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Asho28 Diary/Bankroll Challenge - Updated 16/10 - Mission Accomplished

Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
edited October 2021 in Poker Chat
Good Evening,

So I have decided to become to latest person to do a poker blog/bankroll challenge on here. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but it's something I've put off doing. However I now feel that it is the right time to do it and will hopefully do me a great deal of good.

I joined Sky Poker in May last year just to give me something to do whilst being in lockdown. The first six months or so went better than I ever could've imagined and I managed to turn £30 into close to 1k. However, since November/December time, things have gone downhill massively and the hard work of the first six months is starting to slip away.

I've completely lost discipline (in more ways than one) over the past few months. I was fortunate enough to win a load of free UKOPS tokens in the October eliminator freerolls, however UKOPS resulted in me entering tournaments which were above my normal buy-in level and skill level (mainly £22s and £33s), and since then I've been very lax with my bankroll management. I've also started playing 5 or 6 tables at once, which has resulted in less-productive sessions and, at times, some shoddy and reckless poker. Lastly, I've become unnecessarily agitated at the poker table, which is totally out of character for me and something that is not reflective of me as a person. I've not ran well at all over the past few months, but it's no excuse to vent frustration at others and tilting by spewing off buy-ins like I have been doing at times. There have been a few issues in real life that have exacerbated this, but that's no excuse. I really need to avoid getting annoyed at others and bemoaning my luck, and focus on my own game and making profitable decisions. If there are any readers that I have got annoyed at previously at the tables, then please accept my apologies. Like I say, it is very out of character for me and those who know me in real-life would back this up.

So with that out of the way, I will be starting a bankroll challenge tomorrow. £50 will be deposited and I will see if I can build a bankroll again like I did when I first joined Sky. To start off with, I will be playing £0.28/£0.55 SNGs, 2p/4p cash and tournaments that have a buy-in of£2.20 or lower (including freerolls and Monday takedowns tourneys, the latter I always enjoy every week) - so apologies that it won't be the most interesting bankroll challenge, but hopefully it will allow me to start winning again. In addition, I will only be authorised to play a max of 3 tables once to allow me to fully concentrate on each hand I play and ensure that I play them to the best of my ability.
We may push the boat out a bit with buy-ins if the bankroll challenge goes well for a sustained period of time. But most importantly, I just want to start enjoying playing poker again and become disciplined in the way I go about it.

I will endeavour to post updates every few days where possible and may post a few hands I play where some of the regs can tell me what I could've done better.

Well done to those who read all my above rambling. Any support appreciated. Hope to see you at the tables. :)

P.S. - if anyone has a better name for the bankroll challenge then please feel free to suggest it to me.

Starting Bankroll: £50.00
Current Bankroll: £50.00
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Comments

  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 158,861


    GL @Asho28

    Hope it goes well mate. And if you feel you are getting mardy with other players, try taking a short break.
  • MAXALLYMAXALLY Member Posts: 17,483
    GL Asho....

    You carnt go wrong with the FTT games. I would also suggest you look at the £2.20 Deep stacks....the 50p micro and maybe the Megastack at the w/ends.

    As for title name..

    Asho to Asho...hope not to busto busto
  • EnutEnut Member Posts: 3,270
    GL @Asho28, I shall be watching with interest.
  • BoxsterBoxster Member Posts: 4,460
    GL @Asho28 will follow with interest
  • EssexphilEssexphil Member Posts: 7,958
    GL. Hope you do well.

    Looks like Asho Thing to me
  • waller02waller02 Member Posts: 9,012
    Good luck Asho, will be following with interest.

  • Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
    Thanks guys!

    @MAXALLY - Yes I'll definitely be playing the takedowns - I managed to run well in these during my early months of the site, so hopefully can replicate this. I'll definitely aim to play the micro deepstacks, although the £5.50 mega stack may have to wait a bit.
  • loosecamelloosecamel Member Posts: 152
    VBOL Asho
  • mumsiemumsie Member Posts: 7,270
    Gl in this Asho.
  • Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
    edited February 2021
    Update 10/02

    Starting Bankroll: £50
    Current Bankroll: £48.02

    Not the start that I had been hoping for, although it is only a small loss and I am yet to put in a significant amount of volume.

