Blog: Enormous Whale's Enormous Challenge
This whale's tale: I have been playing cards for almost 20 years, back when Doug Polk was WCGrider and not the supreme leader, have always been active and interested but am now taking it seriously. I will also be playing live series, completing challenges, reviewing with players much better and smarter than me and just generally trying to improve my game. So join me as I learn, improve and attempt to ship it, likely punt, regardless it should be fun.
I have always played online poker and enjoyed the convenience of grinding from the comfort of your own home, but as the games got harder I struggles to put in the work to get better. I have a consistent study schedule and have improved my game, my aim now is to set some goals and I plan on using this as a place to do that.
I am moving overseas in 2025 and having a healthy online bankroll would be a huge deal and allow me to play and stream more cards which is a goal. I am also looking to get in 100k hands of volume by the end of January 2025 and I think this will help.
In line with this is my first bankroll challenge, to grow my online roll beyond 25kusd. I will post session summaries here of all sessions I play, I will be streaming most of them but for the ones I miss I will just post updates and reflections. I will be playing across ACR, GG Poker and Ignition.
Started this journey on Reddit but thought I might wind the clock back and share it here too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/poker/comments/...
Current BR: 2,595usd
Target BR: 25,000usd
3 Replies
Session 1:
Fired up a Saturday session and quickly loaded up a bunch of tables. Have been mostly on the live felt lately and had forgotten how challenging it can be to play 10+ tables across different software, as a result we timed out a bunch and even through away some premiums. Never ideal but we are in the process of blowing out the cobwebs.
Reflection:
Highlights:
We made 3 FT’s and hit the podium twice, even managed to take one down.
Thought that our play was solid on the FTs, was able to apply pressure in our final FT where we had 50% of the chips in play with 5 remaining at one point. We didn’t ICM punt on the FTs.
Had some crippling coolers in some big spots.
J9ss
Always good to get some FTs (means we ran well in flips and coolered some folks.
Lowlights:
Massive ICM punt (I think on the stone bubble of our biggest buy in tournament, where we had a massive stack and got all the chips in terribly).
We have KQhh on the button vs the only covering stack at our table, he 3bs from the bb and we see QT6cc, he leads 75% and we call. Turn is a 4(ccdd) and he bets 75% pot and we pile for an under raise and see AA. Think given the bubble we can find a fold here.
Will run the calc later, to see how much of a punt it was but felt gross to torch a 1.5-2x average stack. Also hurt because we had a massive stack since the early levels of the tournament, not that it makes a difference but just made it feel more disappointing to dust it.
Overall:
Was well rested and focused and think this helped a great deal. Played well and ran well and didn’t let tilt or frustration take over in trying moments. Back on the grind.
Result: +871
Starting BR: $2,595
Finishing BR: $3,466
Session 2:
An early start and just squeezing in a short session before some poker study and a busy day.
Jumped into 6 tabling the PLO50 streets. I still have so much to learn about PLO it’s really different to NL, so many adjustments and different approaches. Playing more hands is always way more fun, the challenge is finding the right hands and dealing with the variance.
Played quite passively, but am finding this approach to be quite successful, allowing me to go thin on later streets. Caught some short stacks with sets and held a 60/40, nothing crazy.
Result: +76
Starting BR: $3,466
Finishing BR: $3,542
Session 3:
Another brief early morning PLO session before work, looking to get back into the MTT streets tonight or tomorrow.
Didn’t play great this morning made a tonne of sloppy calls where villain is just always going to have it, had weak redraws but convinced myself these were justified. Definitely work to do on the PLO game.
Lost a big one during a large straddle pot where there is an 8bb straddle on and we find bare QQxx, we limp and straddler pots it another limper calls and we decide to yolo it and pile. We see A542r and K946. Flop is K high and the straddler triples and leaves, bummer.
Result: -68
Starting BR: $3,466
Finishing BR: $3,398
Session 4:
Currently on holiday in Queensland, travelled for a poker series (trip report will be coming when I get home). Was playing on my phone on GG for this one and was capped at 4 tables so focused on some larger buyins ($30-50).
Reflection
Highlights
Made two FTs and some other solid runs. 15bb study has really been paying off. Still plenty of work to do, especially out of the blinds. Managed to utilize the big stack in a couple of spots and apply max icm pressure which helped us to get deep runs.
Lowlights
Session started off in a pretty brutal fashion and for the first time in a long time I felt quite tilted. As always work to do on building mental toughness, definitely need to be doing more meditation.
Overall
Managed to shake it off and get back to closer to A game. Didn’t miss any hands playing less tables and am keen to get back home and into a regular study routine.
Result: +318
Starting BR: $3,398
Finishing BR: $3,716
