[Challenge] Escaping the Rut: NL10 to NL200 in 100 Days ($10k Goal)
Hi everyone, I'm Andrey. I don't really like poker.
I’m from Russia originally, but I currently live in Armenia. I moved here because the political situation back home became impossible for me to accept.
I’ve been grinding NL50 for the last year, but honestly, I’m stagnating. The game feels like a chore and I've lost the spark. However, in my current situation, walking away isn't an option. So, to wake up my brain and get the competitive fire back, I’m starting a challenge today.
The goal is simple: $10,000 profit in 100 days. I probably won't make it, but I'll try
I’ll be playing on PokerOK (GG Network), mixing Rush and regular tables. It’s going to be a climb from the bottom: I'm starting at NL10/NL25 and aiming for NL200. My bankroll management will be aggressive (20 buy-ins for lower limits, 30 for NL50+), but I have a "hard floor" at the start, meaning I won't drop down past the initial limits.
On the side, I’m also an amateur programmer. I'm currently writing my own version of Flopzilla and a custom solver just for fun, so I might share some updates on that too.
I’ll be posting my results and graphs here. If you want to follow along in real-time, here is my Telegram: t.me/lutwigs_pain
GL at the tables!
13 Replies
GL, have you ever played live games in Armenia?
Honestly, live poker has never really interested me. I lived in Batumi for 1.5 years and had plenty of chances to play, but I never did.
I know my leaks too well, and live games would just expose them. First, I need a flow state to play comfortably, which is impossible at a single table. I get bored and start forcing aggressive, -EV lines just to satisfy the urge to 'win'.
Second, I’ve been tilting a lot lately. I have zero patience for opponents right now, and I’d rather not risk getting into a real conflict at the table.
GL dude, It probably wont be a problem at all getting there with some dedication. I've done similiar climbs both in stakes and € in pretty short timeframes and its most def doable, even for me as a mediocre player with 1 year long poker experience.
In general people seem to have major problems with tilting, reading here different threads and present at the tables. I really cant understand how or why players just seems to completely be losing it and how little struggle actually is needed for it to happen.
I guess thats my blessing, that dont actually give a flying fk
Day 1. Played for a couple of hours and activated god mode. I started playing on GG before the challenge officially kicked off because patience isn't my strong suit. So, some profit didn't count towards the tracker, but whatever. At least I got a nice specific number to start with.
+67.44$
1. For instance, this guy practically donated on the turn. You simply never call here without a flush dro —it’s a -5bb EV blunder. Plus, the solver never shoves flushes in this spot; it’s always a merged range or rare straights. However, I fully expected this kind of 'stationy' behavior. I assumed he’d overplay his pocket pairs trying to protect against overcards, which is why I decided to fastplay.
2. Honestly, I couldn't find any value hands that play this way, except maybe top pairs. But even then, it makes no sense why he wouldn't just shove. I got baited by the nonsensical line. This was borderline spew — definitely need to run this spot in the solver.
3. I prefer to lead and apply pressure on the sandwiched player. Even though he has all the overpairs in his range, I believe leads are mandatory here. As for the BTN’s turn bet—it looks super sketchy to me.
4. I didn't shove preflop because I have the opponent tagged as a nit, and he used a massive sizing. That made the showdown even more surprising. Theoretically, a raise here is extremely rare, if it exists at all. I figured his range lacks low-equity bluffs (A2-A6s, ATo, connectors), and while overcards might play passively later, just calling now would gift them equity realization. Not 100% sure about my logic though — definitely need to run the sim.
5. I think shoving the river was a mistake. A significant part of his range consists of 2nd or even 3rd pairs (like A5, A4, 98). AK rarely calls here—it will likely either bluff-shove or fold. I want to value bet those hands and allow him to spazz out (though I don't expect many slowplayed overpairs on a double FD board at NL10).
6. I was value betting the rec. Theoretically, there isn't much value even on the flop, and the hand almost always checks the turn.
7. I decided to protect my checking range on the turn, plus I’m not too worried about flush runouts. I’d play all other combos aggressively (those without the flush-draw King).The river was perfectly 'my runout'. I don’t expect much AK in his range (at NL10, that stuff usually just gets jammed preflop). I have a massive range advantage, so I decided to apply pressure on his top pairs. I’d find bluffs here too, of course, so I don't expect to get called often. Even I would consider folding any TP here, and I'm a total station.
8. I honestly had no clue what he was representing here, mainly because I don't realistically expect enough leads with trips. The solver leads about 20% of the time, but in reality, regs familiar with this node will fire 50%+. Anyway, I figured he was pushing equity/bluffing or going for thin merged value, so I decided to float. The river range is super confusing: trips mostly block-bet/fold on this board (theoretically, there isn't enough value for a larger size), and nut flushes almost never 3-bet shove. So, he’s representing flushes/straights and merged trips. Given that the turn lead might have been over-aggressive, it implies I should have enough fold equity in this line. But I’m really not sure about this hand or my reasoning.
9. Funny to run into the exact same rare spot twice in one day.
10. It was funny to see the guy tilt after my bluffcatch.
11. I really didn't expect overpairs here. However, I assumed he’d bluffcatch wide against such polarized bets on a paired board with double busted FDs, especially after the passive turn line.
