Poker bankroll building challenge.

[Fortify]

I will be taking this one-week bankroll challenge from now on. Let's see how much money I can make out of it playing poker for the whole week. I will be playing on two Indian poker platforms (no need to mention the name as I am not promoting them). Both run freerolls worth 15$ -30$ frequently throughout the day.
Below is the screenshot of my initial balance.

AFTER DAY 1 session 2     BANKROLL  = 605 INR


So after winning freeroll I decided to play cash games and sat down at 3 tables with max buy-in (50 INR) blinds were 0.5/1. I played exploitatively and trappy. This session can be summarized as me trapping a big fish with almost 500 bb starting stack. As I have only 4 buy initially I played super tight and waited for a strong hand with fish. I managed to trap him for almost 373 bb pot but he hits his lucky turn and I lost all which I grinded. But I bought in again and started grinding again and slowly building my stack again. Then again I trapped him but guess what he again got lucky for a 300 bb pot. At this moment I felt so tilted but somehow controlled myself and bought again for 50 bb. I knew that I am playing good and it is just a matter of time that he will hand me over his entire stack. So I keep playing and after some time I trapped him again and this time he could not get lucky and I won 251 bb pot. I knew now he will play more aggressively and I have to just wait for strong holdings which happened soon and he lost 451 bb and 134bb pot after that he was completely tilted and got busted soon. Below are the screenshots of hands against him;

While I congratulate you on trying to produce content for the community here, it seems like this is doomed from the very beginning. Most amateurs have a very hard time learning poker - first because the house is taking a cut of every hand and second because you are swimming with sharks. The majority of people you'll play against on poker rooms are hardcore skilled grinders and the best of them have the ability to multi-table effectively. If you stand a chance against them you first need to play at a certain basic level and secondly you need a bank roll that can tolerate variances. Most of us have swings in play with a few bad losses, but if you've wiped out 2/3 of your initial deposit on the first day then it seems like you're setup for failure. Maybe take your remaining money and run. Your initial bankroll needs to be 50-100x the buy in of whatever tables you're playing.

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[KTChampions]

Why does everyone write that OP is going to play freerolls? As I understand it, he has real $ 30 on his balance sheet and he is going to play with them first, and freerolls will be an additional help.
In any case, I wish him good luck and it would be nice if at the end of each day he wrote down the number of hands played and the final balance.

No there is no 30$ my initial bankroll was zero. You are right I will be playing both freerolls and real cash games but in order to play real cash games I will make bankroll from freerolls.

Oh, in this case, the acceleration of the deposit will take you more time. For a long time I played freerolls and even won prizes there, but it took a lot of time, and in my opinion, if you want to run a marathon, then you should strain yourself and make a deposit with real money to start playing seriously right away.

[thsceptic]

After getting this initial thrust to my bankroll. I want some help from the learned members of this forum on how should I approach this challenge? Not only that now I have decided to do away with freerolls as they are sucking up too much of my energy and screen real estate. I will be playing on different websites also because some of them are offering quite good value-for-money tourneys. In case you are interested in hand analysis please let me know so that I can share them also.

[KTChampions]

After getting this initial thrust to my bankroll. I want some help from the learned members of this forum on how should I approach this challenge? Not only that now I have decided to do away with freerolls as they are sucking up too much of my energy and screen real estate. I will be playing on different websites also because some of them are offering quite good value-for-money tourneys. In case you are interested in hand analysis please let me know so that I can share them also.

It seems that you very quickly deviated from your original plans. Maybe you should first earn some amount of real money in order to play simple money games and not freerolls and then start the challenge? As for the analysis of hands, I think it will be interesting only after you show great success in poker 

[Ryker1]

After getting this initial thrust to my bankroll. I want some help from the learned members of this forum on how should I approach this challenge? Not only that now I have decided to do away with freerolls as they are sucking up too much of my energy and screen real estate. I will be playing on different websites also because some of them are offering quite good value-for-money tourneys. In case you are interested in hand analysis please let me know so that I can share them also.

Well, you can beat the challenge if you really wanted --but if I were in your place, I will use to bet first the cash or real fund that I deposited right after the freerolls. Or much better pay attention first with the TOS because usually, freerolls per see will require an amount of wager before you can use your freeroll and earn on that. We are the same, I really love to play poker too, but the thing that we are different is that just because I don't have money to gamble on this big casino. However, good luck and hopefully you can show us here with your winnings.

