The Challenge Endeth......

I'm over 95% certain that the Cake Challenge is actually ending today. I've been certain before, but all signs point to July 1 being six months from January 1. Ended at $204.27, up (obviously) 104.27% over six months (and 30,464 hands)....but (more importantly to me right now) up 1300% from my June 4 end-of-session low of $13.07. Hard to (generally speaking) recommend the June POA, but (win or lose) I took the right approach given the enormity of the hole, the remaining time and my somewhat limited opportunity to play.

A rough breakdown of how I did over the six months in various games. Subject to the inaccuracy of today's tabulation, of course. [If someone wants to audit my google spreadsheet, let me know.]

$.02/$.04 NLHE (17k hands) -- $22.28
$.05/$.10 NLHE (1.5k hands) -- ($54.16)
$.10/$.20 NLHE (3.5k hands) -- $4.47
$.25/$.50 NLHE (1k hands) -- $127.38 --> sweet spot or pure, unadulterated luck?
Omaha (various) (2k hands) -- ($48.51)
SNGs and MTTs (various) -- ($74.80) --> tournament specialist

In the end, my best game was clearly Rakeback. Earned $111.20, or 107% of my overall profit, from Rakeback. Super scary. Never figured out HEM (actually, had it set up on wifee's laptop, but never got it properly set up for my laptop bought in February/March).

This experience had two clear phases, and I'm ok with both. The first phase (January-March, when I ran out of steam due to family drama) involved grinding $.02-$.04, one $4 buy in at a time. Played between 3 and 7 tables at a time, and I felt as if 4 was probably the ideal # given my peculiar attention span. Got as high as $200, before dropping back to $150ish. Certainly no master (and probably a pure middle of the road player, at best), but I enjoyed the grind of staying within my means.

Phase two was the "oh shit, this is about to end, I've been unable to play for two+ months, better throw caution to the wind" period. Because of my unique calendar-reading skills, I actually got two cracks at phase two. While some may question whether this approach (single tabling with a huge buy-in) was consistent with the spirit of the contest, it absolutely was. The contest had a finite time period to it. Some blew through their $100 'roll in one or two or ten sessions, early on. So be it. I accepted far greater risk in phase 2 (2a and 2b), and I had many opportunities to bust out. High risk, high reward. Certainly acceptable under the allotted time frame, in light of the scoreboard at the time. No other way to play it out.

Who's ready for Cake Challenge III? I am. I propose starting at $200 or $300 this time. Having climbed to greatness (ok, acceptable mediocrity) via imprudence, I'd be interested in communally giving it a shot using proper bankroll management at slightly higher starting stakes. Any takers??? (chirp, chirp, chirp.....)