    08/02

    Started off with a load of £0.28 Turbo DYMs. I've never been a huge fan of the Turbo DYMs, as there is very little playability in them and they just turn into a shove or fold game after 5 minutes. Nonetheless, I still thought I would be able to win more than I lose. However, I was only able to win 9/20 of them, resulting in a loss of £1.10. Apart from bluffing my stack of with 8 high in one of them, didn't do much wrong - just lot too many all ins.

    After failing to cash in the Rewards freeroll, I played the takedowns.

    Takedown 1 - 28/135 (-£2.00) - started well before going card-dead towards the middle of the tourney. With 28 remining and 25 cashing, I had roughly 20 BBs and the plan was to fold my way to the money before getting aggro. Unfortunately, I was then dealt pocket kings in the big blind. It folded around the the small blind with a slightly bigger stack than me, who forced me all in with A 8 of clubs, which I obviously called. Typically, they hit their ace on the river, resulting on me missing the money and losing the chance to run deep. Those are the sort of hands that haven't been going my way recently.
    Takedown 2 - 10/101 (+£0.77) - made it to 30 left (20 getting paid) before losing a flip which left me with 3 BBs. I managed to get a few double ups and made it to the money with 15 BBs, before fizzling out to finish 10th - not bad given where I was with 30 left.
    Takedown 3 - 71/82 (+£0.00) - out long before the end of late registration. Ended up being on a rather crazy table with people going all in for 50+ BBs, one of which saw pocket 8s and pocket 7s both all in pre. After losing a decent-sized pot with a worse straight, the craziness continued until I eventually lost patience and called another huge all in from AK with my pocket 10s, which I inevitably lost. I used my weekly £2.30 token on this tourney, hence no losses were incurred.

    09/02

    Didn't play much on Tuesday. Played the Rewards Freeroll again and finished 256/1101 for £1, my biggest success so far... :tongue: . I remember back in the Summer and Autumn when these were only getting 800-900 runners and I had a lot more £4 and £10 cashes, however given that they are getting 1100+ runners at the moment winning anything greater than a £1 in these will be a challenge, but we'll keep trying.

    I then played a few £0.55 DYMs. These were non-turbos and therefore have a bit more playability, which suits me better. I won the first one despite only playing 3 hands, however then managed to lose the other 2 for an overall loss of £0.60. At which point, I became rather tired so decided to stop playing for the night. I settled down to watch the Man Utd v West Ham game and @Boxster 's Tuesday poker stream, the latter of which was much more entertaining than the former.

    So yeah, a £1.98 deficit isn't the best start. I'll keep persevering with the DYMs but if they continue to result in losses after playing more volume, we might need to have a re-think on the best way the approach the challenge. I should aim to play some of the micro tourneys, but confidence isn't particularly high right now. Also yet to play any cash tables. We'll see what the rest of the week brings.

    P.S. - this might be a bit "wordy" for a bankroll update - if you would prefer something less "wordy" or a different format then please let me know. First time doing a bankroll challenge so doing these updates is completely new to me.
  • BoxsterBoxster Member Posts: 4,460
    edited February 2021
    Hi Asho

    Great update, keep it 'wordy' no problem. Glad you enjoyed the stream, thanks for watching and chatting, I had no chance in the £11 BH HU with the chip stacks on stream but nice second.

    Those 28p and 55p DYM's are a pain. I remember the DYM challenge where the start was 28p then 55p and those two levels were harder to beat than the £1+ levels.

    What BRM rules are you applying? I used to apply 44:1 as advised by someone for MTT's so you could play £1 MTT's but seen you did the Monday takedowns so you just need to do well at that level to move on.

    -£2 is not bad, keep it up, I'm sure you will get a reasonable cash soon to kick-start your climb. Good luck and see you at the tables. Boxxy
  • Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
    Boxster said:

    Hi Asho

    Great update, keep it 'wordy' no problem. Glad you enjoyed the stream, thanks for watching and chatting, I had no chance in the £11 BH HU with the chip stacks on stream but nice second.

