It's been a couple of months since my last Double or Nothing Sit and Go Bankroll Challenge Update. I've been busy with a few things that didn't leave me much time to play a lot of poker or post updates.

By the way, I'm posting this update using a Google CR-48 Notebook running Google Chrome OS. I haven't had a chance to put it through it's paces yet but I have been using it to update and review my bankroll management spreadsheets. I'll likely post more about it at a later date.

I started this challenge with $150 and the challenge bankroll is now up to $2,804 only about $220 up from the last update. Win rate was pretty pathetic at around 55% with a buy-in ROI of just over 1%.

I'm running around $300 below EV for the period but I think the main problem has been adjusting to the $10 DoN games as well as getting used to playing again after having to take a number of long breaks from the games.

I've also been trying some new things. Some of them worked a lot of them didn't but I feel more comfortable with my game at these stakes now compared to when I first moved up in this challenge.

When I first moved up to the $10 games I played fewer tables than I was playing at $5 so I could focus more and have the time to take notes on the regulars. Playing fewer tables I was able to make a lot of moves I couldn't normally make, pick off more bluffs, trap more, bluff more, etc. The games were less boring but eventually I started over-thinking things more than I should and it cost me.

Eventually I felt more confident at these stakes and started moving from few tables in a tiled configuration to more tables in a stacked configuration like I used to with the $5 DoNs. I've been playing as many as 20 at a time but that was just to make sure I cleared another Stellar Rewards Bonus and achieved Platinum Star before the end of last year.

When I started this challenge about a year ago I had hopes that things would be progressing much faster than they have been. I was hoping to be at least one or two levels higher than I actually am now.  Part of the problem is I spent too time than I should have at the $5 DoNs to acculate FPPs to replace the TV in my office. Very happy with the TV from the VIP Store so I guess I can't complain too much.

Hopefully this year I can do much better. Now that I'm playing the $10 DoNs (and soon the $20's with any luck) it might be possible for me to reach SuperNova status this year but I'm not going to make that one of my goals.

My goals for this challenge are to continue to improve my game, keep moving up in stakes and keep that chart moving up :)

Some of you have been using my Double or Nothing SnG Bankroll Management Spreadsheet to track your own progress in these games. How have things been going for you?

I guess it's no surprise that Isildur1 was going to capitalize on all his fame. Everyone was after him and when he bailed on Tony G you had to wonder that this mysterious Sweedish poker player might have realized that he had value.

His only concern was that he wanted to remain anonymous. Even though there is wide speculation that Isildur1 is Viktor Blom, his true identity has not been officially revealed.

This morning PokerStars announced that they have added Isildur1 to their PokerStars Team Pro stable. This anonymous figure who created such a frenzy on Full Tilt Poker will now be playing on PokerStars.

If you want to play Isildur1 heads up PokerStars has created the Superstar Showdown.

A SuperStar Showdown is a high stakes, heads-up match consisting of a single session of 2,500 hands. The match is played across four tables of No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha, at stakes no lower than $50/$100. The winner is the player that shows either a profit after 2,500 hands, or wins all of their opponent’s match bankroll.

While PokerStars is the world's largest online poker room, Full Tilt Poker has been where the big online cash games have been played but PokerStars has been fighting to get in on that action.

PokerStars' Team Pro front man Daniel Negreanu has been playing more high stakes cash games online at PokerStars and PokerStars has also been revamping different aspects of their cash game tables to make them more attractive to online players.

Grabbing Isildur1 is going to attract a lot of viewers wanting to see his famous up and down swings. So far he's played about 2,500 hands and is up $8.7k. One of the first players to go up against Isildur1 on PokerStars is Phil Galfond (MrSweets28). Galfond has played 1,624 hands against the secret Swede and is down over $34k to him.

Maybe this time Isildur1 might want to try my bankroll management spreadsheets but that doesn't seem to be his style and I doubt PokerStars will funnel him more money to keep playing if he goes broke.

Reading various poker blogs has helped me think about poker in different ways.

I've been trying to increase my subscriptions to poker blogs in my blog reader.

A lot of poker blogs I found are no longer update. Some seem to have been sold to spammers.

I tried to whittle down the list to known good blogs but I know I'm missing a lot. There are many sites I visit regularly from Google search but I forgot to bookmark or add to my reader.

Other blogs I'd like to read regularly don't have feeds, like Phil Galfond's blog, which makes them harder to follow.

If you have any suggestions for good poker blogs that you read please let me know in the comments below.