[Mahanton]

After getting this initial thrust to my bankroll. I want some help from the learned members of this forum on how should I approach this challenge? Not only that now I have decided to do away with freerolls as they are sucking up too much of my energy and screen real estate. I will be playing on different websites also because some of them are offering quite good value-for-money tourneys. In case you are interested in hand analysis please let me know so that I can share them also.

Well, you can beat the challenge if you really wanted --but if I were in your place, I will use to bet first the cash or real fund that I deposited right after the freerolls. Or much better pay attention first with the TOS because usually, freerolls per see will require an amount of wager before you can use your freeroll and earn on that. We are the same, I really love to play poker too, but the thing that we are different is that just because I don't have money to gamble on this big casino. However, good luck and hopefully you can show us here with your winnings.

Freerolls does have basically those terms specially on wagering requirement therefore you should take out consideration on dealing with this first rather than on those real fund gameplays.

Bankroll building challenge is what we do aim most not only on poker but also in sports betting as well and since this is strategic based then it could really be possibly be done
but always vary on how well you do play of course. Good luck OP!

[thsceptic]

It seems that you very quickly deviated from your original plans. Maybe you should first earn some amount of real money in order to play simple money games and not freerolls and then start the challenge? As for the analysis of hands, I think it will be interesting only after you show great success in poker  

You have a gross misconception about my 'original plan'. Please take a moment and read before replying it is the second time you get it wrong.
I have never said that I will be only playing freerolls. Freerolls are just a stepping stone to get the initial money so that I can play real cash games since I was starting from zero balance.
Since I managed to build my bankroll up to 7k starting from freeroll now I think I should do away with them because they are sucking too much mental energy and screen real estate.

[Fundamentals Of]

It seems that you very quickly deviated from your original plans. Maybe you should first earn some amount of real money in order to play simple money games and not freerolls and then start the challenge? As for the analysis of hands, I think it will be interesting only after you show great success in poker  

You have a gross misconception about my 'original plan'. Please take a moment and read before replying it is the second time you get it wrong.
I have never said that I will be only playing freerolls. Freerolls are just a stepping stone to get the initial money so that I can play real cash games since I was starting from zero balance.
Since I managed to build my bankroll up to 7k starting from freeroll now I think I should do away with them because they are sucking too much mental energy and screen real estate.

But why quit from it when you get to play from literally zero money to 7,000? A game of poker may be energy consuming but if you are playing with zero bankroll and end up with 7,000, even stress could go away. Remember that people are spending so much money on poker and other gambling games to drive away stress. But here you are having stress by playing with no money and even making a lot from it. It's very lucky for you to have a casino like that which offers free games and allows withdrawals without a deposit.

[agustina2]

It seems that you very quickly deviated from your original plans. Maybe you should first earn some amount of real money in order to play simple money games and not freerolls and then start the challenge? As for the analysis of hands, I think it will be interesting only after you show great success in poker  

You have a gross misconception about my 'original plan'. Please take a moment and read before replying it is the second time you get it wrong.
I have never said that I will be only playing freerolls. Freerolls are just a stepping stone to get the initial money so that I can play real cash games since I was starting from zero balance.
Since I managed to build my bankroll up to 7k starting from freeroll now I think I should do away with them because they are sucking too much mental energy and screen real estate.

Anyways, you can come back again for another challenge now with pure real money.  It's a good time to show us what you got.

The pressure in playing with freerolls and real money is different hence with the latter, there's a time you will hesitate on some of your moves because there's real money at stake and you can't afford to lose that one while building a new challenge.

But you don't need to win always. At least you tried your best.

[thsceptic]

It seems that you very quickly deviated from your original plans. Maybe you should first earn some amount of real money in order to play simple money games and not freerolls and then start the challenge? As for the analysis of hands, I think it will be interesting only after you show great success in poker  

You have a gross misconception about my 'original plan'. Please take a moment and read before replying it is the second time you get it wrong.
I have never said that I will be only playing freerolls. Freerolls are just a stepping stone to get the initial money so that I can play real cash games since I was starting from zero balance.
Since I managed to build my bankroll up to 7k starting from freeroll now I think I should do away with them because they are sucking too much mental energy and screen real estate.