    Those 28p and 55p DYM's are a pain. I remember the DYM challenge where the start was 28p then 55p and those two levels were harder to beat than the £1+ levels.

    What BRM rules are you applying? I used to apply 44:1 as advised by someone for MTT's so you could play £1 MTT's but seen you did the Monday takedowns so you just need to do well at that level to move on.

    -£2 is not bad, keep it up, I'm sure you will get a reasonable cash soon to kick-start your climb. Good luck and see you at the tables. Boxxy

    @Boxster

    Yeah, great stream as always last night mate. Well done on your 2nd place - surely just a matter of time before you win one on stream.

    In terms of rules, I'm not being overly strict on how much I buy-in with. For the time being, it will be mainly £1 tourneys or lower, with the occasional £2. When (or in my case, if) I make it above £100 bankroll, I may throw in the odd £3-£5 tourney but we'll have to see. Like I say, this is a bit of a learning experience for me so we'll decide as we go along.

    RE the takedowns, given that I spent £3 on entries to two of them and used my weekly token on the other one, it works out at an average of £1 per tournament anyway. So should work fine going forward, even if the bankroll dips further. The takedowns are perfect for this type of challenge, as they are good value, a good format and there's the additional chance of winning tourney tokens if you perform well.
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 158,861

    "So yeah, a £1.98 deficit isn't the best start."


    I reckon if you can have two nights worth of poker fun for £1.98 that's pretty good in my book. If you went to watch a film at the cinema it'd cost you double that & only last 2 hours.


  • waller02waller02 Member Posts: 9,012
    Yeah don't sweat it Asho, as much as winning sessions are nice, most of us will settle for a break even one.

    Great write ups too, best of luck.
  • Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
    Tikay10 said:


    "So yeah, a £1.98 deficit isn't the best start."


    I reckon if you can have two nights worth of poker fun for £1.98 that's pretty good in my book. If you went to watch a film at the cinema it'd cost you double that & only last 2 hours.



    I would usually spend much more than that on various overpriced confectionery on the way in to the cinema, let alone the film itself.

    But yes, small losses are nothing to get too disheartened about, especially if you have good fun in the process.



    Current Balance: £47.44

    Still can't quite get going at the moment. Early days, of course, but would be nice to get the bankroll above what I started with.

    10/02

    Failed to cash the freeroll and we more or less broke even after playing a bunch of 28p & 55p DYMs. There was one frustrating hand where I had raised AK and got called by the cut-off. The flop came K high and with no obvious draws, I triple-barreled all my chips in. Unfortunately, my opponent turned over AA and had me beat. Have seen quite a few people slow-playing pocket aces recently, not sure whether it is generally perceived to be a good thing to do or not. It certainly caught me out on this occasion.

    Only played a couple of tournaments today:

    £0.55 Micro - 13/147 (+£0.48) - played fairly solidly and had a decent stack throughout. Lost a few hands after the bubble and then with 13 BBs, I get dealt A9 suited in the SB. It folded round to me and I immediately jammed all in on the BB who had about 50% more chips than me. As soon as I had clicked I was immediately unhappy with my play, and was even unhappier when the BB called with AJ and eliminated me in 13th place. I definitely feel I made a mistake here - in hindsight I should've min-raised, which would've allowed me to fold to a BB all in or allow me to see a flop and take it from there. Maybe I'm being a tad harsh on myself and you could say I'm unlucky to run into a dominating hand there. Certainly need to do some work on my short-stack play though.