You can subscribe to my feed with this link: http://blog.microrollers.com/feeds/posts/default

Note: if you can't see the list below click here

When I first started playing poker I thought I'd be playing mainly multi-table tournaments but I've barely played any lately.

Grinding SnGs and cash games brings a small but steady profit but tournaments have the possibility of delivering a nice big prize for finishing 1st.

Unfortunately I find that SnGs and cash games fit into my schedule better since I can start them whenever I like. But I think I can manage to fit in some more MTTs.

My goal is to try and play at least 30 (hopefully more like 50-60) MTTs a month. I should be able to swing that playing 3-4 tournaments a couple of nights a week. I'm hoping that's enough to get a handful of deep runs and one final table each month. As long as I still remember how to play :) I'll also try and find some time to study some more on MTTs and maybe get some new books.

PokerStars offers a lot of benefits to players as part of it's VIP Program. One of these benefits are free online poker tournaments with prize pools as high as $1 million. The buy-in to these events are either free or through frequent player points (FPPs).

Three $500 tournaments run every day for a 10 FPP buy-in. There are three weekly tournaments with $1,000, $2,000 and $30,000 prize pools, two monthly tournaments with a $2,500 and $100,000 prize pool and 4 times a year the big $1,000,000 quarterly freerolls.

These seem to be a pretty good value for your FPPs. I played one a few months ago and final tabled it. I keep meaning to play more but I lose track of when they are.

To help me keep track of these tournaments I've added them to my calendar.

If you'd like to add them to your calendar (Outlook, Thunderbird w/Lightnight, iPhone, Blackberry or other smartphone) you can use the following links to sync your calendar using either the iCalendar or XML feed.

I've split up the calendars into two groups:

PokerStars Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly VIP Freeroll Calendar

Use this calendar to keep track of the Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly PokerStars VIP Freerolls.

PokerStars Daily VIP Freeroll Calendar

The PokerStars Daily VIP Freerolls run every day at 12:40pm, 7:40pm and 10:40pm ET. I don't plan on playing many of these plus they run every day three times a day so they should be easy to remember. For that reason I've added them to a separate calendar feed if you don't think it will clog up your calendar view.

PokerStars VIP Freeroll Calendar

I've always found the portraits Team PokerStars Pros have as their avatars appealing. They have a very nice muted effect to them.

Some of the PokerStars portraits are nicer than others but they all have the same effect applied to them.

When PokerStars announced they signed Liv Boeree as a Team Pro member they linked her photos to some very high resolution versions. The amount of detail in the photo allowed me to make a good guess at how it was lit.

Since I had PokerStars Pro Portraits on my mind I figured I'd try and reverse engineer the effect.

Not everyone can be a sponsored by PokerStars but if you'd like to look like you are, here's how to do it.

PokerStars announced that starting on October 1st there will be some new changes to the VIP program. Some pretty great changes in my opinion!

First, VIP Reward Bonuses will now be available in your account instantly. In the past if you purchased a $50 VIP Reward Bonus for 4,500 FPP you'd have to clear that bonus by earning 350 VPPs (7 times the dollar amount) before that amount was added to your account.

Tomorrow, when you purchase a VIP Reward Bonus from the PokerStars VIP Store, the amount will be instantly credited to your account.

I really like this change except I recently purchased a bonus that I'm still working on clearing. Damn my impatience! Update: Thanks to a tweet from @fpppro I found out you could email PokerStars support and request a refund for VIP Reward Bonuses that haven't cleared and then purchase a new VIP Reward Bonus that clears instantly. Sweet!

Micro stakes players will also be earning VPPs faster at NL and PL ring games up to $0.05/$0.10.

This is an extension of the MicroMania promotion they held in July where micro stakes NL and PL games earned 10 VPPs for each $1 collected in rake. What came as a surprise to me was that the 10x multiplier didn't end in July. They continued to run the promotion without making a fuss over it.

I was trying to track my cash game VPP earn rate and I thought something seemed off. Now I know why.

The normal VPP multiplier is 6x for tables with 8 or more seats and 5.5x for tables with 7 or fewer seats.

The new VPP multiplier at each stake are at follows:

$0.01/$0.02: 12x
$0.02/$0.05: 10x
$0.05/$0.10: 8x

6-max players will realize the biggest gain going from 5.5x to either 12x, 10x or 8x depending on the stakes. Heads-up players are unfortunately left out since the smallest heads up tables are $0.10/0.25 which have been excluded from this new change even though they were part of MicroMania.

Still, these are very good changes, especially not having to clear VIP Reward Bonuses!

It's been a while since my last post and update. I've been busy with a few other projects and haven't had as much time. I have been playing my challenges but haven't had time to update my blog.

