Came across a nice read by Chris Ferguson

Chris Ferguson, also known as “Jesus”, wrote up a pretty nice article about a challenge he took from $0-$10,000. This is some good stuff — so take a look. 

Here’s a quote: 

Dropping down and playing lower limits is difficult for a lot of players. They view it as a failure and their egos get in the way. Many want to remain at the level they’d been playing and win back their losses. But this can lead to some pretty severe tilt – and that can go through a bankroll in a hurry. I know that dropping down was difficult for me in my run from $1 to $20,000. When I first played in the $25/$50 game, I lost. Sticking to my rules, I dropped down to the $10/$25 game. I had a losing streak there and had to go down to $5/$10. That was tough. After playing $25/$50, a $5/$10 game was boring to me.

But I had the discipline to stick to my rules, and that motivated me to play better at the lower levels. I really didn’t want to lose any more because I knew the consequences: I’d have to play even lower and work even harder to get back to where I’d been, which could take as long as a month. If you ever find yourself bored or frustrated playing at the lower limits, you’re obviously not playing well. Take a break from the game. Often, stepping away can give you a fresh perspective and heightened motivation to play well when you return.

 

Go here  to read it.

Status of the Goal:

Starting with $100,  I opened two 9-handed tables of $.50/$1 NL Holdem.  Note that this is pretty risky on my part, because I essentially only have 4 shots at this.  If you want to be 100% safe, I recommend that you play at the $.05/$.10 NL Holdem tables.  I selected 9-handed because it has less variance, and does not force me into as many difficult situations as 6-handed or heads up would.  

Here are the rules that I am currently following:

– I buy in $25 to two tables.

– Once I double up to $50 or more, I leave the table when the blinds hit me.  

– For the most part, you’re only looking to play premium hands…there is really no reason for you to be speculating a lot with hands like 7s 8s or 33 — there aren’t really any implied odds for you because you only have a $25 stack.  

Some people frown upon shortstacking, and that’s fine — we are here to build a bankroll.  

As of right now, I have reached $230 — I’ll probably end up playing later tonight after I’m back from the library.

TIP: Don’t let your ego get in the way while you’re building your roll.  It’s alright to take a break once in awhile — you will be happy that you didn’t tilt off a lot of money.  I think the quote from Ferguson above explains it best, so read it a few times to drill it in your head.  

A few hands from today:

http://weaktight.com/568599 —  In hindsight I should have bet the flop because I knew he had an overpair.  The turn was really an action killer.  So if you flop big here you might want to try a half pot bet(his 5x bb raise preflop indicated that he likely had a big overpair).

http://weaktight.com/568604 — Pretty standard here.

http://weaktight.com/568609 — this is a little tougher…but sometimes you have to go with your instincts. I saw this guy raise to 5x bb earlier with 88 — just remember that sometimes if you can recall the player’s moves, you can play their tendencies.  

http://weaktight.com/568611 

http://weaktight.com/568612 — I’d like to have this one back.  I had him on a medium pair preflop, and wanted to play a pot with him.  Flop was perfect, as I had 9 outs for the diamond and 6 outs for a J or T.  Didn’t come for me though.  This just means that you readers shouldn’t break the rule of ‘not speculating too much’ — It got me in trouble here 😦

http://weaktight.com/568624 — I was fortunate enough to flop bottom two in the blinds here.  You typically wannna lead out with these and play these quickly(like in this hand)…the board pairing or a card completing a straight or flush can severely undermine the value of your two pair.

http://weaktight.com/568630 — Flopped the nuts here…my reason for overbetting the river was mainly to make it look like I had a busted diamond draw.  It seemed like he was calling me down with a weak ace(he actually had queens).  I usually don’t make this play, but if I feel that he might try to pick me off then I’ll do it once in awhile.

http://weaktight.com/568666 — Standard.

 

UPDATE: As of 4:45 AM on Sunday…I am currently at $533