In my last blog (http://www.pocketfives.com/joel2008/...llenge-4718307), I wrote about how I wanted to turn $50 into $5000. Unfortunately, due to bad investment decisions, horrible bankroll management, and basically just improvising my way to $5k without a particular game plan, destroyed my dreams of completing this challenge. I’ve always been a strong believer in second chances.<SPAN> </SPAN>Like the song from Semisonic says: “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end”.

I’ve deposited $50 again and I feel a bit more prepared this second time.<SPAN> </SPAN>I’ve decided to stick with d7o1d1so‘s strategy since I agree with him 100%. For all of you who are interested in starting a similar challenge, please read his blog (http://www.pocketfives.com/d7o1d1s0) The plan that I will follow is the following:

<SPAN> </SPAN>When my bankroll is at $50 or lower: I will play mostly $5 SNG and MTT tournaments. I feel I don’t have the patience to start with $1 and $2 tournaments since the amount of money to be won does not motivate me at all unfortunately.

$100 - $200: This is when I like to start taking a bit more risks in order to try and get my roll a boost. <SPAN> </SPAN>I’ll be playing up to $20 SNGs and $10 MTTs. The midnight madness at Full Tilt is a perfect tournament to play on a nightly basis at this level.

$201 - $500: For me this is the most crucial level.<SPAN> </SPAN>In the past, I would usually go broke once I hit this mark. The most common way to lose your bankroll at this level is getting a bad beat in a big tourney, and then try and make up what you lost at the cash tables. I’ve done this many, many times, and I know it is my downfall.<SPAN> </SPAN>I need to start focusing more on my confidence with the tournaments in order to try and make up my losses with tournament winnings. Usually at this level, I would play a lot of token satellites in order to play the $26 tournaments at Full Tilt. Also I’ll throw a couple of $20 - $30 SNGs in there in order to defy variance a little bit.

$501 - $1000: Once I hit this level, I am going to start focusing on $50 SNGs and I’ll still be playing a lot of the $26 MTTs with a couple of bigger buy in tournaments thrown into the mix. At this point, 10% of my bankroll for SNGs is good enough due to my win rate at SNG tournaments. For MTTs, 5% is good even though the pros suggest it should be 2%. I would really like to complete this challenge, but I don’t want it to last 5 years until I reach my goal.

$1000 -$5000: I haven’t thought about a gameplan here yet. Honestly I’ve never had a 4-digit bankroll (I know its pathetic for some of you) therefore, I’d rather wait until I hit this mark, and hopefully in a future blog, some of you can give me some advice on how to proceed at this level.

Just so you all know, I deposited $50 yesterday (October 2, 2009). I played a couple of super turbo tournaments (I know I started bad already) and didn’t do too shabby. I am at $68.25 for a 36% profit. As of Saturday October 3 I am sticking to my gameplan. Please look for me at Full Tilt, my ID is Joe Gotthilf.

I would like to thank all of you that commented on my last blog. Poker is a game about information and you need as much advice and input from experienced players in order to get better. The input I received from the last blog was so excellent, that I feel a lot better about starting the challenge again. I want to give a shout-out to my boys Elias and Benny, two of the upcoming stars in the poker galaxy from Panama. Be sure to check them out at Full Tilt, their IDs are emanopla and touch2000 respectively.

Peace!

JG

So I've decided to start a blog in order to share with everyone a challenge I've created for myself. To begin, let me introduce myself:

My name is Joel, and I've been playing poker since 2003. I currently live in Colombia where live poker is very limited which leaves me no choice than to play online most of the time. My online experience has not been very rewarding. What usually happens to me is, I deposit $50, and most of the times I'd reach $150 within 24 hours. My biggest flaw is when I have a substantial bankroll ($200 - $600), I usually blow it away with bad BR management decisions. These decisions tend to come when I am tilted after a loss, or when I get bored of playing the same low levels. My purpose with this blog is to generate feedback from the online poker community in order to gain insight on what I am doing right and wrong. Also, I would like to complete this challenge in order to prove new players that anyone can be succesful at poker with proper preparation and alot of study.

I started this challenge on Tuesday (9/22/09) with an initial deposit of $50. I've played a couple of tourneys, a little bit of cash games, and mostly SNGs. As of Friday (9/25/09) I have $115 in my BR. For this challenge I am not going to limit myself to playing only tourneys. Even though cash games are the major downfall for most players, they can be quite profitable if played correctly. My plan is to finance my tournament expenses with my cash earnings. I will post every friday a detailed review of the action that took place during the week as well as my balance, and my upcoming plans for the next week.

As a conclusion, I would like to recap the progress of the challenge and invite you all to please give any advice that you might have.

Date Challenge Started: 9/22/09

Initial Deposit: $50

Current Balance (9/25/09 ; 12:09 pm): $115.46

Next Post: 10/2/09