    £1.10 Deep Stack - 57/123 (-£1.10) - started slowly but won a few decent-sized pots to take me up to an above-average stack. Was going along nicely until this typical "me" tournament exit hand:
    PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance
    afishcalleSmall blind150.00150.006830.00
    crag19Big blind300.00450.003476.00
    Your hole cards
    • 7
    • 7
    finch04Fold
    Asho28Raise600.001050.008442.00
    davewoo816Call600.001650.009995.00
    brassFold
    afishcalleFold
    crag19Call300.001950.003176.00
    Flop
    • J
    • 8
    • 7
    crag19Check
    Asho28Bet1200.003150.007242.00
    davewoo816All-in9995.0013145.000.00
    crag19Fold
    Asho28All-in7242.0020387.000.00
    davewoo816Unmatched bet1553.0018834.001553.00
    Asho28Show
    • 7
    • 7
    davewoo816Show
    • J
    • J
    Turn
    • 3
    River
    • K
    davewoo816WinThree Jacks18834.0020387.00
    Afterwards, I was trying to see if there was any way I could have folded. It was a rather mammoth all-in from the villain and it's a very "wet" board. That said, it's very hard to fold a set here. Think it's just one of those hands where you just have to shrug your shoulders and move on. Certainly couldn't put him on pocket jacks given the pre flop action. Probably would've had to have very specific notes on the villain to consider folding.

    If there's a positive I can take from recent tourneys, I seem to be regularly making the latter stages frequently. Just need to turn one or two of them into wins/final tables.


  • Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
    edited February 2021
    11/02

    Didn't play much today. I work a 9-5 office job (9-5 work from home job at the moment) and I will sometimes play a few tables during my lunch hour, but otherwise don't get to play poker during the day. Ended up fitting in six 28p DYMs during today's lunch hour but could only win three of them. In one of them, there was four of us left and one person was "Away" and therefore they were eventually going to blind down. Despite this, the opponents wanted to play every pot and it nearly resulted in the "Away" player winning. Makes you wonder what goes through people's heads at times...
    It was a busy working day and by the the time the evening came around, tiredness had kicked in and I decided against playing anything further, apart from winning my usual £1 on the rewards freeroll.

    I think I'm likely to avoid playing the 28p/55p DYMs much going forward, as I can't seem to string together a run of wins and am struggling to make them profitable. It's scary that in the DYM streak week promos, people can string together 10+ DYM wins in a row - think my best so far is 3...! Either I'm not running well or my game isn't suited for this format.

    I have a day off work tomorrow so am aiming to play a few 2p/4p cash tables at some point and hopefully have some success with those. I also like to play a load of tournaments on a Friday evening, however the likes of the £5.50 Mega Stack and Orfy Deepstack will probably have to be forfeited for the time being until the bankroll improves. I'm sure I'll play a few tourneys though, just a case of working out which ones will be best.

    Going forward, I will aim to update this every Friday (not tomorrow), Monday and Wednesday, although this probably won't go to plan!
  • Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
    edited February 2021
    Update 15/02

    Current Bankroll: £32.83

    Will keep it short (by my standards) and sweet today. What an almighty mess we got ourselves in to on Friday and Saturday.

    Played 2p/4p cash for most of the duration of both days and it did not go to plan. I would say it was largely down to a poor run of cards, but I did spew a few buy-ins by not playing hands correctly, perhaps exacerbated with how I had ran earlier in the session. Whenever I have a run of beats, I seem to follow it up by playing sloppy poker out of frustration - certainly a big leak of mine that I need to address.
    The "spew" consisted of me flopping a straight flush draw and missing all my outs after recklessly shoving my chips all in, and then stacking off with a rather weak two pair that was never likely to be ahead. By this point on Saturday evening motivation was low and I was at the point of giving up the bankroll challenge altogether. I played a few sit and gos to get me to 100 weekly points to earn me a £2.30 token for the upcoming week, and then logged off before causing any more collateral damage to the bankroll. Did not play on Sunday and decided to opt against playing an tournaments over the weekend, aside from the rewards freeroll on Friday evening where we ended up cashing for £2 instead of the usual £1.
    In hindsight, playing three 2/4 tables out of a bankroll of £50 wasn't the best idea - one poor session was always going to take a good chunk out of it. Perhaps one or two tables may have been better, although that was one of the worst sessions I can recall having at these stakes. There were a few hands of interest which I will include in a separate post - any advice on what I could've done differently would be appreciated.

