I'm stealing the blog post of fellow Team Online member Roy 'GodlikeRoy' Bhasin who tried this early November this year. Read all about his challenge at http://www.godlikeroy.com.
I've decided to have myself a little poker marathon next week. The details are simple: 100 hours of poker in 7 days. It's not totally insane and probably lots of people have done this before. I'm not taking bets against me completing it or anything like that - it's just a little experiment/challenge.
![Tzen1_marathon.jpg]()
Why am I doing this?
December has always been the month in which I played the most poker, often finishing a milestone or SNE. There was always a special feeling when playing in December, and by doing this challenge I hope to get back that feeling since this year I haven't played as much as I would have hoped.
I already planned to take a break from work around Christmas and New Year, but it felt like a good idea to take an extra week to play some poker, so why not a poker marathon?
Part of the December Festival promotion on PokerStars is the $700k Milestone hands. It's always fun to playing during these Milestone hands and most of the time this also means softer games. The Milestone hands start the same day as I will be starting my marathon so that's another reason to play a lot of poker.
Only for players in the Netherlands there is a VPP Challenge in which I would have loved to compete. Unfortunately I had way to much work to finish before my holiday started but during my Marathon I will try to get myself in the top 20 and earn some extra money this way.
For fun. I miss playing lots of poker so I'm definitely doing it for fun as well, if I'm actually winning some money I bet it's even more fun
Thing I want to do throughout the week:
Get a minimum of 6 hours sleep a night, but no more than 8 hours.
Eating healthy and refrain from overeating. When you put in so many hours it's easy to eat only snacks and overeat yourself during the small breaks between playing poker.
Keep my back healthy. I don't have a standing desk setup like Roy but if I notice my back suffers too much I will take a break. If my back keeps being an issue I will quit the challenge.
Stay focused and limit distractions: Facebook, Twitter and What's app. Banning it however would be a step too far
Play at least 50,000 hands. That's only 500 an hour and should be relatively easy, I except that during the morning not many tables will run and I will use that as a sort of warm-up. During the evening I expect myself to 10-12 table most of the time, I'm not planning to 20-24 table besides during the end of the Milestone promotion.
Hopefully maintain a small win rate pre rake-back although I don't expect this to be big due to me being out of shape. Winning money post rake-back is obviously the minimum.
What preparations will I make for the week?
Make sure there is plenty of food in the house so I won't need to do any groceries during the week.
Minimize distractions. I've cleared out my calendar and have almost nothing scheduled for the whole week. Aside from one dentist appointment I can wholly focus on the challenge. Not going out during the weekend will probably be the hardest part.
Have my poker setup ready, something which I have already prepared, so it seems like I'm ready to go.
Ensure that I start off on the right foot. Sleep well the night before and be fully rested.
What else?
I'll be starting my marathon Monday the 16th after breakfast and the clock starts ticking after I've played my first hand of poker.
You can follow the progress via twitter (@Tzen1)
I won't be posting any blogs about the challenge (I have no time for it) but I did already prepare two blog post about my 5 years as a poker professional which I will publish during my challenge.
I will write a wrap-up on Monday or Tuesday after the challenge and two more blogs about my 5 years as a poker professional so there will be plenty to read at www.tzen1.com over the coming 2 weeks!
