Week 1 of the Autumn Challenge

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Week 1 of my challenge has passed with some ups and downs but in the end I am + with a decent ROI so it's fine.

Bankroll: 1280$
Days left: 49
Points left: 4483
SNG's played: 73 20+2$, 41 30+3$(SNG ROI ~ 11%)
MTT Balance: -44$



first stroke down is from a 50+4$ tournament I won a ticket for, didn't pay for it Augenzwinkern

I am still mad about a crucial mistake I made, which costed me a sure ITM place. I played it bad like shit in a big stack vs big stack situation. ROI could be a lot higher if it was not for my stupidity but anyway, I will take a note for the future.

AUTUMN POKER CHALLENGE

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AUTUMN CHALLENGE

So here's the plan:

I currently have like 1350$ - I am going to cash out 350$(so that makes 1870$ total cashout for the summer Zunge raus ) and begin with 1000$.
I am going to play tournament poker.
1000$ is just about enough to play 20+2$ regular speed SNG, and playing them should be enough to clear my bonus of 842$.
Pokerroom has many promotional MTT on offer, besides I will buy-in myself into many and combine MTT playing with my regular SNG routine.

My main results oriented GOAL till the end of October is to:

-successfully release the bonus which expires on the 27th of October
-after releasing it, to have a bankroll high enough for NL100 FR(let's say, to be precise, 2250$)
-what's on top of those 2250$ - I cash out as a reward for playing in September and October. Then I am going to decide what to do next - too early to think about that.

I think I should make it, it won't be that hard. I secretly hope for a big MTT hit as well.. Something with four numbers is what I would definitely enjoy and appreciate

STATUS
Days left: 56
Points left: 5883
Bankroll: 1000$

Don't forget to sign up through pokerstrategy.

Summer NL Challenge - Total Summary

Learn how to play poker with strategy without paying a penny and pick up your 50$+100$ bonus from PokerStrategy - this is where I began from!

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AUGUST SUMMARY

Well, it not what I expected to be - but at least I saw the cruel part of poker at its full might. Up to now, more than 100k hands, maybe close to 150k I didn't have that much of downswings(not more than 8-9 BI) but the downswing of 14-15 BI on NL100 showed me that it can always be worse smile
Anyway, I take this with my head up and didn't go disastrously far with my downswing, tilting off huge amounts of money.
Here are my graphs for August(they are two because I played on two sites:





Of course, tournaments and SNG I've played are not included here.. At least I released much money in bonuses(600$ I think) and this made me like breakeven for the month.
I currently have 1350$, a total cashout of 1520$ - that totals 2870$ - a quick look at the July summary shows that back then I had 2940$ in total - so I am -70$ for the month of August

Not what I expected but anyway I am sure that there are better days to come.
I took the downswing with dignity and I am set to make way better results in the future - you know, luck always evens out smile

I think I played relatively well and things are about to get better.

END OF SUMMER CHALLENGE:
I ended up being 2090$ in front for the whole summer. That is an awesome result and I enjoy it even more that the majority of these money are "in my pocket" so to say - I can feel them, I can spend them, I can do whatever I want - these are my money. I'd never gain so much money with a summertime job here in Bulgaria - maybe not even the half of it - and I managed to do that averaging 2 hours/day(given that I was away from home quite a lot of time). I'm a cool guy Augenzwinkern

besides, I finished with hell of a downswing - which to my mind means that I am going to experience hell of an upswing sooner or later
I've developed to be a solid and knowledgeable NL FR player. Referring to psychology, there has been a massive progress - I am a lot calmer and I am accepting the swings as a part of the game. I have learnt not only to win but to lose, too. Of course, some of my lasts post seem a bit emotional, but it's only because I've written them directly after the bad session. Generally, I really seem to take it "as a part of the job" so to say smile

I can't think of any significant negatives. I am +money and I am + as a personality(I really believe that poker educates some positive traits) - so I'm fine. Even my parents, relatives and most of my friends accept and respect my hobby - and if not tolerate it, they have nothing against.

Poker never influenced my social life.

THE FUTURE:
I'm not done with poker, it's all just beginning smile I am planning to play, so to say, semi-pro - to combine my university studies with poker, withouit setting aside parties, friends and women of course smile There should be enough time, as lectures will probably take place just 3 days in the week, and the rest are free. Anyway, studying is my primary activity, so university > poker in terms of priority.

I have a little plan that I am going to call Autumn NL Challenge (what a surprise).
I wonder whether to start a new topic, or post here - but I think here it'd be better, I don't want to flood the forum.

Summer NL Challenge - July Summary

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July Summary

Just 3 hours before I set off to the seaside, so I am going to write my summary for the month of July. No time to play today because I hanged around the whole day and I'm doing my luggage up.

