling 7hr 35m
SAT - 3 sessions totalling 6hr 45m
~ 40hr 30m Total Time Played ~

Week 17 Results
Sports Arbs -£0.85
Football -£23.30
Horse Racing -£30.60
Poker +£43.32

Week 17 Loss: -£11.43
New Bankroll: £251.35

Week 18 goals
Put in another 40hrs+ at the poker tables. Do more sports arbing this week. Reduced stakes on my football/horse racing bets.

Week 18 Update
Didn't get as much play in as I ideally would have liked this week at the poker tables, did decide to switch my focus towards the betting side of things at the weekend instead. But glad to report things are moving in the right direction and I'm really confident in my play at the NL4 level now. Most pleasing is my self-discipline in sticking within a sensible plan.

Poker Sessions Played - w/c 06/09/21
MON - 3 sessions totalling 4hr 20m
TUE - NO PLAY
WED - 2 sessions totalling 7hr 15m
THU - 3 sessions totalling 6hr 45m
FRI - 3 sessions totalling 6hr 30m
SAT - NO PLAY
SUN - NO PLAY
~ 24hr 50m Total Time Played ~

Week 18 Results
Sports Arbs +£19.15
Football +£12.01
Horse Racing -£10.30
Poker +£18.57

Week 18 Profit: £39.43
New Bankroll: £290.78

Week 19 goals
Aiming for the 40 hours at the poker tables this week again. Let's go!

Week 19 and 20 Update
Just posting this to tie up loose ends really as I've decided to call it quits on the challenge. One because I need to withdraw my bankroll for an expense right now and two I was never able to really gain much momentum or consistency in this challenge. Maybe spreading myself over a number of different areas of gambling was part of the reason rather than putting my focus all into one. I did put a lot of work and hours into this put realistic it wasn't paying nearly enough to make a living from. I will undoubtedly still continue these things in some form in my spare time. I think maybe the pressure of trying to build up a bankroll affected my performance somewhat. Always felt I was playing my best poker when I was just playing the cards as they come and focusing on making good decisions. All my bad bets and times at the tables when I was trying to force it and thinking about winning the money. I take some solace from the fact I managed to turn a profit despite knowing my mindset and discipline let's me down on a number of occasions. Honestly I do think it is possible to make a living doing what I'm doing but it does take a lot of patience.

Week 19 Results
Sports Arbs +£45.97
Football +£35.81
Horse Racing +£39.52
Poker +£18.77

Week 20 Results
Sports Arbs +£35.11
Football -£20.05
Horse Racing -£69.55
Poker -£8.17

Week 19 Profit: £140.07
Week 20 Profit: -£62.66

End Bankroll: £368.19
Total Challenge Profit: +£268.19

Interesting story, do you mind sharing more of your story about how you got to 50k then what went wrong after that?

Ignore my username, I do want to report on things surrounding poker but I am just curious in this case.

Hope things work out for you.

Also interested , like did you were all-in with your whole roll to 1 company and why? Sounds weird.

I remember on 2+2 here was a thread of some guy started with companies was successful for a bit but always failing and endlessly failing and somehow blames circumstance / bad luck , which it probably was but the stories almost sounded like he is looking for failing all the time to make it a story. just popped to mind sry. for off-topic. Anyone remembers what I talk about?

I ran up a bankroll of £15k from a mixture of what I've shown on this thread. Football/horse racing betting, playing poker and arbing. Summer of 2019 I heard about this new football gambling product called "Football Index" that was suppose to replicate the stock exchange. I ended up focusing more and more on that over time and before I knew it I'd sunk the majority of the £15k into it and was making £2-3k a month from it, and mostly just carried on re-investing a lot of the money I made from there. At my peak point I had a value of close to £60k portfolio value (and probably could have cashed all that out and sold up all my shares for around £50k).

Pretty much all in on the Football Index product I mention above yes. Pretty silly looking back on it, plenty of horror stories out there similar to mine if you google it.