What's up guys,
I'm going to start this thread to document progress through the micros. In light of Doug Polk's challenge, it inspired me to challenge myself. I've been playing for a bit and not really making any huge financial gains. I will be studying with youtube videos and forums.

I will start the challenge with $100 dollars, play full ring cash games like I do at the casino, and use proper BRM. I will begin at the $.01/.02 games on ACR until I have 30 BIs for $.02/.05. Hopefully, we can run this up, and keep climbing stakes.

I'm happy to answer any questions!

Thanks for reading,
OilSpill
(PS: my name on ACR is different since I used to play on Intertops, but OilSpill was already taken on ACR)

Played the first quick session tonight. Tried posting the graph but this site says it needs a URL for the image so that didn't happen. Played about 150 hands, coolered a guy pre with aces over kings. Let's keep that kind of thing going! Played my A game for an hour with 2-3 9max tables going at a time. Up $1.91 with a BB/100 of 77. I know it's a VERY small sample, but that's a good way to start the challenge. Back at it tomorrow

What's your name on ACR??

whats YOUR name on ACR

rather not say so people don't see what I'm posting and take advantage of my gameplan or something like that.

Just finished session #2 which was a 153 hand 2 tabling swingfest. Was up $2 and then down $0.80, but climbed back to a solid $1.28. It feels weird to be proud of that small amount of money, but I know it's more than that. I played well and stuck to my ranges and strategy. One interesting hand, I got it in on the flop of J98 with JJ in my hand facing QQ. Turn blanks and river, of course, is a Ten. Lost a stack there which put me in the minus column. Played strong and smart and made some dirt nasty river bluffs to scoop pots facing weak passive players.

I have really been thinking about range analysis and implementing that the past couple sessions (I started that before the challenge), and it is really adding to my game. The thing is, when you have AQ on a flop of A55 you think youre good since you block most hands with a 5 besides the suited connectors, but some dink 3 bet my button raise in BB with 5-7 off and hit. Lost a stack there too, but my good play got me back into the green.

As for results, like I said above, won $1.28 over the 153 hands for a BB/100 of 41.83

Total challenge results:
- $3.19 profit
- 283 hands
- BB/100 of 56.36
- BR: $104.19

Session #3:
Another swingy session. Started off down $1.20 by hand 130, but I climbed back with a great all in call. Flop J87. I have T8d. Guy bets into me from SB and I am BB. Call flop, and turn is a T. He raises, I 2 bet, he 3 bets, I 4 bet to 20BB less than his stack, he ships all in and I call. He has KK and board bricks. That puts me into the green for this session. Overall, we win $0.33 on the day with 164 hands played and BB of 10.06. May be a small win, but a win is a win baby!
3 days down and 3 wins. I'll take it.
Also, got a $1 bonus from ACR today so I will factor that into total challenge BR.

Total challenge results:
- $3.52 profit
- 447 hands
- BB/100 of 39.37
- BR: $105.45

I go to the website Tinypic to upload images and post the [IMG] link it provides.

Good Luck on the challenge.

Thanks for the tip! I will use this in the next post

What's up everybody,

Session 4 came to an early end, but not in a bad way. I was just really busy today between work and working out and homework. Still managed to get my minimum hundred hands in though. No days off! I'm not excessively grinding or anything, but my sessions are high quality since they are so short. I study 15-20 minutes prior to each and scout tables before playing. The little things definitely add up. On to the challenge.

I was lucky to find a really fishy juicy table (go figure a weekend 1c/2c game is juicy). Stacked one player with 44 on the turn when I hit a boat. Flop Jh2s4s, turn is Jh, and I lead and he reraises with only 40c behind. I ship it in and he calls with Q3s, which I was surprised but excited about! That's the type of player I want in my game every time I sit down. No real huge decisions, but I was playing tight and aggressive and started implementing squeeze plays into my game.

This session:
Win/loss: +$2.01
Hands: 104
BB/100: 96.63 (I wish that was every night)

Total Challenge Results
Profit: $5.53
Hands: 551
BB/100: 50.18
BR: $107.45 (includes $1 bonuses for ACR first deposit matching)

Shoutout to PotLuckNeeded for the tip on how to upload images. Hopefully, this will work and show my current challenge graph. Thanks for reading!

[IMG][/IMG]

Hey guys,
end of session 5. Not a great one. Still pulled out a very very small win to make it a 5 session streak. How much? 6 cents! WOOOO!