But why quit from it when you get to play from literally zero money to 7,000? A game of poker may be energy consuming but if you are playing with zero bankroll and end up with 7,000, even stress could go away. Remember that people are spending so much money on poker and other gambling games to drive away stress. But here you are having stress by playing with no money and even making a lot from it. It's very lucky for you to have a casino like that which offers free games and allows withdrawals without a deposit.

Again please read the whole post (If you really care) I only won 200 INR from freerolls ( which took almost a whole day of grinding). The rest of my bankroll comes from multi-tabling cash games and real money tourney which I started with the 200 INR which I won with freeroll. And it seems that you are not well aware of the poker world please tell me the name of any poker platform which does not offer freerolls (in one or other forms) and force you to deposit for cashing out. I guess you are coming from a casino perspective and trying to make an analogy between a no deposit bonus and freeroll. They both are quite different in nature because freerolls allow them to maintain enough liquidity for their low stake cash games, so I am lucky though not in the sense you are talking about. Almost 99% of poker platforms offer freerolls either in their main platform or one of their skins.

Anyways, you can come back again for another challenge now with pure real money.  It's a good time to show us what you got.

The pressure in playing with freerolls and real money is different hence with the latter, there's a time you will hesitate on some of your moves because there's real money at stake and you can't afford to lose that one while building a new challenge.

But you don't need to win always. At least you tried your best.

Please go through the whole post I am playing with real money.

[Poker Player]

AFTER DAY 2 session 2     BANKROLL  = 7150 INR

Ok so keep us updated. Some questions:

In which site are you playing?
Is it fiat only?
Is 7150 INR like $100?
How long have you been playing?

A lot of people have done that but sometimes it's worth it if you have experience to deposit, take advantage of a deposit bonus and play directly at a cash level that is beatable for you.

[AicecreaME]

This is indeed a challenge because you will need to rely on luck and chances more than strategies and skills because these kinds of freeroll is inclined to luck. This could either be fun and a headache. I guess you'll just have to choose what you want it to be. I must say you are patient for doing this because doing freeroll is such nerve-wracking for limited time given everytime. Really rooting for you to have consecutive winnings and i hope that you'll be able to withdraw your prizes easily and hassle free because I've read some cases that they were having a hard time getting their funds and prizes the moment they want to withdraw already. In addition, I hope you won't be so obsessed in winning that to the point your boundaries will be crossed over. Still put up with your set limitations in this challenge.

Please keep us posted for the updates of this challenge of yours to see if it is going smooth or in the rough patch.

[Lucasgabd]

nice topic
are you studying Poker and learning specific strategies or just learning by doing @thsceptic ?

good luck on your journey
it's a big challenge to start from zero, but definitely not impossible

[LUCKMCFLY]

In poker if you are patient and smart enough to not venture in "adventures" you can win against any opponent.The problem is at these skills,very few people are patient enough to not get mad at the cards they are getting and really don't make moves dictated by anger.

If you keep these in mind always you can most of the times win in poker.However I would not play freerolls with really low prizes as in a poker tournament we usually lose a lot of time that maybe we can put at a more good use than just sitting and play freeroll poker.

Well yes, skills is something that must be taken into account, however at any moment emotions can come to the fore, which are something that is difficult for some to control, you can have the best hand, but suddenly a single mistake and You lose, I say it because it happened to me, if this happens online, in real life it is something similar, only you look at the different gestures that people have, and in freeroll it is something else.

[Mauser]

After getting this initial thrust to my bankroll. I want some help from the learned members of this forum on how should I approach this challenge? Not only that now I have decided to do away with freerolls as they are sucking up too much of my energy and screen real estate. I will be playing on different websites also because some of them are offering quite good value-for-money tourneys. In case you are interested in hand analysis please let me know so that I can share them also.

I am not sure if you are still playing a lot of poker right now, but if you do would be nice if you share some more information from your journey. Poker is my favourite casino game that I have been playing for more than 10 years myself. Always enjoying watching or reading something about poker. In case you want to do some hand analysis here in the forum it would be cool too. I will try and help. Investing too much time in freerolls is not good if it takes away your energy. The problem I have with freerolls is that a lot of people will go all in every second hand, so within a few rounds there will already be people with a few times the starting stack. And once you are chip leader on the table it becomes much easier to take advantage of missplays by other.

