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Wilhelm's 100 BI Challenge
Wilhelm
Member Posts: 1,730
I think this will be my third attempt at a challenge diary in 12 years playing on Sky Poker.
Since I started playing on my mate's snooker table after college on a Friday night in 2008, I have loved poker. Discovering the old Sky Poker TV Channel was a lucky break, as it meant that by prodigiously watching and re-watching re-runs of every broadcast (I had a lot of free-time) I could easily outclass the field of my college mates.
Since opening my account in 2009, my Sky Poker career has been littered with tiny successes, but I was never committed enough to really take the game seriously. I have had several personal bankroll challenges. I would usually start with 20 BI at NL4 and try to run it up to 20 BI for the next level, with the end goal of trying to establish myself as a reg at NL50. I think the highest I ever got was NL30 before I burnt out. I would take these challenges far too seriously and in hindsight, I'm just not comfortable with the 20BI rule; losing an entire buy-in on a bad beat is just too painful when you only have 19 behind.
As I'm getting older and looking for stability in most areas of my life, it makes sense that I should be doing the same in my poker career. It's also a consideration that in the age of solvers, without putting in more study time than I am prepared to at this moment in time, I probably would find it difficult to win at anything other than low stakes. So I've set myself the challenge of winning 100 BI at NL4. More than that, for the first time in 12 odd years, I am not going to multi-table. I'm just going to single in on one cash table at a time and really try to focus in on the minutiae of play. I imagine this will be an incredibly slow burn; I probably won't be playing every day, and when I do it'll only be for a couple of hours. But I want to treat this as a kind of meditation, a dedicated practice with no real end goal; just to play well enough to win over the long-term.
I'll also try and post any interesting hands from each session. I remember the glory days of the forum and would like to generate a bit of discussion where I can.
Since I started playing on my mate's snooker table after college on a Friday night in 2008, I have loved poker. Discovering the old Sky Poker TV Channel was a lucky break, as it meant that by prodigiously watching and re-watching re-runs of every broadcast (I had a lot of free-time) I could easily outclass the field of my college mates.
Since opening my account in 2009, my Sky Poker career has been littered with tiny successes, but I was never committed enough to really take the game seriously. I have had several personal bankroll challenges. I would usually start with 20 BI at NL4 and try to run it up to 20 BI for the next level, with the end goal of trying to establish myself as a reg at NL50. I think the highest I ever got was NL30 before I burnt out. I would take these challenges far too seriously and in hindsight, I'm just not comfortable with the 20BI rule; losing an entire buy-in on a bad beat is just too painful when you only have 19 behind.
As I'm getting older and looking for stability in most areas of my life, it makes sense that I should be doing the same in my poker career. It's also a consideration that in the age of solvers, without putting in more study time than I am prepared to at this moment in time, I probably would find it difficult to win at anything other than low stakes. So I've set myself the challenge of winning 100 BI at NL4. More than that, for the first time in 12 odd years, I am not going to multi-table. I'm just going to single in on one cash table at a time and really try to focus in on the minutiae of play. I imagine this will be an incredibly slow burn; I probably won't be playing every day, and when I do it'll only be for a couple of hours. But I want to treat this as a kind of meditation, a dedicated practice with no real end goal; just to play well enough to win over the long-term.
I'll also try and post any interesting hands from each session. I remember the glory days of the forum and would like to generate a bit of discussion where I can.
Comments
Starting Bankroll: £100
Current Bankroll: £135.73
Hands Played: 1447
Great stuff @Wilhelm & I was particularly touched by this;
I remember the glory days of the forum and would like to generate a bit of discussion where I can.
It's tough to keep a Poker Forum fresh & vibrant these days for all manner of reasons, but it's important we try to keep this one going, so I really appreciate your efforts. Sadly, a long-standing & excellent forum regular moved on yesterday, so I needed a bot of good news to cheer me up.
And yes, I well remember you from the days of the TV Shows.
GL my friend.
Single tabling 4NL sounds
terribly dullvery meditative!Friday night Aspers trips were one of the things I missed most during the first lockdown.
I don't know, I think there's something admirable in slow and quiet dedication. Then again, my favourite films are the ones when nothing really happens.
Hey Ash
I remember playing you a few times last year and turning you on to the FTT when you first joined. Good to see you've become a forum regular.