No, but I was just card dead all night and missed all my draws except for one which I rivered the K high straight against a set of kings. Nice cooler for my favor instead of the ones I was against. A lot. I have 45s and raise for some reason to 3BB in UTG+1, get 1 called in CO. Flop 488. I bet 6BB, he raises to 10BB, I repop it to 24BB since I think he is trying to steal. But, he re-re pops it to put me all In. I fold since I have a bad kicker and he could have any of the 8 combos with all the overpairs and overcards to catch. Just happy I pulled a win, lost a lot of sets that I caught to all in flop bets where people were hitting draws on the river frequently.

Session results:
Win/Loss: +$0.06
Hands: 250 exactly
BB/100: 1.20

Total Challenge results:
Profit: $5.59
Hands: 801
BB/100: 34.89
BR: $107.51

Hey guys,
So I hate to do it but I didn't play today. It's already 10:05pm and I have class at 8am tomorrow so I need to be up by 6:40. Normally, I'd pound out a session anyways, but I have had so much going on. 3 projects (2 group, 1 individual) all due tomorrow. I have been slaving over those this entire week, but I had to put about 3.5 hours into that tonight already. On top of that, each of them I have to present to the entire class with my group, but the individual one is pretty intense and I can't slack on that since I need the grade to pull me up before finals. Also, I had to work after class until 5 and didn't get home until 6:30.

I didn't completely skip on poker though. I watched a couple videos on YouTube, which is great.

I also contacted ACR support. I never received the $50 in free cash days when I signed up, but I kind of let it slide and thought I had to put in a code or something. Anyways, when I finished my projects I went on to see if I could get that. Long story short, the customer service representative was way nicer than I thought they were going to be. She realized I never got the bonus and immediately put that into my account. I have had a bad experience with them before, but this makes up for it by far. I figured they would say oh you didn't claim it and your account is past the time you can, but she hooked it up.

This will be an awesome boost to my roll. Even if I just break even, that will take me to $155 and I will be able to go up to $.02/.05 with 30+ buy ins. Anyways, just wanted to make my statement for the night. Happy to get the bonus, but nervous about all the projects and presentations tomorrow. I do have the day off work, so you best believe i'm getting my hands in tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,
OilSpill

Hey guys,
weird night for you. Played 272 hands of 1c/2c, dealt garbage again and stacked when I rivered a straight that gave the villain a full house (I had QT, he had 98 off and the board was 88JK9, so the classic cooler). Went and played 2 $1.50 9max SNGs, busted one with KQc vs JTc vs 3c3s, board 5dQd4h3hAc. You think you have that triple up and the turn just wrecks it. Last SNG I played, I'm second in chips and dealt AK on the button. SB folds and BB (has about 12 BB and I have 15) ships with AQ. Flop KJT. I brick out and the flopped straight holds. Another case of getting it in good with the variance wiping me out. Interesting night, but overall I'm happy with a SNG cash. Lost ~$3.50 in cash and about $1 playing the SNG. Back at it tomorrow, but I have plans of playing $1/2 at the casino on Friday with my friend who got me into poker. Possibly going to play some more SNGs since they are fun and good practice for final tabling. Have a good night everybody!

Cash Game Session 6 Results:
Win/Loss: -$3.39
Hands: 272
BB/100: -62.32

Total Challenge results:
Cash Game Results: +$2.20
Cash Game Hands: 1,073
Cash Game BB/100: 10.25
BR: $108.52 (includes ACR bonuses) -->still made $ on a losing day!

Total SNG Results:
Played: 2
Cashes: 1
Win/Loss: -$0.60

What's up guys,
Session 7 comes to a nice end. Played 5 $1.50 + $0.15 9max regular SNGs tonight, and I cashed two of them. Busted one with KK vs QQ and Q hits flop. Other I had AK vs JJ and Hit a K but straight hits river for Jacks to take it down. I feel I'm getting better at these, but I need to work on heads up play.

Played about 6 hands of 1c/2c PLO while I was waiting for the last SNG to start up, and stacked a guy who bought in for .42cents. After the rake, I made $0.37 playing PLO. Unfortunately, my PT4 is not inclusive with Omaha since I rarely play, but this post will help me keep track.

Plus, I hit a $3 free cash card bonus, so that was basically 2 freerolls for SNGs. On the day, a total win of $4.87. Good to cash 40% of my SNGs, which I will take. I finished second in each SNG I cashed, but was about half BB stack vs chip leader going into heads up play. Final SNG I shipped Q9off on 859 all heart board and got called by the PF raiser with J6 of hearts. Not a hand I want to get beat with, but I made a bad play and can only learn and move forward from there.

Have a good night everybody. Hope you run hot!