[jostorres]

In poker if you are patient and smart enough to not venture in "adventures" you can win against any opponent.The problem is at these skills,very few people are patient enough to not get mad at the cards they are getting and really don't make moves dictated by anger.

If you keep these in mind always you can most of the times win in poker.However I would not play freerolls with really low prizes as in a poker tournament we usually lose a lot of time that maybe we can put at a more good use than just sitting and play freeroll poker.

Well yes, skills is something that must be taken into account, however at any moment emotions can come to the fore, which are something that is difficult for some to control, you can have the best hand, but suddenly a single mistake and You lose, I say it because it happened to me, if this happens online, in real life it is something similar, only you look at the different gestures that people have, and in freeroll it is something else.

It is difficult to control if you do not have the will. Wonder why there are pro poker players? This is because they mastered their emotions. Emotions plays a big part in poker more than skills because no matter how skilful you are but you suddenly became emotional you will lose track of what you have planned and that can greatly affect your gameplay.

I can disagree with what swogerino said when it comes to free roll. It is not a waste of time if you love to play poker and if you do not have an important things to do. You only need to keep your expectations low because your are not forced to play there. You should accept no matter what is the outcome, win or loose at least you enjoy the game.

[panjul07]

Looking at the fact that there is no more updates and OP is not active since more than month ago, I guess he is failed with his own challenge.
High likely he lost all his balance in the 3rd day, that's why he did not give more update about the challenge.
I hope I'm wrong as he had nice run in the first 2 days, or perhaps he decided to stop the challenge after the 2nd day and withdraw his earning.

[South Park]

After getting this initial thrust to my bankroll. I want some help from the learned members of this forum on how should I approach this challenge? Not only that now I have decided to do away with freerolls as they are sucking up too much of my energy and screen real estate. I will be playing on different websites also because some of them are offering quite good value-for-money tourneys. In case you are interested in hand analysis please let me know so that I can share them also.

I am not sure if you are still playing a lot of poker right now, but if you do would be nice if you share some more information from your journey. Poker is my favourite casino game that I have been playing for more than 10 years myself. Always enjoying watching or reading something about poker. In case you want to do some hand analysis here in the forum it would be cool too. I will try and help. Investing too much time in freerolls is not good if it takes away your energy. The problem I have with freerolls is that a lot of people will go all in every second hand, so within a few rounds there will already be people with a few times the starting stack. And once you are chip leader on the table it becomes much easier to take advantage of missplays by other.

The OP has not used his account in more than a month, so he either failed his own challenge or simply lost interest in updating this thread, which is a shame, I like posts about the journey of gamblers independently if they happen to win or lose at the end, as it gives you a more realistic view of what a real gambler goes through when they actually are serious about the possibility of earning some money while they gamble, so it is a shame that we most likely will never know what happened.

[mindrust]

Looking at the fact that there is no more updates and OP is not active since more than month ago, I guess he is failed with his own challenge.
High likely he lost all his balance in the 3rd day, that's why he did not give more update about the challenge.
I hope I'm wrong as he had nice run in the first 2 days, or perhaps he decided to stop the challenge after the 2nd day and withdraw his earning.

Building a bankroll challenges 99% of the time end the same. He should have just thrown a dice and be done with it. People think certain strategies will bring them success when gambling and all of them think their strategy is the right one and everybody else's was wrong. And here we got another loser which belongs to the 99%.

[Mauser]

Building a bankroll challenges 99% of the time end the same. He should have just thrown a dice and be done with it. People think certain strategies will bring them success when gambling and all of them think their strategy is the right one and everybody else's was wrong. And here we got another loser which belongs to the 99%.

Unfortunaley yes, no replying here for a month probably means he didn't get his target results. But maybe he didn't have time or was sick and couldn't update us here. Building a bankroll from scratch through freeroll tourneys is very hard work. I wouldn't say that 99% of bankroll challenges fail and that they are losers. It makes a big difference if they start with capital or only rely on free money. I also try to focus on my bankroll constantly in Poker. It might not be a challenge but a continuous requirement. Moving up or down in stakes is based on the bankroll. We need to be able to cover a series of bad beats to not go broke completely. It can happen that we go Allin with AA per flop and still lose. If our bankroll can't withstand that happening a few times we are screwed. That's why I find these bankroll challenges so interesting, it's a good way to remain focused on our capital and not risk too much.