"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." - Robert Collier
There's a simple truth in those words in relation to playing poker. So simple, yet so hard to master - much like the game itself...
How's it going folks? Thanks for taking the time to visit Ye Olde Poker blog. I hope that I can provide you with something of value through these (soon to be) pages.
It's been a few years since I've taken poker seriously, playing sporadically here or there. I used to play predominantly MTTs & MTSNGs on PokerStars when the games were way more plentiful back in 2008-2012. I had a real love for the game and I was pretty good at it too, putting up decent numbers during this time. Most of it was tracked on OPR:
Eventually, I became confident enough in my abilities to take a shot and try to make a living exclusively from playing poker. I decided to go all in for an entire year, starting on January 1st 2011. I moved to a new city to live with one of my best friends from high-school. I was 21 years old, enthusiastic about the game, and very optimistic... yet oh so naive.
It was quite the experience - fun, frustrating, liberating, and shackling all at the same time. The best year of my life (to date!), and I don't regret a thing. But I BARELY scraped by financially, and although I finally did get back on track later in the year, the stress from all that grinding completely burned me out. I had made poker into a job, but at a price - the love was gone...
After 2011, I moved back home and got a good honest job in landscaping and I've been there ever since. I haven't played much poker between now and then, but I'm fixing to change that...
Over the past few months I've been inspired to renew my commitment to the game of poker, and as part of that commitment, I'm starting this blog / bankroll challenge to track the journey. I plan on posting twice a week, with a main post on Monday morning to summarize the weekly progress, and another post on Friday afternoon/evening to provide a little levity going into the weekend. Content wise, I don't expect to be posting much in the way of hardcore strategy or hand analysis. I'm more interested in tackling poker, and life, from a broader perspective.
THE CHALLENGE
I've always wanted a big enough bankroll to be able to play PokerStars' Sunday Major schedule on a week to week basis. And there are also some local live tournaments in that same buy-in range that I would love to play. Completing this challenge would get two birds stoned at once!
STARTING BANKROLL: $250.00
TARGET BANKROLL: $25,000.00
TIME FRAME: 1,650 Hours of Deliberate Practice and Study
It's important to set time-based goals, but I didn't want to box myself in with a standard calendar based measurement (days, weeks, months, etc.). So I chose to use a metric that'll be easier to control: hours of practice and study. I believe this type of framing will keep me in the proper mindset by placing the emphasis on putting in quality hours instead of just getting in under an arbitrary deadline.
How did I settle on 1,650 hours? I did it by dividing the difference in bankroll ($24,750.00) by the minimum average hourly wage that I should reasonably expect to make by the end of the challenge ($15.00/hr - which is minimum wage here in Canada).
THE BREAKDOWN
A challenge of this magnitude is pretty heavy on the psyche. And so breaking it down into chunks seems like the logical way to go. The plan consists of three main phases, with each phase being separated into six stages of progression. The overall layout looks like this:
STARTING BANKROLL: $250.00
__The Six Stages__
PHASE ONE GOAL: $1,000.00
__The Six Stages__
PHASE TWO GOAL: $5,000.00
__The Six Stages__
PHASE THREE GOAL: $25,000.00
__The Six Stages__
STAGE ONE - PREPARATION (The planning stage. Laying the foundations, setting goals and prioritizing)
STAGE TWO - IMPLEMENTATION (Putting the plan into action. Test, practice, and develop a rhythm)
STAGE THREE - OPTIMIZATION (Build momentum. Analyze, adjust, and adapt. Get into "the zone" and find your "flow")
STAGE FOUR - EXECUTION (Finish the job. Persist, persevere, and accept no excuses, only results)
STAGE FIVE - CELEBRATION (Sweet victory! Give it the attention it deserves. Reward yourself)
STAGE SIX - EXPANSION (Explore new challenges. Software/hardware upgrades? Raise the bar)
GAME SELECTION
- I will be specializing in MTTs & MTSNGs on PokerStars (with a focus on 180-man MTSNGs, and reacquiring a strong understanding of tournament fundamentals)
- To start, I will only be playing NLHE, Full-Ring, Regular Speed, Freezeouts with 90+ players (exception for the $4.50 36-180-player On-Demand)
BANKROLL MANAGEMENT
CASH-OUT STRATEGY
To ensure that the bankroll grows organically, I'm employing the following cashout strategy:
POKER CURRICULUM
I plan to use a 75%/25% split between play/study. One thing I really need to work on is reviewing my own game from a technical perspective. But while I build up a sufficient database to accurately work with, I'll hit the books and do my best to really soak up the relevant information in these five foundational texts:
CEREBRO - A Carefully Chrafted Curation (1 / 150)
What's life without a soundtrack?
Music is my lifeblood, both at the virtual felt and away from it. And I've been working on a poker playlist that, when it's finished, will be 10 hours long and 150 songs deep (at least that's the plan). It's meant to be a relatively chill playlist, full of tunes that encourage the mind to focus, but with enough energy to sustain long sessions. I call it Cerebro (Spanish for "brain", and a part of the X-Men universe). I get very picky about what goes in to the final list, and have a feeling that it won't be done for awhile. So, much like the bankroll challenge, I'm gonna piece it together bit by bit. I'll post a song from the playlist every time I write a blog post. 150 posts and Cerebro should be complete! Hope you guys enjoy...
Here's tune #1 - Literally the first song on the list. Registering for tourneys, waiting for the first hand to be dealt...
