[BR-challenge] From NL2 to NL100

Current progression:
Starting date: January 5th 2023
Starting bankroll: $40
Current limit: NL2
Hands played: 6,398
Win/Loss: +$28.04
Current BB/100: 21.9
Current bankroll: $94.81*
* This is including rakeback, cashback, free games etc. since the starting date.

Originally posted by LookAwayNow
I decided to get back into poker after 5-6 years inactivity. Back then I used to beat NL10 over a decent sample, took shots at NL25 but wasn't good enough to ever beat it over a reasonable sample.

Hi LookAwayNow,
Welcome back to PokerStrategy.com

Since you already have the blog part going, why not sign up for the Bankroll Challenge?
See the full details in the first few posts here: https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=523971&page=1

Thanks a lot for the invitation, I am more than happy to join. I posted in the thread you linked me to. Let's goooo!

Best of luck, fun, and success!

I hope you stay disciplined and don't care too much about bad periods. Always see the long-term scales

Yesterday I played some deposit bonus games. On GGPoker they required me to play 500 "All-in or Fold"-cash game hands in order to receive $10.

You play 4-max games 10BB deep with minimum stakes of NL10; you basically sit down with $1 and get two options: All-in or Fold.

The last couple of days I played this I ran pretty bad, but yesterday I had the worst run ever. I could not even win the 80/20-situations and players would hit their 1-outers nearly every time. I reviewed the session and had the best hand most of the time and lost almost all of them. After my session I checked the results and I run 35 buy-ins under EV over 1100 hands.

Just variance, whatever, move on. I know. But what was interesting is that I actually felt annoyed after the session. It got to me. Even when my bankroll is still quite decent. I felt a little bit wronged.

My plan was to play some NL2 after, but because of my mental game at that point, I decided not to play. Instead I watched some pokerstreams on Twitch and called it a day.

Normally I would've continued play resulting in a nice little tilt session, but this time it was different.

Progress.

Originally posted by LookAwayNow

Normally I would've continued play resulting in a nice little tilt session, but this time it was different.

Quitting is a skill.

I did the Honeymoon Promotion on GGPoker, too. It was not that profitable to clear 20 missions, which I did. You will lose in games out of your comfort zone - PLO, shortdeck, or whatever they request.
So from my experience I would advise you to take only those missions that you really feel comfortable with.

Yeah, I started that Honeymoon Challenge and wasn't satisfied doing it because I just want to play hold'em cash games and I also somehow missed the first day so now I can't win the final $150 reward anymore. I quit that challenge some days ago. I was referring to the deposit bonus, which requires you to play "All-in or Fold"-games for 6 days in a row. Today was day 5 and I ran okay, my bankroll is over $100 now.

Tomorrow is day 6 and I will be glad it's over then. They require me to play another 1000 hands and the reward will be $20. I hope it will be worth it.

From that point on I will only be playing cash games. Just have to get this annoying challenge done.

Yesterday I finished the deposit bonus and received the $20. I ran okay-ish in the "All-in or Fold"-games, I think I was down about $10 at the end.

After that I played some NL2 and took a shot at NL5, but shutdown after 30 mins because I was too tired and made mistakes.

Used the rest of the evening to browse for poker-strategy and stumbled on GTO-ranges for NL500 (from GTOwizard). I understand we need to tighten up the GTO-ranges for micro's due to rake and population reads (players cold-call more often while GTO assumes 3-bet only MPvsUTG for example).

Also found the NL50-ranges that are adjusted to the rake on that limit. I then realised I should probably reconstruct my current opening ranges.

Currently I'm using w34s3l-ranges from ~8 years ago. For example on UTG, I open: ATs+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, 98s, 78s, AJo+, KQo, 55+.

Probably I should open more off-suited broadways and get rid of suited-connectors, like T9s, 98s and 78s. Also I should maybe fold some more pocket pairs.

Also I should probably widen the 3-bet-ranges, because people over-fold against 3-bets on NL5 and we want to cold-call less due to rake, so it's better to have more 3-bets in position?

