From Recreational to Regular (Challenge Completed $37 to $1000)

Hello guys,

Yesterday the microMillions on Pokerstars ended and I played my last tournament (the main event). I finished on 2775th and managed to get only two bounties and the placement cash.

I'm not going to lie I am really disappointed about me and my whole series (the way I played it ). Taking that in consideration I'm really thinking about investing in a Raise your edge course in order to improve my Bounty Tournament play. I thing I need help in order to become a profitable poker player and since most of the tournaments now are switching to the "bounty" format in order to keep up I need to learn and study this type of games more.
In previous years I'm not saying that I was crushing micromillions events but I managed to make a profit at the end of the series (now thanks to this last tournament I broke even since for me it was a freeroll having not payed the entry )

This is the course that I want to invest in ( I say "invest" because I expect in long term to improve and make my money back ). My plan is to withdraw $250 from my Pokerstars account and the rest from my 888Poker account where in the last months I am doing really well. (I don't want to buy it with money earned at my job... that's another reason that I am looking at this as an "investment")

I realize that the results are not going to come right away.

So my question to you guys (for those who are studying and put the work in): Do you think is smart from me to purchase this course? (Pls take into consideration that I will withdraw almost 75% of my bankroll on Pokerstars, on GGPoker the bankroll remains untouched )

This decision I will be taking it after my one week holiday (I'm going away with my family until the 10th of August) after that I have the 888Live National Championship (I won my ticket via freeroll )

So this week the Bankrolls are:

Pokerstars: $311.87
GGPoker: $28.29

Played from 25.07.2022 to 31.07.2022

Challenge Starting Bankroll: $36.48
Last week Bankroll: $330.14
This week Bankroll: $340.16

Profit last week: + $ 10.02

Goal: $1000

Have a nice week guys. The weekly updates will be back on 15th of August.

Today is the day. I came home from my vacation yesterday morning and today is the day I play day 1A of the 888 National Championship. Online I won't be playing until I am done with the live one "hope is not a short one"

Since I am playing my first live main event I will try to enjoy it, learn from it and who knows maybe I can do something nice.

Hi guys,

Yesterday I played the 888Poker National Championship Main Event. It was a € 330 event and I played the day 1A. It had 54 entries and day 1A ended after 15 levels. I managed to play 9 levels before I got out. We had a starting stack of 50000 with 100/100 and BB ante of 100, at the first break (level 5) I had 70600 chips. After the break I was cards dead...for 4 levels I only got hands like 92, J4, K2, Q3....
There was a rather controversy hand when I raise 3x (2400) from UTG with AhQh and the SB (Jh3h) called only to 800 thinking that I just called ( that was his explanation ) even though the dealer called my raise out. On the flop came 4hJs7h he checked I c-bet 3500 and he called, the turn came 9d he checks and I bet again, he called after some time and then checked the river (2c) and I checked back.
My last hand was 1010 against AJo and the board came 5J722 and I was out.
Overall it was a very nice day to play live and since it was my first tournament I really enjoyed it. I would have loved to get into day 2 but maybe another time. I'm glad I played it and also given the fact that for me was a freeroll I learned something from every player. I liked how the table viewed me ( I tried some bluffs and it worked ) and at the end of the day I finished 25th.

So it's back to online for me.

Hi there, thank you for your small report and sorry that it did not come with the big first cash in the first tourney!

Hello guys,

This is the first update since my what is now an almost 2 weeks vacation.....(I got sick when I came back home X() This past weeks I made the decision not to withdraw anything from my poker accounts, just for the reason that when I started this thread I had a goal ($1000) that I want to achieve until the end of the year. So I will not make any decisions until the year is over.

This last week I played only some freerolls on Pokerstars and some daily freebies on GGPoker. Also like you already know I played 1 live event. The highlight of my week is a 29th places on the CC Monthly $1000 Freeroll.

This month I played only one scholars leader board tournament just before I left, so on that note I am way behind the regulars. There are still 9 tournaments left from this month schedule, but I will not play the last two.

