TRB1965's August Full Tilt Challenges

5TR8 FLUSH said:

Congrats on accomplishing the "Biggest Bonus Ever" challenge and the ATP Academy challenges. And congrats on getting Ironman Bronze aswell, and the other goals you set and accomplished. Hope all goes better from now on, and you don't have to many bad days like the one you had yesterday. But there's many good and bad days to come, its poker. Best of luck, and give Omaha a try again but on lower stakes like 5/10c pot limit.

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For now I am going to concentrate on building bankroll and for me that means hitting the $5 NLHE SNGs as often as possible.

I have a 28% ROI on those.

I will certainly be playing some cash tables (I still need 2 days of 50 FTP to get Ironman Silver.)

At some point I will try to work on my Omaha game, but I think it better to build some bankroll first. Maybe when i get over $1,000 I think about investing in improving my Omaha play.

Update through August 24

Very frustrating day. Only 3 hours of play, but I was zoned in. I was making virtually every read correctly but simply couldn’t get my big hands to hold up. I had opponents drawing to 2 outer and runner, runners at least 10 times where they hit their miracles. On the other hand, I seemed to win every smaller pot.
Played mixed 2NL, short-stacked 50NL, and $5 SNGs and I was down a total of $10.62.


1) Biggest Bonus Ever (Earn 1,667 base FTP) - I've earned 1,667 base points and cleared $100.00 .My bankroll has decreased $9.87 while I was clearing the bonus. A net gain of $91.13. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 8/23.

2) FTP Academy Challenges (Earn 2,000 Academy credits) –So far I have earned 3,736 Academy credits. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 8/16.

3) FTP One-A-Day (Earn 1 FTP every day) - I've earned at least 1 FTP all 24 days in August. 7 days left to earn 1 point per day.

4) ) Ironman Bronze (Earn 50 FTP on 20 different days) - I've earned at least 50 base points all 23 days in August. My bankroll has increased $5.57 in August (excluding the $100 bonus). The same bankroll applies to both the FTP One-A-Day and the Ironman Bronze as they both started with play on August 1. I need to earn 50 points on 1 more day to earn Ironman Silver. IRONMAN BRONZE ACCOMPLISHED 8/20.

5) Full Tilt Points (grab bunches!) – 2,297.30 Full Tilt Points earned.

Just curious - do you know how many FTP points you earn per $1 you play with?

Mortis said:

Just curious - do you know how many FTP points you earn per $1 you play with?

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In SNG and MTT you earn 7 points for each $1 in rake you pay. A $5.00 + $0.50 SNG is $0.50 rake and you earn 3.5 FTP.

In cash games work a little different. You get 1 FTP for each $1 in rake on a hand. The key points here are that if there is no flop there is no rake and you have to be dealt cards to be included. If you are sitting out or waiting for the blig blind, then you were not dealt cards. Even if you fold pre-flop, then you were dealt cards and get points based on the rake of the hand if anyone sees a flop.

Great stuff TRB- haven't followed one of your challenges for a while, but you done good!

I'm doing something similar on a smaller scale (only trying to clear $20 of the bonus, academy challenges, iron man one a day)

Did you manage the sng madness too? (almsot killed me not winning one in 26 (6 2nds lol!) but made it eventually...

Interested to know what you plan to do with academy points? (I keep swopping 5k for 5k ftp and almost done this 3 times (1.4k points to go) for a chip-set)

Presume you have rakeback too?

Best of luck with the rest of the challenge....

(5 common holdem leaks is pretty easy to complete after the preflop challenge...medium stack might fit in with your sngs....)

Update through August 25

Bad day in the $5 SNGs. Only cashed 1 of 4 (2nd place) and was down $8.50 in the SNGs. I played 224 hands of short-stacked 50NL and was up $10.80. So overall I was up $2.30. I earned 53 FTP and made Ironman Silver. So my only real remaining goal is the FTP Ironman One-a-Day.
I’ll probably concentrate of Full Tilt Academy Challenges and SNGs for the rest of the month of August.

ACCOMPLISHED GOALS
• Biggest Bonus Ever – ACCOMPLISHED 8/23
• 2,000 FTP Academy Credits – ACCOMPLISHED 8/16
• Ironman Bronze – ACCOMPLISHED 8/20
• Ironman Silver – ACCOMPLISHED 8/25

REMAINING GOALS
1) Ironman One-A-Day – I've earned at least 1 FTP all 24 days in August. 6 days left to earn 1 point per day.
2) Full Tilt Points (grab bunches!) – 2,346.65 Full Tilt Points earned.