    Anyway, it's a new week and I'm eager to recover from last week's disappointment. Will be playing the takedowns later and then we'll see what the rest of the week brings. Certainly not playing well at the moment and I'm not playing with much confidence, so maybe a win or deep tourney run will change that. Might be best to predominantly focus of tourneys, as my exploits on DYMs and cash haven't been successful thus far. Just glad that I chose to start the challenge with £50 and not £30!
  • Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
    edited February 2021
    Hand 1:
    PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance
    SelkirkladSmall blind£0.02£0.02£1.51
    Asho28Big blind£0.04£0.06£6.67
    Your hole cards
    • 5
    • 5
    MAZZ1953Fold
    Ineedapoo2Raise£0.12£0.18£4.59
    mumsieFold
    SNOOKY118Call£0.12£0.30£3.66
    SelkirkladFold
    Asho28Call£0.08£0.38£6.59
    Flop
    • K
    • 3
    • 5
    Asho28Check
    Ineedapoo2Check
    SNOOKY118Check
    Turn
    • 7
    Asho28Bet£0.18£0.56£6.41
    Ineedapoo2Call£0.18£0.74£4.41
    SNOOKY118Fold
    River
    • 3
    Asho28Bet£0.44£1.18£5.97
    Ineedapoo2All-in£4.41£5.59£0.00
    Asho28Call£3.97£9.56£2.00
    Asho28Show
    • 5
    • 5
    Ineedapoo2Show
    • 7
    • 7
    Ineedapoo2WinFull House, 7s and 3s£8.84£8.84
    Is there any way I can fold the river given the size of the river raise, or do we have to stack off in this scenario. Villian hadn't done anything out of the ordinary up until then. Certainly wasn't a snap call. Not the first time recently where I have faced a mammoth all in with a strong hand and have been beat, but this may have been too strong a hand to fold.
    ------

  • Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
    edited February 2021
    Hand 2:
    PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance
    Chip2A5ErzSmall blind£0.02£0.02£4.37
    Asho28Big blind£0.04£0.06£6.05
    Your hole cards
    • J
    • K
    SBagger666Fold
    HayleyR27Raise£0.14£0.20£10.29
    ron1952Fold
    AladdinFold
    Chip2A5ErzFold
    Asho28Call£0.10£0.30£5.95
    Flop
    • 9
    • Q
    • 10
    Asho28Check
    HayleyR27Bet£0.30£0.60£9.99
    Asho28Raise£0.88£1.48£5.07
    HayleyR27Call£0.58£2.06£9.41
    Turn
    • 7
    Asho28Bet£1.12£3.18£3.95
    HayleyR27Call£1.12£4.30£8.29
    River
    • 8
    Asho28All-in£3.95£8.25£0.00
    HayleyR27Call£3.95£12.20£4.34
    Asho28Show
    • J
    • K
    HayleyR27Show
    • A
    • 9
    HayleyR27WinFlush to the Ace£11.28£15.62
    This was quite an interesting one on reflection. A rotten run out for me but I'm not sure I played this perfectly. Should I have bet the turn bigger than just over 1/2 pot here, even though we have the nuts and want to keep the villain in? Maybe if I'd bet bigger, they would've folded the flush draw.
    Opponent is a good reg at these low stakes - discussed this hand in the chat afterwards and the possibility of check calling the river was brought up. That said, although the river card wasn't the best, I felt I had to just go with it and hope my nut straight was good.
  • Asho28Asho28 Member Posts: 764
    edited February 2021
    Decided to update this tonight, given that I'm unlikely to play tomorrow.

    Current Bankroll: £27.45

    The misery continues unfortunately. Played 7 tournaments (including 2 rewards freerolls) since the last update and failed to cash any of them. The last two days have been a compilation of lost flips and getting my chips in ahead and eventually losing the pot.

    15/02

    Rewards Freeroll: 955/1096 (£0) - Ended up flopping a set on a dry board, villian decided to float the flop with nothing, turned a gutshot and rivered their straight. I ended up stacking off.

    Takedown 1: 58/144 (-£2.00) - Won a few decent-sized pots to start with, then went through a spell of card-deadedness (if that's a word...) and wasn't hitting much on the hands I did play. Eventually ended up with 12 BBs and got AQ v 66 all in against a marginally bigger stack. I lost the hand.