So this week the Bankrolls are:

Pokerstars: $322.87
GGPoker: $29.04

Played from 01.08.2022 to 14.08.2022​

Challenge Starting Bankroll: $36.48
Last week Bankroll: $340.16
This week Bankroll: $351.91

Profit last week: + $11.75

Goal: $1000

Hi guys,

Some small updates from yesterday at the new tournaments that Pokerstars are starting bringing back after some time, and also is so good to be back healthy and ready to grind ♠_thumbsup:

Take care and have a nice day

Hi guys,

This past week was a slow one, I haven't played that much poker. Played mainly from Monday to Friday and on weekend I was doing other stuff outside poker.
I'm happy that Pokerstars brought back some micro tournaments and as you could see I got some minor results in them.

On GGPoker I am still playing only the daily freebies until the end of this month, I plan to rise my bankroll a bit from freerolls. I played a private freeroll for Romanians players and managed to get a $10 ticket unfortunately I did not qualify to the $210 WSOP Mystery Bounty

So this week the Bankrolls are:

Pokerstars: $321.43
GGPoker: $31.10

On scholars leader board I am on 391st with only 4 games played and 6 remaining.

Played from 15.08.2022 to 21.08.2022​

Challenge Starting Bankroll: $36.48
Last week Bankroll: $351.91
This week Bankroll: $352.53

Profit last week: + $ 0.62

Goal: $1000

Hi guys,

A little late with the weekly update today, I have some preparations to do :f_biggrin:. This week I played only some micro stakes games (some $0.50 and some $1.10 ) and also the regular freerolls and the daily freebies on GGPoker. On Sunday I managed to finish 23rd in the CC Bronze Monthly I was close to the money also in the Platinum $300, but the nicer (smaller) results came from the daily freebies on GG. On Saturday I won my $1 Spin & Gold for $3 and on Sunday I won the $0.25 Battle Royal for $2.51.

This upcoming week I have the opportunity to visit England ( mainly Liverpool ) for the first time, so I will be taking it like a vacation and I will play some poker late at night if I can from my phone... I have the opportunity to see my first Premier League match ( Liverpool - Newcastle ) so I am very excited to go. Maybe I will post some photos for you guys.

After I come back I decided to add to my regular schedule every $5.50 WCOOP events. I look over the schedule of the WCOOP Series and I don't think that my Bankroll allows me to play anything other then the $5.50.

Do you guys play any of the WCOOP events?

On the scholars leader board for the month of August I will finish around 200-250 place, I played only 7 tournaments this month and also I will not play the last 2 left. I will try to play today but I do not have any hope of getting a better place just because I need to win it in order to get top 50 and also the money positions....:f_rolleyes:

So this week the Bankrolls are:

Pokerstars: $324.11
GGPoker: $38.10

Played from 22.08.2022 to 28.08.2022​

Challenge Starting Bankroll: $36.48
Last week Bankroll: $352.53
This week Bankroll: $362.21

Profit last week: + $9.68

Goal: $1000

After the month of August is over and especially this week I will re-evaluate the tournaments and the schedule that I have and restructure it a bit to fit more tournaments and also to be able to study and improve my game. I plan to add some $2.20 and some $3.30 tournaments into my daily schedule along with the daily $0.55 and $1.10 that I currently play. On the study part I plan to have at least 2 hours of daily study and hand analyzing.

Congrats on your results...
I quite enjoy the freebie Battle Royale games, but I doubt I would enjoy grinding them all day.

Hi all,

So my short vacation to Liverpool has ended It was a very nice one...saw the Liverpool - Newcastle game which was insane with a 98 min goal and the whole stadium "exploded" with joy. The next day I visited Anfield and it was a different experience

Back to poker now

Like I said before I left I will make some changes to this challenge. First on Pokerstars I will add some $2.20 tournaments and also some $3.30 tournaments that I will play daily, along with the daily $1.10 and the freerolls that I played until now. This are some of them:

Second on GGPoker since my bankroll is still a little small for regular tournaments I will play 4 tables of cash games (because of my cash background I think that I can be profitable at this stake ) at NL2 and also the $0.25 T$ Builder tournaments.

Additionally On Pokerstars this month I will try and qualify to some WCOOP micro events ( $5.50 and also some $11 ) and I will try to qualify to day 2 of the $5.50 WCOOP 1. On both sites I will still play the daily freebies and the CC freerolls.

Now I will be able to play more tables, because I have now 2 27'' monitors and I changed my pc setup a bit....(I invested in a new setup since I am thinking seriously at a long term improvement on my poker abilities and methods of becoming a good poker player ).

This are the changes that I will make. Please fell free to give any suggestions and any thoughts that you might have it will be greatly appreciated (even the "negative ones " I like constructive criticism ).

