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10$ to 250$ Challenge - NL 6max Poker Stars

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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Hello,

My name is Ivan. I live in Sofia, Bulgaria and decided to make this blog to keep my progress throughout this challenge.

So, what I am going to try to do is turn the 10$ I have in my Stars account into 250$, aka nl2 to nl10. Since our starting bankroll is obviously extremely low, we will start playing two tables at nl2 6max on Poker Stars and focus on table selection and playing for value almost exclusively until we reach at least 15 BI. At 16$ i would open a 3rd table and on 20$ a 4th. I would not play more than 4 tables as this is meant to be a challenge in focus and achieving goals and not a mindless grind. If it so happens that we run that bad at the start, we can always restart the challenge. Would try to play at least 1-2 session per day, with a duration of 1-1.5 hours each. I expect that challenge to be completed in less than a month if we do not run extremely poorly but time will tell. After reaching our goal I plan on doing a 250$ to 1000$ challenge.

I would appreciate and insight you might give and would post some hands for discussion in this thread, as well as general strategy.

This is what our play on the micros since the end of 2016 looks like.

Spoiler

That's all for now, let's see how we do.

Have a nice day, all !


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28 replies
Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 1

Spoiler

Was a relatively boring session, we managed to get some of our strong hand paid off, but also lost one 120+ BB pot with a combo draw (AI on the flop).
Will post some hands that I marked later.

Won 0.50$ from Card Hunt Daily challenge too. Hunted the king of diamonds for the last 45 minutes.

Old bankroll - 10$
New bankroll - 14.31$
Star Coins - 287

Have a successful day, everyone !


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Tarciziu
Joined: 17.10.2012

Nice stats and results. Thank you for posting the stats from position, really helpful.
Good luck with your challenge. I will definitely follow.
I hope we will not meet at the tables :f_biggrin:


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AgapieGheorghe
Joined: 10.07.2011

It seems to me that you crush the microlimits, so you will not need luck only time :f_drink:

I will follow your challenge :f_thumbsup:


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Tarciziu
Joined: 17.10.2012

How you won 0.5 $ Card Hunt at NL2? I see you need NL 10 or higher....
I play NL5 and it would be nice to have that option,...


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Thanks, guys !

@ Tarciziu

I have the Card Hunt challenge available at nl2 . Maybe it is different in your country and it requires stakes of nl10 or higher.

@AgapieGheorghe

Thanks for the interest in my challenge. Yes, I have defeated the micros many times in the past. What is different this time is our extremely low starting bankroll (5 BI) that would make it much more risky at the beginning. I would also move
up relatively loose (15-20 BI) so it should be harder and would require us to focus on avoiding close spots as much as
possible and hunt for clearly heavily + EV situations.


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 2

Spoiler

Played my second session this morning, went relatively well. Managed to win a lot of small and medium pots vs players
that do not defend their range enough. Won another 0.5$ from Card Hunt Challenge.

Old bankroll - 14.31$
New bankroll - 19.12$

Probably missed some value at some spots but so far we stick to the lowest variance plays possible.
Here is one hand where I think we could have extracted more from the fish, would like to hear some
opinions about it.

Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $3.55 (177.5 bb)
Hero (BB): $3.26 (163 bb)
UTG: $1.93 (96.5 bb)
MP: $3.09 (154.5 bb)
CO: $2.16 (108 bb)
BTN: $2.07 (103.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A♣: K♥:
3 folds, BTN raises to $0.06, SB calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.24, BTN calls $0.18, SB calls $0.18

Flop: ($0.72) J♠: 2♠: 4♥: (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.37, BTN folds, SB calls $0.37

Turn: ($1.46) A♥: (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.96, SB calls $0.96

River: ($3.38) 9♣: (2 players)
SB bets $0.46, Hero calls $0.46

Results:

Spoiler

$4.30 pot ($0.15 rake)
Final Board: J♠: 2♠: 4♥: A♥: 9♣:
SB showed J♣: 7♥: and lost (-$2.03 net)
Hero showed A♣: K♥: and won $4.15 ($2.12 net)

BTN has VPIP/PFR of 20/16, opens 23% of his hands from the BTN and has folded 67% to 3bet (18 situations).

SB is a fish that plays 69/3 VPIP/PFR and generally folds a lot post flop vs aggression.

The donk bet on the river from the passive fish seemed pretty strong and I hesitated to put him AI, because even he would have trouble calling with a worse hand and he still has all his 2 pair + hands here. Do you think we missed value or it is fine as it is ? Consider that for the moment we try to avoid high variance plays and prefer to focus on getting the money in when far ahead of opponent's range. That being said, do we miss too much value when we simply call here ?

Thanks all for reading and have a wonderful day !