I really wanted to splurge and play one of the $200 WCOOP events but I just couldn't find the time. :(

Since my last update my Double or Nothing Sit N' Go challenge bankroll is up over $1,000 to $2,584. I'm currently playing the $10 DoNs. My winrate since the last update was only 55.6% giving me a little better than a 3% ROI.

Not a spectacular winrate but it's mainly due to one big downswing.

I started out this update playing the $5.40 DoNs even though my bankroll rules allowed me to play the $10.80 DoNs. There were a couple of reasons why I decided to stick with the $5 DoNs.

First, I just got used to playing a large number of tables and was having fun and showing good results doing so and I didn't want to stop.

The other reason (and this is longer than I wanted but I can't stop talking about new toys)  was I needed to replace the TV in my office and decided to use my FPPs to get a new TV from the PokerStars' VIP store. Sticking with the $5 DoNs I was able to generate FPPs faster since moving to the $10 DoNs would mean I would have to play fewer tables.

I had planned to restrict my FPPs to only cash bonuses but just couldn't resist. I'm the type of person that usually goes nuts looking at specs and comparing models before I make any purchasing decision. I hate wasting money and more importantly I hate getting something and then realizing for only a little bit more I could have gotten something better.

The downside is that I start out looking for something that costs let's say $300 and then realize for $50 bucks more I can get something better, and then for only another $25 I can get something even better. Eventually I say screw it if I'm going to spend $200 above my initial $300 budget why not just get the top of the line model!

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn't have time to do that and just blindly bought the 26" 720p Samsung HDTV that PokerStars lists on their store. It was the right size and I could do without 1080p in my office. I'm happy with it. The picture quality is good and it has some nice features. My favorite is that it comes with a USB port and I can connect an external drive to play videos from my computer.

OneCall.com seems to be the company that fulfills electronics orders for PokerStars's VIP Store. The TV was listed for $480 when I ordered it for 32,000 FPPs. If I chose to purchase bonuses with those FPPs I would have only been able to get less than $400 worth so it seemed like a good deal. Amazon put it on sale shortly after I ordered it and it would have been a toss-up. Check out Amazon's current price for the Samsung LN26C450 26-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV
Overall I was very happy with the process and service and would buy from OneCall.com again but instead of purchasing something directly from the VIP Store I'll go about it a different way. I noticed that in the VIP Store you can purchase $200 gift certifcates for OneCall and that would allow me to be more selective about what item I purchase.

OK, back to DoNs...

After I earned the FPPs I needed for the TV I finally moved up to the $10 DoNs. I started playing one and then two tables at a time and things were going well. Very well actually.

Since I continued with the $5 DoNs longer than I should have my bankroll could actually support playing more than 2 tables at a time and I quickly moved to about as many as I was playing at the $5 level. That's when the downswing hit and it was a pretty big one. I never hit the point where my bankroll rules told me to move down so I kept at it trying to find my bearings.

Moving up quickly probably wouldn't have been such a big problem but a few weeks went by where I didn't have time to play any poker and I guess I forgot how? I should have eased myself back into it.

At the $10 level players generally make fewer mistakes than they did at the $5 level and I found I needed to focus more to keep myself from making mistakes myself. I dropped back down to 2 tables at a time to pay closer attention and make some adjustments to my game.

I slowly worked my way up to 5 tables at a time and I'm playing them pretty much tiled (with a slight overlap) so I can pay attention to the action easier.

I created a custom layout with 5 tables arranged as shown in the image to the right. There's a little bit of overlap but I can still see what's going on.

More important than seeing what's going on, this layout helps me remember the players. This is helpful when there's a player I'm picking up a read on but I don't have enough hands against them for the HUD stats to be reliable.

I'm not good with remembering names or avatars but I'm good at remembering something like the player in the upper right table in seat 1 raises loose and calls shoves light. Playing with my tables stacked doesn't allow me to remember players in that way.

My next step is to play 6 tables. I have a layout where I moved the center table up and added a 6th one just under it. After that 8 tables with a bigger overlap and then I'll see if I can go back to stacking tables.

The challenge is going much slower than I initially thought it would but as long as that chart keeps moving up I guess I can't complain. :)

Received an email today that PokerTableRatings.com is now offering Sit-n-Go hand histories for purchase. For a limited time there is a 30% discount if you use the promo code: SNGLAUNCH.

Plus you'll also get 14 free days of SnG daily hand updates with your order if you use the promo code.

PokerTableRatings has been tracking cash game hands for hold 'em and omaha for Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, Absolute/Ulitmate Bet, Bodog, iPoker/Titan, Party Poker and recently the Cake Poker.

