BIG Swings – Bankroll Challenge Day 10
Day 9 of the Bankroll challenge was an epic journey through a micro stakes battlefield. We saw Upswing Poker coach Doug Polk’s bankroll go from $178, down to $117 until bouncing back to an jaw-dropping $552.
For 8 days this has been a battle of an unstoppable force (in this case, Doug) going against a seemingly unmovable object (the current micro stakes ecosystem) and on day 9, the ‘‘unmovable’’ object finally gave in!
Honestly, It was hard to find the words while watching it, but that’s why we have emojis! Not only did we see the ever present Dongers, but also Fees, Binks, and even Jason Mo got some love!
The session could be compared to the ending of the original ‘Star Wars’ (AKA ‘A New Hope’). Much like in the classic sci fi movie, the ending was celebration of a great victory, not the end of the war.
Setting up a New Base
At the start of Day 10, we were greeted by a very optimistic Doug Polk. And why not? His estimates had his roll doubling by this point in the challenge, but it instead sat at 5.5X of his original $100 investment.
‘‘At the end of the day, the person playing better will win the money.’’ Doug mused, right after rubbing his success in the naysayers’ faces.
‘‘We’re going to make it to 10K, guys. We’re going to make it to 10K’’.
Doug announced that, while the bankroll has now grown considerably, he won’t be taking any huge shots just because he can. Proper bankroll management is still the number 1 rule of this challenge. However, he will add more tournaments and sit and goes to the session, as he sees a ton of value in them.
He also announced the return of the much requested Twitter Strategy Q&A, after it was absent from the rotation in the last couple of streams.
We started the action with two NL20 tables, and Doug was glad to see no familiar screen name on the tables. That is until a reg saluted Doug with a shorter version of his other screen name, ‘WGC’. Doug was being bum hunted, again. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A Bad Run
Half an hour into the NL20 session, he decided to mix it up with some $10 Sit and Goes. They didn’t prove as fruitful as their $5 cousins, however, and an hour and a half later Doug had not cashed in a single SnG tournament.
Doug theorized this to be reason why there were no Twitter strategy questions for this stream, but it had probably more to do with the change to an earlier time.
Now that the Twitter Strategy Q&As are back, remember to send in your questions to @DougPolkPoker as soon as the segment is announced for the best chance of getting your question answered.
Sometimes, even the best poker players run bad, it’s just a fact of poker life.
It seemed like Doug missed every shot he would take, losing every flip and getting no value out of any of his strong hands. The best he could get were some Sit and Go min cashes.
Two hours and fifty minutes into the three tabling session, the bankroll stood at $410. Doug was down by $140.
A huge downswing when compared to earlier streams, though not uncommon for NL20 and $10 sit and goes. The chat was pessimistic, as always, but Doug remained steadfast and grinded the good grind, despite his losses.
Answering a question from the chat, he assured his audience that he will start streaming high stakes again in september for the WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker). However he will hide his cards from the audience. The Twitch chat was not happy about it, but the cost of this tournaments is too high to give free information, such as a complete tournament hand history.
The Right Mindset
Four hours into the stream and the grinding continued. Doug decided to add heads up Sit and goes as part of the rotation. Doug was doing well in the Heads Up action, as he usually does, playing an opponent named ‘’Luv2Tilttt’’ in rematch after rematch. The bankroll had taken a few hits, however, after a series of bustos and min cashes in $10 sit and goes.
With the bankroll now standing at $350, Doug acknowledged that the situation looked grim, but reassured his audience that he will make it through this. ‘‘An Upswing is just around the corner’’.
Doug reassuring the chat that downswings are temporary has been a common theme throughout the challenge. As usual, Doug remained optimistic and confident while the chat spoke like a homeless man with a ‘‘The End is Nigh’’ cardboard banner.
A lot of people expected to see Doug crushing his micro stakes opponents like ants and were disappointed to see otherwise. But that’s just how poker works on the short term!
For Doug Polk, a good mindset is the best weapon a player has against the very real despair of the micros.
And he would need that mindset as not much changed by the end of the seventh hour. Doug was on the final table of another tournament, this one a $5 tournament with a $350 guarantee, but it only payed to the first three spots. So being on the final table did not meant a profit just yet.
After an hour of final table play, Doug finished third, cashing in for $69. The bankroll challenge now stood at $406.
Get daily updates from the challenge here!
(Serious about improving your poker game? Check out the Upswing Lab! Doug Polk and Ryan Fee collaborated on this A to Z poker training course and the great reviews keep rolling in!)