The immediate reaction after generating the chart: I expected more. I expected a higher bb won/100 hands win rate than 2. The final net won amount appeared to be "okay" even though it does not capture rakeback and leaderboard perks which is probably another 2k-4к. After staring at the chart for 5 minutes and calculating my hourly rate, my mind questioned the effort "was it worth it?"

Mindset during the challenge: See, as a big fan of Patrick Leonard, who praised "longevity" to be the essential key of the game, I tried to constantly remind myself that even if I lose an absurd hand to a fish player, I will be back on tomorrow grinding the game while the fish will come in a week and almost certainly lose the money he won against me. This mindset also helped me deprioritize some social and personal activities and stay on track with my poker challenge. I ended up playing 4 hours a day in September to hit the 100k hands. I was impressed by the commitment, especially last month, considering I live with a girlfriend, a border collie (lYKYK) and have a relatively rich social life while working for a big 4. Is it sustainable? We will see. Perhaps I will have to adjust and pivot once in a while.

"Lessons Learned"*
1) holy guacamole, I didn't expect the variance to be so brutal. In the mid-challenge, I went from a 6k winning player to almost 0. These were 30k hands of pain, suffering and "wtf" smile on my face...

2) Poker losses can't be blamed only on variance. I made some stupid mistakes vs fish, such as 3-bettings preflop with the weak hands, calling x/r with mediocre hands post-flop, and not sizing my value bets enough.

3) GTO is required to know and study, but exploitative adjustments must be made.

4) Geofenced poker pools for the serious recreational player are probably one of the best things that could ever happen.