12. An optional defend and an optional bluff. However, to me, it looked like a blocking raise. Plus, I generally expect him to raise his value hands on the flop.
13. On this texture, I expect wide calls and bluffcatches against shoves, even though it’s still a bit merged.
Day 4 (2nd session). Error analysis pending.
Session: -$40 Total: +25$
The session was rough. Got coolered hard in some spots, and played frankly bad in others (no excuses).
To keep the feed from turning into a bad beat "whine-fest," starting next session, I’ll be posting all hand histories in the comments on Telegram: t.me/lutwigs_pain. Anyone who wants to dig through the filth - welcome.
Content Plans: As soon as I finish coding the solver and the Range Explorer module (my Flopzilla alternative), I'll start recording full video breakdowns of my sessions using my own software.
Volume: Pretty modest so far - about 5 hours in 4 days. After New Year's, I plan to enter full grind mode: 5-8 hours a day.
Day 4 (2nd session). Error analysis pending.Session: -$40 Total: +25$The session was rough. Got coolered hard in some spots, and played frankly bad in others (no excuses).To keep the feed from turning into a bad beat "whine-fest, " starting next session, I’ll be posting all hand histories in the comments on Telegram: t.me/lutwigs_pain. Anyone who wants to dig through the filth
Just to be clear, are you working to create your own solver and equity calculator?
That's awesome.
Day 6 (3rd playing day).
Session: -$17. Total: +$8
Ran a bit better than last time, and made fewer mistakes myself.
Started incorporating exploits: looking for spots to call wider and where to overfold. Felt like I slipped into "calling station" mode in a few spots and paid off too much, but the takeaways are interesting.
As promised, I'm dropping the hand histories from the session in the Telegram comments:
Day 8 (4th playing day).
Session: +$15. Total: +$24. Total time: ~12 hours.
Made few mistakes and played correctly in most spots.
I noticed that many opponents, even regs, are noticeably deviating from standard ranges (I especially liked a 4-bet with 22 in EP from a nitty reg). The dynamic has definitely shifted towards aggression — it's very noticeable compared to the state of Rush games at this limit a couple of years ago.
Ran a bit below EV, but keeping at the grind.
Hand histories will be in Telegram:
Day 10 (5th playing day).
Session: +$137 (Pokerdom + PokerOK + generated another $12 in rakeback on Pokerdom). Total: +$162 ($35 GG + $127 PD). Total time: ~16 hours.
Graphs:
1) A couple of sessions on Pokerdom (converted 9,023 RUB at the exchange rate + grinded 900 RUB in rakeback).
2) Bankroll challenge on PokerOK.
3) Rush session (PokerOK).
4) Total result at NL10 Rush (keeping in mind I started 1.5 hours before the bankroll challenge — too lazy to manually filter out those sessions, plus the graph looks more impressive this way).
5) Results at regular tables on PokerOK.
Decided to expand the geography of the marathon and added Pokerdom (counting only NL10 hands, of course). I regret limiting myself only to PokerOK initially. The field on "Dom" turned out to be incredibly soft: in Boost tables, there are literally 4–5 recreational players sitting at the table. If you have to pick a room for NL10 right now, it's definitely Pokerdom.
Of course, I caught a nice upswing — the nuts were being dealt consistently, so I can't complain.
Thinking about adjusting my plans: I'll either continue grinding NL25 on PokerOK or try VangPoker. And on Pokerdom, it's quite possible I'll try taking a shot at NL50 immediately after NL25.
For those who find it easier to follow my results on Telegram and are interested in hand histories (I'll drop them in the comments):
Happy New Year! The holidays are over, and the marathon continues.
Day 17 (6th & 7th playing days). Session: -$55 (PokerOK). Total: +$107. Total time: ~21 hours.
Getting back into the grind was rough. Ran into a string of coolers. Technically, I'm satisfied with my game: didn't make any major mistakes, as far as I can tell, and avoided tilt.
Separately, the news about the rakeback system changes on GG is concerning. Usually, any changes to the "ecology" mean negative EV for regs. Not much room for optimism there.
On a funny note: they’ve blocked software-based screenshots of the client, so get ready for some "potato quality" phone photos.
The plan is to try grinding for the leaderboards. I'm not a huge fan of chasing them, but it's at least one way to force myself to put in the volume.
Hand histories are in Telegram:
Day 19 (9th session).
Session: +$71 profit + ~$5 RB (Leaderboard payout tomorrow + initial Fish Buffet). Total: +$213. Total time: ~29 hours.
Combined NL10 Winrate: 9.5 bb/100 (30 bb/100 on Pokerdom and 6.7 bb/100 on PokerOK).
Graphs:
1. Current session.
2. Overall graph on PokerOK (includes the +$70 made during the pre-challenge warm-up - not counted towards the challenge total).
3. Results on Pokerdom.
Played my final session at NL10, and I'm incredibly glad - the stake was getting a bit stale. Reminder: NL25 is my "save point". I don't plan on dropping below this stake anymore.
It was a great session. Caught a couple of nasty coolers, but the recs more than made up for it.
Attacking NL25 Rush starting tomorrow.