Today's SNG Results:
Played: 5
Cashes: 2
Win/Loss: +$1.50

Total SNG Results:
Played: 7
Cashes: 3
Win/Loss: +$0.90

Total Challenge results:
Cash Game Results: +$2.20
Cash Game Hands: 1,073
Cash Game BB/100: 10.25
BR: $113.39 (includes ACR bonuses)

Hey guys,

Real quick 3 hour session here. Played 1 $3.30 9max SNG and lost on the bubble. Went over and played some $0.01/0.02 6 max PLO. SUPER soft game with one 2 good players and 3 that were absolute donks to the fullest. BI was $2 for the game and never had to rebuy. Cashed with $6.82 so a profit of $4.82. Overall on the day, +$1.82. The ACR free cash day bonus was $6, too. Sweet. +$7.82 on the day.

Unfortunately, my PT4 doesn't track PLO, so it won't be accounted for in the stats except for in my bankroll statistics.

Today's SNG Results:
Played: 5
Cashes: 2
Win/Loss: +$1.50

Total SNG Results:
Played: 8
Cashes: 3
Win/Loss: -$2.40

Total Challenge results:
Cash Game Results: +$2.20
Cash Game Hands: 1,073
Cash Game BB/100: 10.25
BR: $121.67 (includes ACR bonuses)

What's up guys?
Had the biggest winning day of the challenge so far, and I scored my first 9 handed SNG first place cash! I donked off a couple BIs at NLHE, but I was primarily playing PLO. I was in some juicy games again, and stacked about 8 people. Unfortunately, most stacks were running shallow, but I was picking my spots and making some bluffs that got through on the river. Awesome day, and it's just what I needed to get some of that motivation!

I'll probably be playing PLO again tomorrow if I can get to the good games again. Otherwise, i'll probably grind out some SNGs again. Overall, this was my longest session, and it was my best. Results down below as usual. Thanks for reading!

Today's SNG Results:
Played: 1 ($1.50 + $0.15 BI)
Cashes: 1 (first place, baby!)
Win/Loss: +$5.10

Cash Game Session 9 Results:
Win/Loss: +$5.44
Hands: 446
BB/100: 60.99

Total SNG Results:
Played: 8
Cashes: 4
Win/Loss: +$2.70

Total Challenge results:
Cash Game Results: +$13.59
Cash Game Hands: 1,568
Cash Game BB/100: 43.34
BR: $135.15 (includes ACR bonuses)

Keep it up! Good luck! Do you ever play any 6 max?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I do! I recognize your name. Do you play Omaha?

Whats up, guys?

Session 10 comes to a close for today. I played almost 600 hands of Omaha, and was killing it in the beginning, and then just couldn't catch a draw to save my life. Last hand I have KKT9 with two hearts on a flop of Ah8h3d. Three players jam and I call with the not flush draw and some equity with the kinds, even though I'm probably behind. Miss everything, and that's that. Super swingy. I was up about $10 but ended up with only a $2 win and calling it good so I can still book a win for the day. Results down below as usual, and thanks for reading! Kind of tilted with blowing all my hard work, but I got into some games where PF was costing 10+ BBs to enter a hand, and I just kept wiffing. I'll be making adjustments so this will not happen or just happen less frequently to eliminate the tough spots where I'm making decisions for my whole stack on a flop.

In all honesty, I got in that mindset like I find myself in when I play live. I'm sure you guys know what i'm talking about. It's where you are in the zone for the first 3-4 hours making all the right moves, but once that 5th hour comes it's zombie mode and you're just clicking buttons or tossing chips. I need to work on this for the future of the challenge and for the future of my roll. I felt like playing more to win it back, but as soon as I thought that, it reminded me that it's not my money to win back, it's just chips that are someone else's because of bad decisions. I am getting better at quitting when I need to, but I will have to improve on leaving before i'm left with a dry chip stack.

Happy to book the win, though, and I believe that means we are 9 for 10! I'll take it.

ACR free cash today was $2 and I got a $1 deposit match bonus today as well.


See ya!


Cash Game Session 10 Results:
Win/Loss: +$1.76
Hands: 580
BB/100: 15.17

Total SNG Results:
Played: 8
Cashes: 4
Win/Loss: +$2.70

Total Challenge results:
Cash Game Results: +$15.35
Cash Game Hands: 2,148
Cash Game BB/100: 35.73
BR: $139.91 (includes ACR bonuses)

Forgot to mention, I went ahead and purchased the Omaha PT4 add on so today's post was up to date with all PLO I have played during the challenge since I got the hand histories from ACR and plugged them in. Good luck at the tables, guys.

What is this free cash you speak of on ACR?
Btw digging the blog keep it up.

Nice to know somebody can appreciate this process, thanks man!