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 3

Spoiler

Things are going relatively well, we had another winning session despite being setup several times (QQ vs KK, KK vs AA) and such.
Won another 0.5$ from Card Hunt Challenge :)

Old bankroll - 19.12$
New bankroll - 22.63$

We are also close to opening a chest :f_thumbsup:
Hand of the day

Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $2 (100 bb)
BB: $2.10 (105 bb)
UTG: $3.02 (151 bb)
MP: $2.38 (119 bb)
Hero (CO): $5.37 (268.5 bb)
BTN: $4.22 (211 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A♥: T♦:
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.06, BTN folds, SB raises to $0.20, BB folds, Hero raises to $0.46, SB calls $0.26

Flop: ($0.94) T♣: 7♦: J♠: (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($0.94) 3♣: (2 players)
SB bets $0.60, Hero calls $0.60

River: ($2.14) 3♦: (2 players)
SB bets $0.94 and is all-in, Hero calls $0.94

Results:

Spoiler

$4.02 pot ($0.14 rake)
Final Board: T♣: 7♦: J♠: 3♣: 3♦:
SB showed 9♥: 8♥: and won $3.88 ($1.88 net)
Hero showed A♥: T♦: and lost (-$2 net)

SB is an aggressive regular with stats:
VPIP = 24
PFR = 19
3bet SB = 8.8

I figured it has to be a good spot to 4bet bluff preflop with ATo.
His call was pretty strange OOP - i guess he can have some monsters here but also probably AQ/AJ/KQ/99/88.
No much value in c-betting the flop, letting him bet seems to be more profitable in this spot. After all his draws miss I think it is a good spot to bluffcatch.

Thoughts would be appreciated.

Bye for now and have a nice day !


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 4

Spoiler

Old bankroll - 22.63$
New bankroll - 25.93$
Star Coins - 382 (opened 95 Coins Chest)

Hand of the day

Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (SB): $2.05 (102.5 bb)
BB: $1.73 (86.5 bb)
MP: $5.86 (293 bb)
CO: $2.81 (140.5 bb)
BTN: $2.10 (105 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5♠: A♠:
2 folds, BTN raises to $0.06, Hero raises to $0.20, BB folds, BTN calls $0.14

Flop: ($0.42) 4♥: 2♠: 8♣: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.20, BTN raises to $0.53, Hero raises to $1.85 and is all-in, BTN folds

Results:

Spoiler

$1.48 pot ($0.05 rake)
Final Board: 4♥: 2♠: 8♣:
Hero mucked 5♠: A♠: and won $1.43 ($0.70 net)
BTN mucked and lost (-$0.73 net)

BTN seems like a regular with 22/18 VPIP/PFR and 50% fold to 3bet BTN (4 situations only though).
That board favours us quite heavily and the original plan was to triple barrel him out of the hand
with out gutshot straight draw + backdoor flush draw + one overcard.
When he chose to raise that flop it makes very little sense to me, as he should not raise here with
medium pairs and he has no reason to raise his sets (if he has them preflop).
I figured we have excellent fold equity and some decent equity should he choose to call our 3bet.
Opinions would be appreciated.

Bye for now !


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 5

Spoiler

Old bankroll -25.93$
New bankroll - 30.53$

Another decent session, and another 0.5$ from Card Hunt Challenge :)

So far we have played 3815 hands and managed to triple our initial bankroll, running with 24.3 bb/100.
We are now playing 4 tables and will move up to nl5 when we reach 80$ and start on 2 tables again until 100$.
That is all for now, in case anyone is reading this :)

Here is a little something to add some colour.


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 6

Spoiler

Haven't had a lot of free time to play the last few days. This short session is from yesterday morning and it our first losing one. The tables were extremely good though and I am confident we would have made a significant profit if didn't have to go.

Old bankroll - 30.53$
New bankroll - 30.03$


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 7

Spoiler

Old bankroll - 30.03$
New bankroll - 33.35$

We are back on track now. We had a nice session despite a lot of suckouts in huge pots. Another 0.5$ from Card Hunt Challenge.
Example:

Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (SB): $2.55 (127.5 bb)
BB: $0.81 (40.5 bb)
MP: $2.65 (132.5 bb)
CO: $3.46 (173 bb)
BTN: $3.21 (160.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K♥: K♠:
MP raises to $0.04, CO folds, BTN raises to $0.14, Hero calls $0.13, BB folds, MP calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.44) Q♥: 5♠: 3♠: (3 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $0.21, BTN folds, Hero raises to $0.61, MP calls $0.40

Turn: ($1.66) T♣: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.98, MP raises to $1.90 and is all-in, Hero calls $0.82 and is all-in

River: ($5.26) Q♦: (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results:

Spoiler

$5.26 pot ($0.18 rake)
Final Board: Q♥: 5♠: 3♠: T♣: Q♦:
Hero showed K♥: K♠: and lost (-$2.55 net)
MP showed Q♠: A♥: and won $5.08 ($2.53 net)

Hand of the day

Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $2.08 (104 bb)
BB: $4.33 (216.5 bb)
MP: $1.92 (96 bb)
CO: $3.35 (167.5 bb)
Hero (BTN): $2.70 (135 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with T♦: K♦:
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.05, SB folds, BB raises to $0.22, Hero calls $0.17

Flop: ($0.45) Q♦: K♠: 5♣: (2 players)
BB bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

Turn: ($1.05) 6♦: (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($1.05) J♥: (2 players)
BB bets $0.70, Hero calls $0.70

Results:

Spoiler

$2.45 pot ($0.09 rake)
Final Board: Q♦: K♠: 5♣: 6♦: J♥:
BB showed A♠: 4♦: and lost (-$1.22 net)
Hero showed T♦: K♦: and won $2.36 ($1.14 net)

Hyper aggressive player, his 3bet from the blinds was close to 20%. I felt like this was the spot to make a stand and I was right.