Now to the results part of the post

This past week I haven't played much poker (because of the things mentioned above ), on Pokerstars I played only Monday and some freerolls on Sunday. Decided to play only some freerolls Sunday because I was still tired after all that traveling, but on GGPoker I played every day only the daily freebies from my mobile phone.
Managed to win a bit, especially on Tuesday and Sunday when I took down the $0.25 Battle Royale

On Pokerstars I received a $1.50 PSPC Mega Path ticket from the weekly draws and I will play it this week also.

So this week the Bankrolls are:

Pokerstars: $324.11
GGPoker: $44.80

Played from 29.08.2022 to 04.09.2022​

Challenge Starting Bankroll: $36.48
Last week Bankroll: $362.21
This week Bankroll: $368.91

Profit last week: + $ 6.70

Goal: $1000

It's good to be back and I wish you all a great week and good luck at the tables.

phew, that is a lot of tourney cashes for you - steady eddie will win in the long run!

Hi all,

This past week I haven't played that much poker...Work and also off work was just to much to deal with...I played the minimum of tournaments that I could, meaning I was playing the $1.10 Scholars tournament, some daily CC Freerolls on Pokerstars and the daily freebies on GGPoker.

The only good result was on Monday when I won the $1.10 Scholars tournament for $141 which is another big boost for my bankroll.

Now I am 3rd on the monthly leaderboard but there are still 9 tournaments to be played this month.

So this week the bankrolls are:

Pokerstars: $461.11
GGPoker: $44.89

Played from 05.09.2022 to 11.09.2022​

Challenge Starting Bankroll: $36.48
Last week Bankroll: $368.91
This week Bankroll: $506.00

Profit last week: + $137.09

Goal: $1000

Have a good week.

Hi all,

This week I started playing cash games on GGPoker for about 1h daily (NL2 6-max) and yesterday I had my worst bad beat in 12 years of poker Here is something for your delight....now after a day has passed I think at this hand and think that is funny but at that time I could not believe what I saw.
We move on.

GG Poker - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by Holdem Manager 3

BB: $2.00 (100 bb)
UTG: $2.00 (100 bb)
MP: $2.00 (100 bb)
CO: $3.78 (189 bb)
Hero (BTN): $0.44 (22 bb)
SB: $2.00 (100 bb)

SB posts $0.01, BB posts $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has K♥: K♣:
fold, MP raises to $0.06, CO calls $0.06, Hero raises to $0.44 and is all-in, 3 folds, CO calls $0.38

Flop: ($0.97, 2 players) A♦: 7♦: 3♥:

Turn: ($0.97, 2 players) Q♦:

River: ($0.97, 2 players) 9♣:

Players agreed to run it twice.

Flop #2: ($0.97, 2 players) A♠: 8♥: J♥:

Turn #2: ($0.97, 2 players) 6♥:

River #2: ($0.97, 2 players) 9♠:

Results: $0.97 pot ($0.00 rake)
Final Board:
A♦: 7♦: 3♥: Q♦: 9♣:
A♠: 8♥: J♥: 6♥: 9♠:

Hero shows K♥: K♣:: (One Pair, Kings)
Board #1 : (Pre 81%, Flop 87%, Turn 75%)
(One Pair, Kings)
Board #2 : (Pre 88%, Flop 94%, Turn 97%)

CO shows 9♥: 9♦:: (Three of a Kind, Nines)
Board #1 : (Pre 19%, Flop 13%, Turn 25%)
(Three of a Kind, Nines)
Board #2 : (Pre 12%, Flop 6%, Turn 3%)

CO wins $0.45

Hi all,

In this week I tried something new for this challenge, for about 1h to max 2h a day I played some NL2 cash games on GGPoker, lets just say I'm a little rusty :badteeth:. I was playing Short Stack Strategy the same strategy that I applied when I started poker about 12 years ago...The strategy for those who don't know it yet is this https://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/sss/what-is-short-stack-strategy/ it was made for 9-max play but since GGPoker doesn't offer cash games with 9 players I applied it to 6-max and it still works :f_grin:....Now comes the bad part...:sifflote: You know when we "experts" think that we know better then those who developed this strategies? you know the rest
Every time when I deviate from the strategy I lost money....there were hands that in my "humble" opinion were to good not to play...those are the hands that I lost money and also the bad beats that I got (and I got some...see the post before this one)
At the end of the week this was my graph...it will get better I promise

On the tournaments side I played very few since still again work took most of my time. I managed to play all 3 Scholars tournaments and also some GGPoker tournaments and daily freebies but no big results.

