Challenge details

Well, ladies and gentlemen – I suppose we’re now officially ’off’, what with my first poker-related entry posted online for all to see and this third entry overall being composed right now. I’m currently at home, sitting in the office/guest room of my Sydney apartment. My girlfriend and I just returned from something as mundane as grocery shopping which also included stopping by the bottle shop for a bottle of white wine and a six-pack of “Hahn Super Dry – Premium Low Carb Beer” – one of which is now right next to me. I guess the ‘low carb’ bit is slightly gay, but to me the stuff tastes just as good as the beer-gut-inducing alternative, so what the hell.

The unaccompanied beer-drinking is new to me and not something I aim to pursue in any way, but when I went to get the white wine, it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of decision. I guess I’m looking to move away from only picking some up, when I know that mates of mine are coming by to get wasted! I’ll be 29 this winter (that’s actually ‘summer’ to all of you in the northern hemisphere) and I feel it’s only natural the way my beer consumption has evened itself out over the past few years. Not nearly as often do I find myself downing 10 bottles on a single night, whereas having one from time to time at home - “just ‘cause” - happens more regularly.

Back to the figurative felt. Initially, I promised you all a bit more information about myself, as well as some more detail on the rules that I’ve laid down for this challenge. As others before me have done quite well in establishing frameworks for similar things, I’ll be courteously steeling from them. Here are the ground rules:

I will start with a bankroll of USD 5,000.00 and my overall goal will be to grow that bankroll into enough money for me to buy into the main event + all preliminary events at the Aussie Millions 2010. I will be playing ONLY sit’n’gos and MTTs – NO cash games. Cash games have been and will always be my poison, but I have never done well in them on a consistent basis. Whether they’ve made me a better poker player, I don’t know. I’ve read stuff from some people who might make that case, but I’ve never known exactly what the facts behind that specific argument are.

Limitations: I am sticking to the 100 buy-in rule as a BARE minimum but in the strictest fashion, meaning a USD 50+5 tournament is currently not within my reach, as that would require a balance of 5500 dollars. Same thing applies to rebuy tournaments, as I’ll probably be getting into a few of those. If I choose to play 20+2 rebuy, I am currently allowed either 1 rebuy or 1 addon, but definitely not both (meaning, I won't be playing any for the time being). Bankroll management has never been my forte, so in order for this to succeed, I’ll be getting tough on myself about this – absolutely no exceptions. Moreover, never more than 3 tables at a time. Each time I’ve tried multi-tasking to the tune of 4, 5 or even 6 tables, my results have suffered severely. Don’t have it in me – at least not yet, so none of that. Finally, NO TURBO tournaments! They’re just crapshoots anyway and if that’s what I wanted; the Sydney Star City Casino is only a 10-minute walk away.

Another guideline I’ve decided on, includes posting progress reports/random blog rants (dependant on my mood at the time) at least twice a week. I have no intention of posting play-by-plays all the time (so fret not!), but will try to do so once in a while if people find them interesting. Also, they are a good way for me to analyze how I’m playing (edit: what I’m doing wrong!) – so perhaps you’ll be seeing more than ‘just a few’ in the months to come.

Guess that wraps that up. My next entry has pretty much written itself already. I just played two tournaments side-by-side (starting approx 10 minutes apart) and proceeded to go deep in both of them – more to come.

Thanks for reading.