Have a wonderful day everyone !

P.S. Not that anyone is reading this ... :)


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Tarciziu
Joined: 17.10.2012

I'm reading your posts :f_biggrin:, even though i don't comment.
Good luck at the tables.
What's your final goal after 250$ - 1000$? You want to 'attack' higher limits like NL50+ ?


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

@ Tarciziu

Thanks for reading then, hope it is at least somewhat interesting for you.

Let's finish this challenge first, then we will think what we want to accomplish. One step at a time.


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 8

Spoiler

Old bankroll - 33.35$
New bankroll - 30.27$

Sometimes everything just goes wrong even on the easiest of tables :)


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 9

Spoiler

Old bankroll - 30.27$
New bankroll - 32.43$

Hand of the day

Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 4 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $3.64 (182 bb)
Hero (BB): $4.15 (207.5 bb)
CO: $2.37 (118.5 bb)
BTN: $2 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A♠: 5♥:
2 folds, SB raises to $0.06, Hero calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.12) 8♠: 3♥: 4♣: (2 players)
SB bets $0.07, Hero calls $0.07

Turn: ($0.26) 7♥: (2 players)
SB bets $0.17, Hero raises to $0.47, SB calls $0.30

River: ($1.20) 6♦: (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.78, SB calls $0.78

Results:

Spoiler

$2.76 pot ($0.10 rake)
Final Board: 8♠: 3♥: 4♣: 7♥: 6♦:
SB mucked 3♠: 3♣: and lost (-$1.38 net)
Hero showed A♠: 5♥: and won $2.66 ($1.28 net)


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 10

Spoiler

Old bankroll - 32.43$
New bankroll - 41.61$

Played our best session so far, people paid off some hands and we managed to call down some bluffs as well. The challenge seems to be going well despite me not having a lot of time to play right now. Will try to move to nl 5 at about 80$. That is all for now, bye and have a nice day !


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Session 11

Spoiler


Old bankroll - 41.61$
New bankroll - 42.84$

Played another session this morning, the tables were extremely good but people just kept hitting with absurd holdings.
Example:

Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (SB): $3.42 (171 bb)
BB: $1.68 (84 bb)
MP: $5.79 (289.5 bb)
CO: $0.85 (42.5 bb)
BTN: $0.61 (30.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A♦: A♥:
MP folds, CO raises to $0.04, BTN folds, Hero raises to $0.14, BB folds, CO calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.30) 5♥: J♣: 5♣: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.08, CO calls $0.08

Turn: ($0.46) 4♦: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.26, CO calls $0.26

River: ($0.98) 2♠: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.71, CO calls $0.37

Results:

Spoiler

$1.72 pot ($0.06 rake)
Final Board: 5♥: J♣: 5♣: 4♦: 2♠:
Hero showed A♦: A♥: and won $0.00 (-$0.85 net)
CO showed 5♠: T♠: and won $1.66 ($0.81 net)

Hand of the day

Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $2.43 (121.5 bb)
Hero (BB): $4.14 (207 bb)
UTG: $2.59 (129.5 bb)
MP: $5.39 (269.5 bb)
CO: $1.76 (88 bb)
BTN: $2.03 (101.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K♥: A♠:
2 folds, CO raises to $0.04, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.14, CO calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.29) 8♦: A♥: 5♦: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.14, CO calls $0.14

Turn: ($0.57) Q♦: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.38, CO raises to $1.48 and is all-in, Hero folds

Results:

Spoiler

$1.33 pot ($0.05 rake)
Final Board: 8♦: A♥: 5♦: Q♦:
Hero mucked K♥: A♠: and lost (-$0.66 net)
CO mucked and won $1.28 ($0.62 net)

CO is a recreational fish. Still his line seems too strong for us to continue. Would like to hear some opinions about it.

Bye for now and happy holidays :)


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ben002
Joined: 03.03.2018

Hi Fanko,

very impressive results so far!
But look at these Pokerstars duds!
Yesterday they made you pay more rake, then what you actually won... despite the winning session. How awful is that!

Good luck with your challange!


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Fanko
Joined: 24.08.2010

Hi, ben002 !

So far we have paid 12.25$ in rake to make 38.68$ in profit. We also opened two chest that gave us both 0.95$ and got about 4$ from challenges. That makes it close to 50% rakeback on 2NL so I am not feeling too bad about it.

Sessions 12 & 13

Spoiler

Old bankroll - 42.84$
New bankroll - 52.93$
Star Coins - 477

So far for 10 487 hands played we are big winners with 18.4 bb/100. Hope to move to 5NL soon and start posting some interesting hands.

Have a good day everyone !


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