On Scholars monthly leaderboard I am still on 3rd position with 6 more tournaments to be played.

So this week the Bankrolls are:

Pokerstars: $449.38
GGPoker: $30.29

Played from 12.09.2022 to 18.09.2022​

Challenge Starting Bankroll: $36.48
Last week Bankroll: $506.00
This week Bankroll: $479.67

Profit last week: - $26.33

Goal: $1000

Have a good week.

Hi guys,

This past week was slow in numbers of tournaments played and also I haven't played any cash games. The main focus for me right now is the Scholars Leaderboard... I played some spin & go's satellites for the WCOOP and I managed to win 2x $11 tickets and also to make a profit wile doing it.

On the Scholars Monthly Leaderboard I am now on 2nd position with 3 more tournaments to go... I hope I will play good in this last 3 so I can have a nice boost in bankroll even though is T$... $1000 T$ is a nice bankroll to have. This week I reached the money positions on Tuesday

and Wednesday

At the beginning of this week this is the top of leader board

On GGPoker I played the daily freebies and also one $1 tournament ( with no result ) and 1 Flip & Go tournament ( I had 2 buy-ins in this one of $0.25 ) and managed to finish second

So for this week the bankrolls are:

Pokerstars: $470.84 + the tournaments tickets
GGPoker: $40.11

Played from 19.09.2022 to 25.09.2022​

Challenge Starting Bankroll: $36.48
Last week Bankroll: $479.67
This week Bankroll: $510.95

Profit last week: + $31.28

Goal: $1000

Have a good week all. I will make another update with the results of the Scholars Leaderboard later this week

Hi guys,

This week started perfectly for me. I managed to win yesterday Scholars Tournament and now I am in a good position to finish 1st in the monthly standings with only 2 tournaments left to play.

I will update you guys with my final leaderboard position on Thursday evening.

Have a good day.

wow that is great! Good luck for the last 2 tourneys!

Hi guys,

The yesterday tournament went well I managed to finish in 27th and add some more points to the monthly leader board

One more to go

Hi guys,

So back in the beginning of November last year I started my first Bankroll Challenge, back then I was trying to play poker more seriously then before, meaning that I want to become a profitable poker player. My first step was to change the way I was playing and most important my mentality and the way I looked at the game...Not going to lie it was a long and hard road...In the summer of this year my hard work started to pay off meaning I managed to put my life in order and also to be able to concentrate more on the important things in my life.

I started this challenge with a bankroll of just $37 and playing it only on Pokerstars. I was trying to play cash and also tournaments but not long after I removed the cash portion of it and started playing only tournaments. In march of this year I saw that GGPoker was available in Romania and made an account there ( till this day I haven't deposited there ) so now for this challenge I had 2 accounts.
I decided to call this thread "From Recreational to Regular" because for me in was important to commit to the time that I invested into playing online poker. Also in my opinion is a big difference between an Amateur/Recreational ( plays in some days and plays for fun ) an Regular ( plays most of the days and has a schedule ) and also a Professional Poker Player ( makes a living from this )....In my case I can not say that I achieved yet ''to be a regular poker player'' even though I have a schedule after I play poker but it is mostly around my personal life (and sometimes is a little hectic ) but I am trying to commit more to poker and improve.

Coming back to this challenge as you can see from my past posts I had more great results starting this summer and they all come around this month when even though I have not been playing so much poker I had my best month yet. I managed to win 2 Scholars tournaments and got 1st place into the monthly leader board and got the $T 1000 for it which got me to the completion of this challenge. ♠_drink:

So this is my last Bankroll update

Pokerstars: $616.45 + $T 1000.50 and two $11 tournament tickets
GGPoker: $43.56

Starting Bankroll at 08.11.2021: $36.48
Total Bankroll at the end of the Challenge : $1660.51 + two $11 tournament tickets

Later today I will post a new thread with a new challenge that I want to achieve...it will have a greater goal then this one I'm still working on the details of it

Thank you all for following my journey and thank you all for all the advices and opinions that you gave me...It helped me reach my goal. I really appreciated all of them. ♠_thumbsup:

Congratz!
Impressive!