Quick thoughts on the month, in terms of poker it was a unique experience. I managed to win a lot of money and to get a real insight of the game. I feel that I'm playing good but of course there's always room for improvement. The single thing I feel not very happy about is that I didn't play for a pokerstrategy site, but this is going to change as soon as pokerroom is added, since I have almost finished my bonus on the site I am currently playing at.

Once I upgrade my status to at least gold and hopefully platinum in August, I am going to study the material on the site I have never had access to. There are a lot of videos and articles to be taken into consideration and there's something to learn here and there for sure.

Now, let's talk about money
You may see in the June Summary post that I had a roll of 1100$+374$ withdrawn back then - a total of 1474$ and a sheer profit of 695$. Now I have 2355$ in the site and 586$ withdrawn - so that's a total of 2940$. The simple calculation shows that I am 1466$ in front for July.

Unfortunately I had "one of those days" yesterday on NL100 and lost 3 1/2 buy-ins, it could be better without it - but anyway, that's poker.

Graph of my play and a shot from pokertracker with stats(for July only):





My winrate is a bit below expectation unfortunately(I aim for 3 ptbb/100) but it's still OK given that I had some nasty downswings which I am happy that I overcame without tilting off much of my money. In fact, I may have cursed and shouted here at home, but that didn't affect my play by much.

As for the number of hands, almost 27k is fine given the fact that I was away from home for several days due to exams and that the rest of the month I will be away too.

I still make some mistakes, but giving them a consideration here in my b-log really helps me to improve and to minimize them.

So apart from the 825$ of cash-game winnings, I released 400$ bonus(and I am 7/8 done with the remaining 200$ but I will count them for August) and the rest is my balance from MTT's(like +240$) which I played from time to time.

On the whole, I estimate this month as really successful given the fact that I have more than doubled my winnings from June, went through NL50 and now grind NL100.


August Goals

This is what I will be happy to achieve by the end of August:

- play a minimum of 30k hands
- at least 1200$ on top of what I currently have(bonus + play combined of course)
- move to pokerroom.com once added, start their bonus and upgrade my Pokerstrategy status to gold/platinum.
- withdraw some money to reward myself Zunge raus

I am not planning to move up even if I catch a good run, I'm staying at NL100 for the following months.

My desired cash game win rate is 3 ptbb/100 but of course I will try to play my A-game - the rest is up to luck.

Summer NL Challenge - June Summary

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June Summary

So it is the end of the first month of my summer poker adventure. I began the b-log on the 2nd of June playing on Pacific poker, June is over now and I am going to summarize the month.

Firstly, here is the monthly graph(like 3-4k hands from pacific poker are not counted, had no hand-grabber):



And a shot from the pokertracker(again pacific poker not included):



So a total of 19-20k hands this month counting these from pacific which are not tracked. The observations:

On the whole, I've played approx. 2 hours/day(of course some days I played way more and some days I didn't play at all) and actually this is the single thing I am not quite happy about. I could have played a bit more but I guess the reason was my old computer which really irritates with its slow-downs and besides I was unable to play more than 4 tables and no table selection was possible. Now with the new notebook playing is pure pleasure and in the future I guess I will be able to play more.

I am happy with my 12,5/8,4 game on NL50, I think I play very solid poker and get away from marginal situations and from way-behind situations(not always Zunge raus sometimes). One thing to add is that I lost 4 buy-ins in like 700 hands(one evening), an event that really put me to the test but I didn't tilt badly. So I'm not tilt prone Zunge raus I have learned to accept it as a part of the game(for instance, on 10,5k hands on NL50, KK is the hand I've lost the most with although I play it optimally.. but as a compensation my AA have been cracked just once out of like 50 times on NL50) and this itself is not a small achievement. From the "grounded" type of player I used to be(the term comes from an article here in PS) I am evolving step by step to poker attitude as it should be.

Enough with this game improvement and such stuff. Let's talk about money. As you can see I am 660$ in front just from pure playing(I played some MTT's which are not included here), what's more I released a 90$ bonus and on top of that I have completed 7/8 of a 200$ bonus, so I'm close to another bankroll-booster(but I will count it for July Zunge raus ). I won 100$ and something from a MTT, too Zunge raus

So my current bankroll is at 1100$. I have withdrawn 374$ and my bankroll in the beginning of June(as you can see in the first post) was 779$. 1474-779 = 695$ earnings for June.

I am happy with that result and I enjoy it to be at least partially financially independable. I asked for no money for the new notebook(except the regular monthly money they give me but this does not count) and I will pay for my holiday myself. And I live my life well Zunge raus

As for the next month..
July though I think I won't be able to play much because there are is an exam in English ahead and I have to study till the 11th-12th of july and I will play hardly any hands(probably will go to my village after the 3rd-4rth). What's more, in the end of the month I've planned a 1 week holiday with my friends on the seaside. So after the 26th - still no play probably. But for the rest of the days I hope I will be able to play at least 15k hands - I will try to make more hands in a shorter amount of time.