The free cash is a bonus when you sign up. In the rewards tab its under special offers. Basically they give you between $2 and $6 for 25 days that you can use for any game or tournament.

When I signed up, I never received it. I contacted the free live chat support and they found my account and immediately put it on. If you never got it, I would definitely contact customer support since it's free money!

What's up guys?

Session 11 was a quick one. I had to work today and have finals this week, so I have had a lot to do today to get prepared, but I still got the hands in. I decided to mix it up and play 2 tables of 6max short stack PLO and 1 table of short stack NLHE to kind of tone down the variance. Ran hot in the 37 NL hands I played and picked up a win of $0.89, but the game broke and I didn't want to table hunt for another good game with 2 PLO tables still going.

PLO was crazy again. I was up and down the whole time, and them my girlfriend came in the room and started talking my ear off. I should have sat out of the tables when this happened, which I will do in the future, but I can't blame her for jamming a board where I had 13 outs to make a straight or flush or boat. that being said, I booked a massive $0.18 win! lol a win is a win, though.

Today's free cash bonus was $2.

On a side note, I am thinking about implementing a win and stop loss. It seems I can run up a couple buy ins and then my play starts deteriorating due to either fancy play syndrome/overconfidence or loss of focus. Since I normally 2 table, I think -4 BIs in a session will be the stop loss and +5 BIs will be the win stop. I think I could find a different table to play at if I am hitting that win stop so I don't have all my winnings on one table, but I think it will depend on a couple variables like energy levels, mood, and if I can find a good game.

Results will be down below! Also, looking to play about 300-1k hands tomorrow since I only have one final and got the day off work. Thanks for reading, everybody! Hope you run hot!

Cash Game Session 11 Results: (NL and PLO combined)
Win/Loss: +$1.07
Hands: 261
BB/100: 20.50

Total SNG Results:
Played: 8
Cashes: 4
Win/Loss: +$2.70

Total Challenge results:
Cash Game Results: +$16.42
Cash Game Hands: 2,409
Cash Game BB/100: 34.08
BR: $142.98 (includes ACR bonuses)

Hey guys,
This is going to be a different kind of post, just an update for me to reflect on in the future and some more information about me. So, I am 21 years old and live in the US, which means I couldn't play poker live at a casino until last October. My best friend, Zach, got me into the game on a not so serious level when we lived in the same building my sophomore year of college. We would play 3-4 person tournaments sporadically for no money but just to socialize on the weekends probably once or twice a month with his other friends. Eventually, he convinced me to play the WSOP app for play money to get better. Pretty soon, we were both playing a lot (what we thought was a lot at the time -- probably 500-1000 hands per week). He always said he couldn't wait until I turned 21 so we could go to the local casino and play there.

I turned 21 and that Friday we went to the casino to try it out. It was my first time, but he had gone before. He wasn't a winning player in the 3 times he had gone, but he was a rookie just like me. We weren't expecting any big results or anything, we just wanted to try it out. We got there and played for probably 4 hours. We were playing $1/2 NLHE. We each bought in for $140 I believe, which was a lot to money for us. I was a delivery driver for Jimmy Johns and he was living off his Army National Guard check, but it was my birthday so I thought why not.

I ended up running hot, and I mean hot. I was picking up crazy good hands and flopping two pair or better probably 30% of the time I entered a pot. Granted, I was playing pretty straightforward and had no idea of bankroll management, how to put someone on a hand range, how to bluff effectively, etc. About 2 hours in, I think I was up to $180 and ended up turning a royal flush with AJ of diamonds in my hand. The thing is, I didn't even know I had a royal! I just saw 5 diamonds and knew I had the nut flush. I got all in with someone on the turn with a 7 high flush and backdoor straight flush that missed. I doubled up and the casino gave me $200 for the high hand bonus.

I can't quite explain the feeling I was having. It was like when you are going down a roller coaster and your stomach leaps into your throat. I was ecstatic and freaking out, and that feeling is what I have been chasing ever since that first night. I could see the jealousy in my friends eyes, and he voiced that he was happy for me but thought it was crazy that my first time I hit a royal and he was down like 80 bucks or something.

We have gone back to casinos on and off, and I was not a winning player. I had some big wins and some big losses, but my friend has never booked a win there, which is unfortunate since he is the reason I started playing and he has such a passion for the game. He just doesn't put in any real effort to study or play online or anything. As I said a few posts ago, we were supposed to go to the casino on Friday, but he bailed last minute and I ended up staying in to play ACR.

So, that's the story of how I got into poker.

On another note, I am finally done with statistics and human diseases, which I feel are completely pointless to my exercise science degree but mandatory nonetheless. I honestly bombed both finals, but I will pass and that's all I wanted. I still have 2 more this week, though.