Ah yes, I remember you doing so now. Wasn't even aware of the forum when I first joined. I have played most weeks of the FTT competition since then - certainly enjoy playing them and have binked a few wins/tourney tokens along the way. Definitely glad you made me aware of it!
I'm not sure I've been around long enough on the Sky forum to be considered a "regular", but I try and contribute where I can. Even if it's not as booming as it once was, there's still a close-knit group of people on here, which is good to see.
Great start, hope you do well.
I like to read these type of threads, and posting hands would be good.
I only play MTT’s so the thought process maybe slightly different in spots, but it’s always good to compare if I’m keeping up with trends 😉.
Starting Bankroll: £100
Current Bankroll: £144.06
Hands Played: 1832
The hands I spend the most time thinking about are usually hands I have played badly, so I imagine that's mostly what I'll be posting. Good advertising I suppose.
The first hand comes from a session on Friday night. I had one opponent pegged as willing to call down quite light. The other I think must have been new to the table as he was an unknown quantity.
Looking back at the hand it looks like it should be a value bet on the river. I suppose I was bit wary of the flush and just hoping to extract value from a missed flush draw rather than get put in a difficult position, but any missed flush draws here probably also have a pair and check back. If the unknown were not in the hand I would definitely be betting the river against the station.
In running I decided I have no fold equity on the flop as this is something you just don't see from this sort of player without a premium. I ran the odds after the hand and realised I should definitely shove the flop as if the villain has an overpair they are only a very small favourite, so for the times they might be bombing with a missed AK it's probably better to just shove. As played, I like the fold on the turn.
I haven't played too much Holdem since the last update. I have been battling a cold for a few days and it's a bit of a distraction whilst playing. I managed a paltry number of hands yesterday before quitting (up a little).
I did manage to get a solid session in tonight and the hand below was probably the most interesting. The villain was loose and a bit fishy, prone to overplaying hands and I seemed to think he was capable of bluffing multiple streets if the opponent looked weak.
I decided not to raise the turn in order to go for a bigger check-raise on the river. Having got there, I wasn't sure how to size the raise. I didn't want to make him fold top pair (I felt he was capable of value betting a K here). Maybe he'd call a shove with any good top pair? It's not beyond the realm of possibility. Feel like I would definitely get called by two pair if I shoved. However I feel his most likely holding is just going to be bluffs and missed draws. It crossed my mind to just click it back to give him a chance to shove. I'd be interested to hear any opinions on sizing here. I may have been overthinking it.
Starting Bankroll: £100
Current Bankroll:
Hands Played: 2107
Incidentally I have been playing a bit of Five Card Draw and 2-7 Triple Draw recently. It has been fun discovering some new games and I'm really enjoying the faster pace of Five Card Draw; two rounds of betting mean you see a lot of hands per hour. I also drew three and hit quad Aces today, and the other guy check-raised me. That was a special feeling.
Blimey, it's been years since I played 5 card draw. It used to be very popular in Mainland Europe back in the day. Terrific game, really fun.
Can't say I played it again until the first lockdown last year. There isn't much action on the overlord's site so you have to jump into a game when you see one running. I seem to recognise everyone eveytime I play at the lowest stakes. I think I might be a massive fish at 7 Card Stud but I seem to have an aptitude for 5 Card Draw. I'll have to introduce it into the home game when it's safe to host it again.
Starting Bankroll: £100
Current Bankroll: £142.10
Hands Played: 2408
Had a couple of sessions since my last post. On Sunday night I had one interesting spot come up around 175BB deep. I hadn't seen how the villain doubled up and hadn't seen any hands go to showdown, so not much to go on but no reason to believe he had been getting out of line. Wasn't sure about the size of my bet on the turn but thought it gave me options if he did decide to shove. Ended up breaking even on the night after this hand.
I had another hand come up early against a player I hadn't seen get out of line. I think I may have had an old note on him which said he was pretty solid. Just before this hand I had seen him bet fairly small (3BB) on both flop and river, called a check-raise on the turn and checked back the river with top pair top kicker and the nut flush draw.
I decided to make up the small initially because I thought the big blind was value. Because of the previous hand I think it's quite hard to be ahead on the turn unless he is limping with 87 utg, or he's decided to punt it off for no reason.
Starting Bankroll: £100
Current Bankroll: £142.10
Seems a decent start.