Would be interested in peoples thoughts on grinding the challenges? I am doing this to clear my bonus right now (I am kicking myself for not depositing a lot more and taking advantage of the bonus. Anyway way I can get another Ladyluck with another deposit?)

Anyway, I am wondering if this grind is profitable at the lower stakes $1.50 and $5.

Has anyone done it? Is anyone doing it? Just want some thoughts on this. I am doing it and keeping track of everything in my excel spreadsheet.


After 30 games I have 19 wins at the $1.50 level and I am -3.30, but did unlock $ from the bonus. I plan to grind out the bonus doing this, but don't want to if its a losing thing. To be profitable, need to win 6/10 of these long term.

Its hard to gauge these right now, i have games where im pretty sure i won and lose then have games were I think I played bad and there is no way I won but did.

Its all opponent based. Sometimes I don't know whether to take the gamble of a likely flip situation or shove those flush draws in order to get max points etc?

Math error, after 30 games I am up $3.60

And if I did this correctly every ~68 games to release $5 bonus

Here's my back of the envelop calculation...

If you played 24 $5 entry games, I think you would generate 124 Skill Points (.74 fee x 24 games x 7 skill points) and $5 of bonus would be released (at 120 points).

If you played 62 $1.5 entry games, I think you would generate 121.5 Skill Points (.28 x 62 x 7) which would release $5 bonus.

so u went 19-11 and only netted about 2 buyins of profit?? so for every 30 games losing about 6 buyins via the rake?? Seems pretty high

It is and makes me think that it might not be very profitable without a bonus to clear, I am just wondering if anyone else is grinding the challenges.

I don't think that grinding these are profitable at the lowest level. Rake is too high.

the games are beatable in my opinion (due to the erratic play). just a low profit ceiling due to rake, but thats always been the case with micros from my experience with poker in general

Rake % per stakes

$1.50 = 18.67% Rake 28$ in rake per every 100 matches so 60-40 record would get you a slight profit
$5.00 = 14.8% 58-42 record to get profit
$10.00 = 8.4% 55-45 " "
$25.00 = 6.28% 54-46 " "


Why are the rake %s skewed so much??

Yeah, the rake rally kills you at the lowest levels. I've won more than i've lost and im almost 70 games in and right now im down.

I think with the low levels, im probably playing against people who play near every hand, that could work out good for me or not. I'm being a nit on these, except raising fairly wide in any position to steal.

Any other levels I would be up in profit. hmmm

i think you would be better off playing the $5s atleast.

the $1s or micros for that matter are geared towards the casual player in my opinion.

if u want to make some monies then play the $5s.

no difference in skill trust me

We lowered rake on the $1.5 game and $5 game by $0.05 each.

.28 --> .23 and
.74 --> .69

Thank you for the feedback.

This is great. Thank you for listening to players!

impressive

OK so I did 100 games and had 59 wins and 41 losses at the $1.50 and this gave me a profit of $0.60


I cleared $10 in bonus and did 68 games where the rake was .28 instead of .23 where its at now. I would have been slightly in the black had the rake been .23 the whole time.

Either way, I need to figure out whether I want to make a real deposit and grind the $5 and $10 or stick with the $20 I put on just to test this out. hmmm

Unless you are crushing the $1.50 games, probably a bad idea to move up. Of course, at higher levels they might respect your raises more.........

not a big difference in skill level when going to $5 and $10


im speaking from experience. you will still get the players who end the games down -200 and more

I am going to move up to play the $5.

I just hope I don't lose 5 in a row or its busto. lol (trying not to deposit)

I am still deciding on the best strategy.

What I have been doing is just play good tight solid poker, although I min raise pretty wide in order to steal.
What kills me is that I have no clue whether my opponent is going shove or fold that flush draw raise (for example). That's where this whole thing becomes a big gamble.

It would seem to be that over a large sample of these challenges, the player who makes the least errors (per say) will be the most profitable. Meaning that its probably better to just play tight solid nitty poker in these and let your opponents gamble. Sometimes they will win, more often they will end up spewing. So best strat seems to be not to spew??

Anyone else have any thoughts regarding these? In the live games you know how many hands you have left and see your opponents play and can adjust somewhat, like if you are down $3 for example and want to get that back you might gamble to play a hand you might not otherwise.

I hope this makes sense.

BTW 7/10 on the $5 challenge so far

yep thats what makes the challenges unique in their own right!

good luck! be sure to report back how things went.

whats your screename by the way, if u dont mind sharing. u could message it to me also.

good luck!

actually, the key to winning challenges is open shoving atc. i'll provide an example to illustrate this point:

lets say you are on the 30th and final hand of a challenge. up until this point, both you and your opponent have played identically and perfectly, making all of the most +ev decisions. you are dealt 23o utg and fold. your opponent open shoves. he'll be called about 40% of the time and win 15% of the time he is called. despite your flawless play the entire match, your opponent will now win 3/4 of the time against you by employing the ultraperfect strategy of open shoving atc for just 1 hand. imagine if he did it all the time!

This a a complete lol lie

Nice level

Gonna make real deposit and grind these things..Lost 5/6 in the $5 and now pretty much busto

good luck.

the deposit-rungood on the way obv.

I DID try to warn you!!! Never move up to big stakes until you can crush the lower ones............