BANKROLL REPORT
• Up $103.52 since the end of Project: Freeroll
• Up $96.73 in August

CryingAmy said:

Great stuff TRB- haven't followed one of your challenges for a while, but you done good!

I'm doing something similar on a smaller scale (only trying to clear $20 of the bonus, academy challenges, iron man one a day)

Did you manage the sng madness too? (almsot killed me not winning one in 26 (6 2nds lol!) but made it eventually...

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SNG madness was horrid for me. I kept hitting sets, getting my chips in the middle, and loosing to runner, runner straights and flushes. As soon as SNG madness ended, I started cashing the SNGs again. Go figure.

CryingAmy said:

Interested to know what you plan to do with academy points? (I keep swopping 5k for 5k ftp and almost done this 3 times (1.4k points to go) for a chip-set)

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I haven't 100% decided what to do with my credits. I'll either save up and buy a $100 bonus, or cash them in for FTP. Same with my Ironman medals. I don't have to decide right away. If I go the FTP route, I'm eyeing the poker table.

CryingAmy said:

Presume you have rakeback too?

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Nope. I've been on FT for a LOOOOONG time (4 years plus). I didn't even know what rakeback was when I signed up.

CryingAmy said:

Best of luck with the rest of the challenge....
(5 common holdem leaks is pretty easy to complete after the preflop challenge...medium stack might fit in with your sngs....)

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They just added a micro-stakes cash game challenge that looks pretty easy as well.
I'm going back and forth between SNG By the Numbers (need 2 wins to complete for the 4th time), Pre-flop play (completed twice), and 5 Common Holdem Leaks (need to do the three 60 hands session with a profit to complete for the 4th time.)

I'll probably concentrate on playing a lot of 2NL over the next 6 days to get my one-a-day and complete as much of the Pre-flop Play and 5 Common Holdem Leaks challenges as possible.

Update through August 26

With Ironman Silver accomplished, I decided to concentrate on Full Tilt Poker Academy Challenges. I finished “5 Common Holdem Leaks” for the 4th time and started my 4th time through “Pre-Flop Play.” I played 2NL and was down $0.22.

ACCOMPLISHED GOALS
• Biggest Bonus Ever – ACCOMPLISHED 8/23
• 2,000 FTP Academy Credits – ACCOMPLISHED 8/16
• Ironman Bronze – ACCOMPLISHED 8/20
• Ironman Silver – ACCOMPLISHED 8/25

REMAINING GOALS
1) Ironman One-A-Day – I've earned at least 1 FTP all 26 days in August. 5 days left to earn 1 point per day.
2) Full Tilt Points (grab bunches!) – 2,392.76 Full Tilt Points earned.

BANKROLL REPORT
• Up $103.30 since the end of Project: Freeroll
• Up $96.51 in August

Update through August 27

BLAH! I really need to have a good day soon! Down $4.31 in cash play and 0 for 3 in SNGs for Down $20.96 overall for the day.

ACCOMPLISHED GOALS
• Biggest Bonus Ever – ACCOMPLISHED 8/23
• 2,000 FTP Academy Credits – ACCOMPLISHED 8/16
• Ironman Bronze – ACCOMPLISHED 8/20
• Ironman Silver – ACCOMPLISHED 8/25

REMAINING GOALS
1) Ironman One-A-Day – I've earned at least 1 FTP all 27 days in August. 54days left to earn 1 point per day.
2) Full Tilt Points (grab bunches!) – 2,417.49 Full Tilt Points earned.

BANKROLL REPORT
• Up $82.42 since the end of Project: Freeroll
• Up $75.63 in August

Update through August 28

I decided to really concentrate strictly on clearing Full Tilt Academy challenges today by playing 2NL and $1 SNGs. I completed “Pre-Flop Play” for the 5th time and completed “SNGs by the Numbers” for the 4th and 5th times. I was up $1.27 in 458 hands for 2NL. I was up $10.30 in the SNGs (50% ITM with 37.5% ROI.).
I’m getting started on establishing my September goals. It looks like I am going to have more limited time to play than in August (especially since August started with a 9 day vacation for me.) So I’m going to keep it fairly simple. Considering my goals as Ironman Bronze, Ironman One-a-Day, and complete the Take 2 Promotion. I will continue to work on Full Tilt Academy Challenges as time allows, but I’m not going to establish any specific goals related to them.

