$100 --> $100,000 BR Challenge [2024 Start, 6MAX Cash]
Hello 2+2, long time lurker finally stepping out and creating my own thread.
Background:
Began playing poker in high school - shortly after the Chris Moneymaker boom. Starting in grade 11, almost every lunch period we'd sit at a table in the corner of the cafeteria and play. Usually there were 5 of us but it ran up to 8 if the Russian's finished smoking in time. We started playing for fun but quickly moved to a 5c BB and then 5/10c blinds. By the end of the first year, my goal was to make enough money to buy spicy fries from the lunch menu before heading off to class. Most times the fries eluded me.
Finishing high school, ready for university and just turned 18 I deposited $20 into my PokerStars account for the first time. It stayed there untouched for 3 years due to wanting to focus on my studies. When I came back, for some reason I gravitated towards tournaments. I may have either done well in one of the first I entered or watched too many WSOP Lon and Norm commentary vids. Managed to run the bankroll up to around ~$3500 playing tournaments online and $1/2 during summer break at a casino about 90 mins away. The bankroll at this point is around half and half between online and live winnings.
Queue to some random 2 day stretch around the summer of 2013. Decided to give online cash games (25 & 50NL) a try to improve my $1/2 live results. What ensued over those 2 days still gives me Vietnam style flashbacks. In a combination of terrible luck, spew and tilt I managed to lose around 20 buy ins, roughly half my online bankroll. Still remember having KK vs AA 7-8 times and losing every single jam then having AA v KK once with the villain hitting a K at some point during the hand. Took the rest of my money out and didn't plan to play poker for a long time.
Succeeded, didn't play online or live seriously (outside of random home games or covid zoom games with friends) until September, 2023. What changed? No idea, got bored and logged into my PS account for the first time in forever. Noticed I was GEO-locked to Ontario only with barely any tournaments running, no zoom and overall low server activity. Logged out and didn't play for another 2 months.
November 2023, it's now getting cold in Canada and I hate the cold. Decided to give PokerStars another go and start playing tournaments again. Ran bad, stopped playing tournaments.
Cash games were now the way forward. I set a near term goal to start from the very bottom and reach a bankroll sufficient to play 50NL which would require $4000 (80 BI's).
Started the first session of 2NL on December 2nd, 2023:
Spoiler
Moved up from 2NL on December 11th, 2023
Thoughts:
- 1. While I was sweating it out, making sure my preflop charts were on point the people at 2NL weren't looking at their cards. Fun times.
Bankroll: ~$150
Updates in Replies.
14 Replies
Started the first session of 5NL on December 11th, 2023:
Spoiler
Moved up from 5NL on January 1st, 2024
Thoughts:
- 1. Remember running poorly the first 13K hands, being 16 buy-ins under EV and starting to second guess if this was something worth pursuing.
- 2. Sunrunning the next 12k hands to a great WR.
- 3. The difference in skill between 2NL & 5NL has definitely been the biggest in the micro/low stakes compared to any other two adjacent stakes.
Bankroll: ~$480
Started the first session of 10NL on January 1st, 2024:
Spoiler
Moved up from 10NL on January 29th, 2024
Thoughts:
- 1. This was a lot more consistent of a climb.
- 2. First time where I noticed a few competent regs (some of the ones I've initially noticed at 10NL have made the jump to 50 & 100NL over the past 3 months)
- 3. Definitely a jump from 5NL but not as big as the one from 2 -> 5.
Bankroll: ~$1300 (10NL + LB + RB)
EDIT: Will post 25NL results in around a week, want to finish 100k hands first.
In the meanwhile, feel free to ask any questions.
Decided to post monthly updates instead of going by limit.
Last post left off with completing the 10NL challenge on January 29th.
Took almost a week break before beginning the 25NL grind. Wanted to study a bit/relax in the evenings after work instead of jumping straight into the next limit.
February Results:
Started the first session of 25NL on February 3rd, 2024:
Spoiler
Thoughts:
- Through the first month I was certain that 25NL was easier than 10NL. It felt like there are less good regulars compared to the limit below.
- There are less absolute maniacs/fish but the regs (outside of 1-2) didn't seem to be anything special.
- 25NL is the most popular stake on PokerStars which made table selecting easier. If there are 12 tables running at peak, it's easy to find 5-6 'softer' ones than at other limits where you pretty much have to sit across all active tables.
- Had a very good win rate, higher than the previous limit and the progress seemed very consistent.
- Was thinking of making the jump to 50NL after 50K hands because 25NL was so soft.