Like other data mining sites they allow you to size up your competition quickly. Through their website you can review a players playing style, win/loss record and even watch recent sessions. Their new PTR Premium service gives you a more in-depth analysis and even provides typical HUD stats in the PTR replayer.

For months PTR has secretly been data mining SNG hand histories as well and has now made them available for purchase. Like their cash game hand histories these files can be imported into your poker analytics software such as Holdem Manager or Poker Office. This can give you more insight into players than just their win/loss record that other sites such as SharkScope provide.

One problem though. Data mining and trading/purchasing hand histories violates the terms and conditions of most major poker rooms.

A few weeks ago a reader, Rishan, sent me an email with some questions about Double or Nothing Sit-N-Go's.

He had some good questions pertaining to variance, bankroll management and some strategy. With his permission I'm posting his email along with my answers in case others find it helpful.

It took a while to find the time to reply but hopefully it's worth the wait.

Here's the email:

This is my best update so far! No major downswings and I had time to put in a lot of volume. I was finally able to significantly increase the number of simultaneous tables I'm playing too which made a big difference.

Current DoN SnG Challenge Bankroll is at $1,542 a whopping $732 more since my last update. An increase of around 90%. That's almost double!!!! Can you tell I'm excited!?!?!?!? :)

I ran pretty decent too. 58% winrate with a 7.6% ROI. When I first started playing these games (before I started this challenge) my winrate was just over 60% so I'm starting to creep back up closer to that number.

Sundays no longer seem to be a problem. They used to be my worst day but last Sunday was my best. I played a little over 100 SnGs and had a 68% winrate which gave me a 26% ROI netting me $145.

There were a number of things I felt made a difference which I'll discuss in further detail below. Plus what's going to happen next with the challenge.

If you liked my Cash Game Bankroll Management Spreadsheet and DoN SnG Bankroll Management Spreadsheet you might get some good use out of my multi-table tournament (MTT) bankroll management spreadsheet.

It has the same features as the other spreadsheets in that it suggests your buy-in based on your bankroll management rules, keeps track of your progress and provides you with some useful stats, allows you to publish your bankroll chart on the web.

Poor bankroll management practices can result in a winning player going bust so it's important to keep good records and follow a sound strategy to keep your bankroll safe.

There's a lot of variance and there can be some big swings in MTTs so this spreadsheet isn't as straightforward as the previous ones.

Because a big score in an MTT can dramatically increase your bankroll you can be rolled to play in much higher games than you are used to but just because you had a big win doesn't mean your ability has dramatically increased. I tried to tie the recommended buy-in to the average buy-in to keep the spreadsheet from suggesting buy-ins that were too much above the buy-ins you have the most experience in but you'll still want to use your judgement when you move up in stakes. This spreadsheet is still a work in progress.

This spreadsheet can be used for all your MTTs or you can create separate spreadsheets to segregate different types of tournaments. For example you could create three different copies. One for Turbo MTTs, one for 180 SnGs and one for ReBuys tournaments. Since your bankroll management strategy should reflect your winrate and potential variance it makes sense to separate them since different types of games have different variance and you're ability might be different in them.

If you choose to mix tournament types try to adjust the recommended buy-in accordingly. For example if your recommended buy-in is $10 and you normally play regular speed full ring MTTs you might want to buy-in for less in a 6-max turbo MTT. If you're throwing in a rebuy tournament, try to keep your buy-in + rebuys + addon close to your recommended buy-in. This is one area where you're going to need to use your judgment.

At the 2010 WSOP Ladies No-Limit Holdem Championship about a dozen guys registered and played the event. Some of them did so because they believe the field to be softer but Shaun Deeb, who started the event in drag, claimed he did it for female poker player rights.

He feels that the special Ladies tournament shouldn't be a part of the World Series of Poker. In his view, women poker players are intelligent and competitive enough to battle it out in the open events and should do so.

Unfortunately my good run didn't last. After my last DoN SnG Challenge Update things continued to go well and then disaster struck. I experienced my worst downswing ever in these games. Over 30 buy-ins.

The current DoN Challenge bankroll stands at $810. It was up to $883.61 at it's peak before the downswing. I was looking forward to moving up to the $10 DoNs by now but that is going to take a little more time.

Since the last update the bankroll has increased $25 and my win rate and ROI has been 55% and 0.5% respectively. Nothing to get too excited over.

In addition to winnings from the games I also earned a $50 VIP Stellar Reward  as well as a $50 VIP Reward Bonus so things aren't so bad.