ACCOMPLISHED GOALS
• Biggest Bonus Ever – ACCOMPLISHED 8/23
• 2,000 FTP Academy Credits – ACCOMPLISHED 8/16
• Ironman Bronze – ACCOMPLISHED 8/20
• Ironman Silver – ACCOMPLISHED 8/25

REMAINING GOALS
1) Ironman One-A-Day – I've earned at least 1 FTP all 28 days in August. 3 days left to earn 1 point per day.
2) Full Tilt Points (grab bunches!) – 2,467.57 Full Tilt Points earned.

BANKROLL REPORT
• Up $93.99 since the end of Project: Freeroll
• Up $87.20 in August

Update through August 28

It was another horrid day today. It was so horrid that I couldn’t believe it and had to question if my impression of the day was biased. So I spent the last hour going through my hand histories from today in the Holdem Manger replayer. Over the course of the day today I had 56 hands (yes I play a lot of hands) where either I was all-in or my opponent was all-in. Of those 56 hands I was ahead in an astounding 48 of them when the chips went in the middle. Of the 8 where I was behind I won zero of them. Of the 48 where I was ahead I won 8. Yes I said 8. Of those 48 where I was ahead I had my opponent drawing to a 3 outer or 2 outer an incredible 16 times. Of those 16 I won only 4 times.

I was down $16.15 in SNGs today cashing in 2 of 9 and was down $29.16 on the cash tables. That’s a total of down $45.31 on the day.

All I can say is that if these odds balance out, I’m about to go on an incredible run very soon.

I might pretty much take the day off from playing tomorrow (with the exception of getting my 1 FTP to keep the One-A-Day alive). I’m way behind on my writing and I can use the day to get caught up.

ACCOMPLISHED GOALS
• Biggest Bonus Ever – ACCOMPLISHED 8/23
• 2,000 FTP Academy Credits – ACCOMPLISHED 8/16
• Ironman Bronze – ACCOMPLISHED 8/20
• Ironman Silver – ACCOMPLISHED 8/25

REMAINING GOALS
1) Ironman One-A-Day – I've earned at least 1 FTP all 29 days in August. 2 days left to earn 1 point per day.
2) Full Tilt Points (grab bunches!) – 2,601.28 Full Tilt Points earned.

BANKROLL REPORT
• Up $48.68 since the end of Project: Freeroll
• Up $41.89 in August

WOW, you've been on a terrible run lately. I'm guessing you lost about $60 this week. Lets hope you have a big day soon, but that is incredible what happened in the 48 hands.

Best of luck, TC.

5TR8 FLUSH said:

WOW, you've been on a terrible run lately. I'm guessing you lost about $60 this week. Lets hope you have a big day soon, but that is incredible what happened in the 48 hands.

Best of luck, TC.

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Well today is a "day of rest" in relative terms. I was up $0.58 this morning getting my 1 FTP.

And that may well be all I play today on FT.

I may also keep the play limited tomorrow to give myself a bit of a break before September starts on Tuesday. It will be back to the grind of trying to grab 50 FTP/day for 20 days and at least 1 FTP all 30 days for the One-a-Day. If I do that I'll also get the $50 Take 2 bonus.

Update through August 29

Pretty much took the day off except for a little 2NL to get my 1 FTP to keep the One-a-Day going.

I was up $0.58 for the day.

ACCOMPLISHED GOALS
• Biggest Bonus Ever – ACCOMPLISHED 8/23
• 2,000 FTP Academy Credits – ACCOMPLISHED 8/16
• Ironman Bronze – ACCOMPLISHED 8/20
• Ironman Silver – ACCOMPLISHED 8/25

REMAINING GOALS
1) Ironman One-A-Day – I've earned at least 1 FTP all 30 days in August. 1 day left to earn 1 point per day.
2) Full Tilt Points (grab bunches!) – 2,608.65 Full Tilt Points earned.

BANKROLL REPORT
• Up $49.26 since the end of Project: Freeroll
• Up $42.47 in August

Update through August 31

Once again I barely played today. I played just enough to get my 1 FTP and get the Ironman One-A-Day.

I was up $0.19 for the day.

ACCOMPLISHED GOALS
• Biggest Bonus Ever – ACCOMPLISHED 8/23
• 2,000 FTP Academy Credits – ACCOMPLISHED 8/16
• Ironman Bronze – ACCOMPLISHED 8/20
• Ironman Silver – ACCOMPLISHED 8/25
• Ironman One-A-Day – ACCOMPLISHED 8/31
• Full Tilt Points – ACCOMPLISHED 8/31

BANKROLL REPORT
• Up $49.45 since the end of Project: Freeroll
• Up $42.66 in August