Bankroll at the end of February: ~$2650 (25NL + LB + RB)
March Results:
Spoiler
Thoughts:
- As soon as March began, it felt like a switch was flipped.
- Nothing was going my way anymore. If I had KK, opponent had AA. If I had QQ, they had KK. If I had AA they hit a set.
- When I had a premium hand, no one had anything & I didn't get paid.
- When I had a great hand, someone had the nuts.
- Overall, I'd describe the first 33k hands as a 'sideswing'. Couldn't get any momentum going in big pots and had to rely on winning a lot of smaller/medium ones to make up for it.
- Around March 20th I had another upswing where I quickly racked up 20BI's and even ran above EV for the last 20k hands of the month.
- Ended up playing almost 55k hands in March, not something I plan to do regularly but definitely happy with the way it ended.
Bankroll at the end of March:~$4000 ($1035+$345 RB/LB)
The month of rollercoaster in terms of variance and swingy results.
Great volume and GL in April!
March Results:
Spoiler
Thoughts:
- As soon as March began, it felt like a switch was flipped.
- Nothing was going my way anymore. If I had KK, opponent had AA. If I had QQ, they had KK. If I had AA they hit a set.
- When I had a premium hand, no one had anything & I didn't get paid.
- When I had a great hand, someone had the nuts.
- Overall, I'd describe the first 33k hands as a 'sideswing'. Couldn't get any momentum going in big pots and had to rely on winning a lot of smaller/medium ones to make up for it.
- Around March 20th I had another upswing where I quickly racked up 20BI's and even ran above EV for the last 20k hands of the month.
- Ended up playing almost 55k hands in March, not something I plan to do regularly but definitely happy with the way it ended.
Bankroll at the end of March:~$4000 ($1035+$345 RB/LB)
Very good and interesting Thread !
Can you put your Red line in the graph (non showdown winnings) ?
Nice results and glgl in your grind.
I have a few questions?
- 1. Do you have work outside of poker?
- 2. How many tables are you playing(reg tables I suppose) and how many h/day?
- 3. How are you studying poker?
And again your volume and results are very impressive.
This thread looks very promising! Keep on grindin man! You should take shots on NL50 for sure. Even tho the competition gets harder, the rake will lower as well.
I believe in you!
My goodness those are epic results. I haven't seen graphs that impressive in a while. Are you looking to go professional?
Very good and interesting Thread !
Can you put your Red line in the graph (non showdown winnings) ?
Hey, thanks! You're the first reply!
Unfortunately, I'd actually prefer not to show that stat. I've posted my username in the screenshots and don't' want to give too much away in case anyone is reading this from my player pool.
I will say that it's not positive sloping though. Not a red line crusher by any means.
Be happy to answer anything else.
Nice results and glgl in your grind.
I have a few questions?
- 1. Do you have work outside of poker? Yeah, I work a 9-5.
- 2. How many tables are you playing(reg tables I suppose) and how many h/day? 6 tables max, maybe 2-3 hours a night.
- 3. How are you studying poker? Long time ago, read a few Daniel Negreanu books. Recently various Youtube channels, got the Carrot Poker school course, talking to people I've met on discord about hands, friend gave me a link to a 2 hour private coaching recording from a few years ago which I also found useful. A bit of GTOWizard as well.
And again your volume and results are very impressive.
Thanks a lot, let me know if you have any more questions! Trying to get the volume down though, playing a bit too much. Want to settle at 30-40k hands a month.
This thread looks very promising! Keep on grindin man! You should take shots on NL50 for sure. Even tho the competition gets harder, the rake will lower as well.
I believe in you!
Hey, thanks! Made the jump to 50NL about a week ago, I'll update the results at the end of April. It's gone decently so far.
Quick mid month update!
Finished up the 25NL portion of the challenge on April 10th.
25NL April Results:
Spoiler
Thoughts:
- I was sun running like never before for the first 6k hands . Managed to win most of my profits within the first 2 days of the month.
- Another decently long side swing right after. Can't complain after running so well to start. Just tried to not spew and play through it.
25NL Full Results (100K hands):
Spoiler
- Overall happy with how 25NL went. Felt like by the end of it I had every player marked/noted and could play my game exploitatively against everyone even if the end results didn't show it.
Full Results:
Spoiler
Made the jump to 50NL & 100NL about a week ago. Hoping to split time between the two for when Leaderboards are back on PokerStars. Will give an update at the end of the month!
Bankroll after Completing 25NL: ~$4700 (25NL + RB)