It has been a real challenge to fit everything I want or need to do into the 18 hours I am awake every day. I go to class, go to work, come home and finish homework, workout, give my girlfriend some attention, and then play poker. Honestly, when I log on to ACR, my day really begins. Besides working out, it's like the only thing I truly enjoy doing. I see the freedom it can bring both financially and just in general. Whether it's location independence or being my own boss or traveling, I want that freedom.

All in all, I am about to start the nightly grind. I will follow up with results. Let me know if you guys have any questions!

What's up guys?
Unfortunately, I booked loss #2 for the session tonight. I was 2 or 3 tabling 1c/2c PLO the whole time. Hit a straight flush my 3rd hand and won 20BBs, but it was all downhill from there. The run bad was present for about 5 hours tonight. Cold deck status. I lost I want to say 7 full houses to higher ones that either turned or rivered me after jamming on the flop. Also, I had one particular player stack me twice pre within 5 hands. I had AAKJ double suited vs 8826 single suit who flopped a boat, and then the next PF jam against him shortly after was AAQT vs KKT4 and he again flopped a set, I turned the nut flush, and the river boated him up. My last hand I have 62A3 double suited and the flop is 226. I pot it UTG and get 1 caller who calls pot bets down to the river only to show pocket 6s. I just couldn't contain the tilt anymore and had to close down shop. I hate booking losses, and i'm sure I could have avoided some losing hands and got more value from winning hands, but there comes a time where you just run like straight garbage. I mean I have never played a 7 hour PLO session where I have ran at least 5 boats into higher ones. Whatever, just needed to get that out. I'll be back at it in the morning though, I'm sure. I have the whole day off tomorrow, so I may mix up PLO and NL SNGs, but ill keep you informed.

I got $3 in ACR money on may first and opened up may 2nds since I am still up, which was $2. Also, I exchanged some CPs for $1 on ACR tonight, too, to help cushion the BR. Results below, and thanks for reading.

Cash Game Session 12 Results:
Win/Loss: -$11.29
Hands: 740
BB/100: -76.28

Total SNG Results:
Played: 8
Cashes: 4
Win/Loss: +$2.70

Total Challenge results:
Cash Game Results: +$5.13
Cash Game Hands: 3,150
Cash Game BB/100: 8.14
BR: $137.69 (includes ACR bonuses)

Hey guys,

Another weird day in the books. Session 13 was always going to be cursed, I mean just look at that number.

Decided to start the session off taking a shot at 2c/5c PLO and busted stack 3 times where I had the nutterinos on the flop or turn and someone either rivered a boat or flush each time. That's that variance everybodys warning each other about. Pretty frustrated that I had another losing session in cash games. I think I'm going to switch it up tomorrow and play more SNGs since that's what I had luck in today.

Played a total of 11 9max either regular or turbos, and pulled out the first place finish in 2 with a total of 5 cashes. Hands I busted were weird and I got rivered once or twice, but the last one was my KQoff vs AKoff on a flop of K78 where I knew he wouldn't have K7 or K8 but got the beat on me anyways. Pretty happy with the SNG results.

Not so much with the cash games, as I am now in the red there. I also decided to try a bounty tournament for $1, and busted, but I may try to play one tourney a week or something like that, but that's TBD for now.

So, I have noticed a couple things. 1) whenever I have a losing session, I immediately look to another game to play. I think my edge in the small cash games PLO is good, but clearly there's a lot more gambling when I move up in stakes as people start pot betting a lot more pre and such. I think it's just kind of shocking when you move up a stake and the PF pot is a buy in at lower stakes. That'll take some getting used to. 2) I notice when I get 6 or less hours of sleep the previous night I have had losing sessions. I know sit and gos went well today, but both big losing sessions have come from bad sleep days. Not 100% sure if there's a correlation, but that's something I need to consider.

I have a final at 7:30am tomorrow and work from 1-7, so I may not play tomorrow. If I do, I'm not sure what i'll be playing. Hope you guys run better than me today!

Results below! Thanks for reading everybody, I really appreciate it!

Cash Game Session 13 Results:
Not sure how to calculate everything since I played till 2am last night. Total results will be accurate, though

Session 13 SNG Results:
Played: 11
Cashes: 5
Win/Loss: +$6.30

Total SNG Results:
Played: 19
Cashes: 9
Win/Loss: +$9.00

Total Challenge results:
Cash Game Results: -$7.24
Cash Game Hands: 3,322
Cash Game BB/100: -5.79
SNG Win/Loss: +$9.00
BR: $131.50 (includes ACR bonuses)