    Takedown 2: 52/117 (-£1.00) - Took advantage of some rather opportunistic play from opponents earlier on and got myself to an above average stack. I was then dealt the dreaded pocket Kings. One of the bigger stacks opened with AQ, I 3 bet the kings which they called. The flops comes queen high, all the chips go in. End result: I was eliminated from the tournament, with the villain hitting another queen on the turn.

    Takedown 3: 32/94 (£-1.50) - I had a rare slice of luck at the beginning. Flopped a set of 10s on an A J 10 flop. However, the opponent had KQ and the chips all went in with me well behind. Fortunately, the turn and river were a 2, hence giving me a full house and an early bounty. The table then filled up with decent low-stakes regs, which made it a challenge to build on my good start. In the middle-stages, I had a chance for another bounty, with me calling a jam by 99 with AJ. Predictably, I missed everything and this left me with 10 BBs. I was finally put out of my misery when I jammed AK and got called by A2 - a 2 on the flop a fitting end to a wretched night on the tables.

    Despite me not running particularly well overall, it was still an enjoyable 3 hours or so and it's always nice to have a chat with some of the Takedown regs about all things poker and non-poker related. Always played in a good spirit too and is a nice, relaxed format - would recommend it to anyone who doesn't play it, regardless of what stakes you usually play at.

    The highlight of the night was me managing to force two opponents to fold by successfully 4 betting A 7 off pre-flop in Takedown 3, which is probably unheard of for a £2.20 game. Probably a stupid play in equal measure, but hey, it worked!

    16/02

    Rewards Freeroll: 549/1045 (£0) - doubled up early on with a flush, but then had AK beaten by K8 and exited with my pocket 8s losing a flip. Enough said.

    £2.20 Deepstack: 44/164 (£0 - token used) - slowly grinded my way up to a 12k stack. Called a shove by pocket 2s with AQ - missed everything as per normal and ended up down to 6k, which was about 10 BBs at the time. I then got my pocket 10s in vs AQ, a queen on the river dumping me out of another tourney.

    £1.10 Deepstack: 30/92 (-£1.10) - started strong with pocket Queens getting me a double up (full house vs flush). But then I started playing too loose and trying to see too many flops. Didn't help that half of the table did not have access to the fold button, with any strong holdings I got dealt being called by almost everyone and subsequently not flopping particularly well. It also appeared that half the table only had access to the pot bet button and were unable to alter their raise-sizing. I never seem to do well on these frenzied type of tables and it turned into a rather frustrating tourney, which was eventually ended when I shoved A 10 into pocket kings with about 12 BBs left.

    The best moment of the session came in the £2.20 Deep stack, where an opponent limped in from early position with 2 7 off (the worst starting hand), called my 5x raise from the BB with AQ and ended up flopping 2 pair and winning the pot. They then proceeded the snap fold the next 3 hands pre-flop... certainly made it hard to work out what pre-flop range they were using...! Was in the process of compiling an interesting assortment of notes on them when they were hauled off to a different table. Wouldn't be surprised it they ended up outlasting me in the tournament...

    The only positive from the day was a 100% record of cashing on £0.28 Sit and Gos. Admittedly, I only played one of them, but by this point in the bankroll challenge we're really clutching at straws.

    Really not sure what to do now. I'm not playing brilliant, I'm running badly, motivation is slowly slipping away and frustration is creeping in. I think this is the first run of its kind that I've been on since I joined Sky. I'm reluctant to call it a downswing, as I don't put in huge volume and there are players who I'm sure will have run as bad as/worse than me for longer periods of time. However, when you get to crucial stages of the tournament and you lose pretty much every flip going or lose hands where you put your chips in miles ahead, it's hard to motivate yourself and to justify continuing to play, even if it is just micro stakes. I certainly don't want to turn this into a bad beat diary, but at the moment nothing seems to be going right.
    At this stage, the bankroll challenge looks a lost cause. Hopefully it's an entertaining read at the very least. Might be worth taking a break for a few days and try again later on in the week, we'll see.

    Good luck at the tables!

    P.S. a title of "Asho28's How to Blow £50 on Sky Micros Bankroll Challenge" may now have some merit. :tongue:
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