I guess it may not run as good as in June but I hope the bonuses make up for variance and my goal is to reach at least 500$ profit in July, bonus + play combined of course. Maybe if I don't need any money to withdraw I could hit NL100 some time in August, who knows smile

Summer NL Challenge - Introduction

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In the following posts I will briefly introduce you to the milestones in my summer poker adventures.
This is the introduction, and June Summary, July Summary and Total June+July+August Summary will follow.

I am Nikolay, from Bulgaria.

I've been playing poker for like 8 months(I guess it was October when I begun) but it all became serious after I joined Pokerstrategy in December.
I am happy to say that I have cashed out around 1000$ which is quite an amount for the bulgarian standarts. NL25 is the limit I have been playing in the last month or two.. I could have switched to NL50 easily, but decided to cash out 600-700$ two weeks ago, following the rule that you have to experience at least one downswing at a particular limit before moving up. The REAL downswing anyway didn't come, I guess it's because I'm playing full ring, and I don't really see a reason to switch to shorthanded, even if it is believed to be more profitable - it's just too swingy for my likes.

So.. I have just graduated.. school is over and happily for me, I managed to get a good mark at the pre-exam for the university I'd like to study at(in April). This is cool for the simple reason that instead of studying for university exams the whole June(as most of my acquaintances do, the regular exams are in the middle of July), I have more than enough free time, and I opted for playing poker as my main activity, instead of going to work 10 hours a day for basically the same money. Plus, I will have time for sport, as I have eaten and drunk too much around the graduation celebrations

Anyway, this is none of your concern, I'm here to write about poker, not about my life.

To cut the long story short, this summer is going to be a poker summer for me, and as many pokerstrategists claim that reading b-logs is quite interesting, I have decided to contribute to this part of the forums. Because I know that when poker gods aren't with you you're keen on reading about other people's ups and downs, and this makes you feel better for the game as a whole, this applies for me at least. I've had fun reading the other people's b-logs for now, but now I hope that you will enjoy reading my stuff as well.

So my summer mission to make money begins with a bankroll of 780$ at Pacific Poker, and I am clearing their instant 100$ bonus(with Pokerstrategy it would have been 175, and I very much regret that my account could not be re-tracked. I recommend you this bonus, it's real deal for deposits of 500-600$, and the competition at Pacific is softer than anywhere else! And pokerstrategy is really offering the best deal around).
I still play mostly NL25, but take some shots on NL50, too. I want to make it to the 1000$ mark as soon as possible and stick to NL50 FR, and I intent to do some serious bonus hunting - this is the key to boost your bankroll fast, really!

Bankroll, 02/06/08 - 5:07PM: 779$

Pokerstrategy.com Guide - No Strings Attached

Learn how to play poker with strategy without paying a penny and pick up your 50$+100$ bonus from PokerStrategy - this is where I began from!

Hey, this is a b-log I've started with the intention not only to keep track of my progress, but to introduce you to the site that made poker a nice source of income from me. You may see the link in the beginning of every post. The site is pokerstrategy.com and if you take your time to register and complete an easy test(to make it even easier, you may read the answers below), you will receive 50$ for free for you to play and if you play regularly - you may get release another 100$ - which is a nice start for your poker bankroll.

Besides, Pokerstrategy does not give you just money - it gives you all you need to know to become a successful poker player - it's up to you whether you will follow the advise in the numerous articled, videos and coachings - but if you do, this will set the foundations for a winning poker player.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE:
1) Go to Pokerstrategy.com
2) Register and verify your e-mail
3) Then to the right "Choose your way" and select the first option - to receive a starting capital
4) Choose a format - you may choose whatever you want, you are given different questions depending on the format you have selected. I will give you the answers for NO LIMIT.
5) I really suggest that you read the articles yourself sooner or later, because you will need it if you want to succeed - if you play on your own without having any knowledge - you are bound to lose the capital.
6)Select take the quiz and here are the answers:

1. Unnecesarily lose your entire bankroll
2. Do not invest any further money
3. 5.00$
4. clockwise
5. When you have exactly one opponent.
6. Go all-in
7. 150$
8. Ace queen
9. Bet
10. Fold
11. Counter-clockwise
12. To $2.00
13. Go All-in
14. is made up of cards which are higher than all of the community cards.
15. Go All-in
16. Yes
17. Only the strongest
18. A drawing hand
19. The current position of the deal button
20. Raise

You're done now!

7) Choose your platform to where Pokerstrategy is going to send your starting capital. I suggest Pokerstars but it is up to you - all of the sites are good.
8) Follow the rest of the instructions and create a properly tracked account at the platform of your choice - everything is explained thouroughly.
9) Wait for your money and check your e-mail. For feedback, feel free to use the forum - you are sure to be replied very soon in a kind and informative manner.
10) PLAY and make money - and once again I repeat - follow the ways Pokerstrategy suggests.