What do you guys think?

Ignore above message, I was just writing down some thoughts.

Current progression:
Starting date: January 5th 2023
Starting bankroll: $40
Current limit: NL2
Hands played: 8,008 on NL2 & 2,130 on NL5
Win/Loss: -$1.94
Current BB/100: 17.3 on NL2 & -27.9 on NL5
Current bankroll: $88.18*
* This is including rakeback, cashback, free games etc. since the starting date.

My BR was over $115 at some point and I took some shots on NL5, 2k hands in total and had some difficult river spots where I called down too much I think. If I check my graph, my red-line is basically at $0 because I 3-bet and 4-bet a lot. My blue line (showdown winnings) is at $-30 because I think I'm calling down way too light. Those nits just never bluff and always have it. They always have nuts when I have 2nd nuts.

Good thing is that I am enjoying it a lot, because I am learning. Also at the tables. Mentally I feel quite strong. Anyways, back to NL2

Week 2:

Current progression:
Starting date: January 5th 2023
Starting bankroll: $40
Current limit: NL2
Hands played: 13,265
Win/Loss: $19.11
Current bankroll: $66.80

Week 3:

Current progression:
Starting date: January 5th 2023
Starting bankroll: $40
Current limit: NL2
This week hands played: 15,411
Total hands played: 28,676
This week Win/Loss: $12.14
Total Win/Loss: $31.25
Current bankroll: $105.64
Goal: $2,500.00

I learned that GGPoker has a leaderboard for the Rush & Cash games
Competitive as I am, I played 10k+ hands yesterday and finished 6th for $11.

Originally posted by LookAwayNow
I learned that GGPoker has a leaderboard for the Rush & Cash games
Competitive as I am, I played 10k+ hands yesterday and finished 6th for $11.

If you can put in the volume, those leaderboards are a good way to make $$$

Nice job!

Thanks for your reply. In the meantime I also won a bad beat jackpot of $330 - so this bankroll challenge is going really good.

Will move up to NL5. The reason I won't move up immediately to NL10 while my new BR allows it, is because I still need to learn a lot. It's been a while since I played these limits and improving on NL5 is cheaper than NL10.

This Saturday I will attempt to finish in the top 5 of the NL5 leaderboard challenge for Rush & Cash (fast NL hold'em).

Let's crush this challenge.

Week 4:

Current progression:
Starting date: January 5th 2023
Starting bankroll: $40
Current limit: NL5
This week hands played: 15,412
Total hands played: 44,088
This week Win/Loss: $-17.45
Total Win/Loss: $13.8
Current bankroll: $465.84
Goal: $2,500.00

Had a rough session on NL5 yesterday when I tried to compete for the bankroll challenge. I didn't sleep too good and got tired really fast. At some point I was down about 10 buy-ins and I decided to quit. Today I grinded a little bit more and I played a lot better. I'm learning a lot about the population and I'm seeing a lot of progress in my game.

I learned that GGPoker has a leaderboard for the Rush & Cash games
Competitive as I am, I played 10k+ hands yesterday and finished 6th for $11.

OMG I hate you, do you know how many hands I've played and still haven't completed a fish buffet

Originally posted by jiffybag

I learned that GGPoker has a leaderboard for the Rush & Cash games
Competitive as I am, I played 10k+ hands yesterday and finished 6th for $11.

OMG I hate you, do you know how many hands I've played and still haven't completed a fish buffet
Maybe you are the buffet.

Nice progress,

Hitting that Bad Beat Jackpot really boosted you bankroll, I wish you good luck in this challenge.

One question: How many tables are you playing?

I tried some cash games but for me tournaments are more fun and also I enjoy them more.

Thanks a lot. Currently I play 4-tables Rush and Cash, which is a speed poker format similar to "zoom" on Pokerstars. I am considering to reduce the number of tables a bit, maybe towards 3 or 2, to work on my game more and to have more time to think and make decisions.

Thanks for your reply and I also wish you good luck at the tables.