Hi all. Thought I would start recording my progress as I attempt to grind a roll from 2nl to 200nl and even further if possible. I'm hoping having this thread to look back on an also some accountability will help me stay on the grind and achieve my goals.

A bit about me:
41 years old
I'm a single dad
Born and living up north in the UK
Been playing poker on and off since 2005
The highest I ever played was 50nl back around 2016

I started getting back into poker a couple of months ago after almost a full 8 year cold turkey, starting with $47 that was left in my stars account from 8 years ago.

I plan to play at least 1000 hands per day split up into 2 sessions, morning and evening. 2.5 hours in the morning, and whatever I can manage in evening. I will be playing regular tables on stars. I will move up to the next stake when I have 30BI and move down if I drop below 20BI.

BR needed to move up:

5nl: $150
10nl: $300
25nl: $750
50nl: $1500
100nl: $3000
200nl: $6000

I have already grinded enough at 2nl to move up.

Here's the graph and results for 2nl:



Then I moved up to the dizzying heights of 5nl, punted off about 6 stacks as is customary until I got dialed in and adjusted. I find it plays very different to 2nl. Bluffcatching in big pots seems to be much less profitable and people generally fold a lot more postflop. You could say they respect your raises even

5nl Graph and results:



I'll probably post daily results but may change it to weekly and I'll post a full graph every week of the whole challenge.

Current BR: $127.64

Nice good luck dude!

Good luck

Let's a-go andymc1

I am also UK (s.wales). Similar age. Not a dad though. You're winning on that front.

Thanks guys

Day 1 results:



Overall graph of all stakes since start of challenge:



Current Bankroll: $142.55

Good luck! I'm attempting something similar so I'll be following along. You got this!

On the same path as you. Good luck.

Impressive graph! Im on the same path but now playing NL5-NL10. Soon maybe NL25 unless I hit a terrible downswing LOL. Started also from NL2 with a bankroll of 40 buy ins.

Did not sleep well last night so brain is a bit frazzled. Can't keep up too well or think clearly enough for the pokers so had to pull the plug early on my session. Will be back at it tomorrow and may play some extra hands over the next few days to make up for the time lost.

Day 2 results:



Bonus content:

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD 2 Poker HUD and Database Software

NL Holdem 0.05(BB)
BB ($5.16) [VPIP: 21.4% | PFR: 15.4% | AGG: 44.3% | Flop Agg: 37.8% | Turn Agg: 53.8% | River Agg: 50% | 3Bet: 10.7% | 4Bet: 0% | Cold Call: 15.4% | Hands: 239]
BTN ($4.03) [VPIP: 36.5% | PFR: 17.5% | AGG: 21.9% | Hands: 64]
HERO ($5.05) [VPIP: 24.8% | PFR: 20.3% | AGG: 35.9% | Flop Agg: 39.4% | Turn Agg: 37.1% | River Agg: 31.7% | 3Bet: 7.8% | 4Bet: 7.4% | Hands: 24583]

Dealt to Hero: 9 K

BTN Folds, HERO Raises To $0.15, BB Calls $0.10

Hero SPR on Flop: [16.33 effective]
Flop ($0.30): 2 5 9
HERO Bets $0.09 (Rem. Stack: $4.81), BB Calls $0.09 (Rem. Stack: $4.92)

Turn ($0.48): 2 5 9 2
HERO Checks, BB Bets $0.35 (Rem. Stack: $4.57), HERO Calls $0.35 (Rem. Stack: $4.46)

River ($1.18): 2 5 9 2 7
HERO Checks, BB Bets $0.90 (Rem. Stack: $3.67), HERO Calls $0.90 (Rem. Stack: $3.56)



Ukrainian reg who seemed determined to outplay me in every BvB situation. So we lay out the carpet and make him feel comfortable Exploit>GTO

Solver wants me to turn this into a bluff otr

If you're playing 5NL there's going to be MUCH more useful stuff for you to study.

It's interesting, but ultimately inefficient, to go super deep into these river strategies. Chances are that you're not playing a strong-enough flop and turn strategy to end up with the correct range here anyway.

I would focus your efforts into getting flop cbets, vs cbets down, and look at turns as well. These are much more common, so studying them will have much greater effect.

I can't study much anything if I'm not willing to pay $100s per month or whatever it is for a solver lol

But anyway, it's nice to know GTO as a base but exploits are where it's at isn't it.

Not really.

Exploits are fundamentally a deviation from an otherwise sound strategy. GTO essentially serves as the foundation of your strategy, then you can build exploits atop that foundation. If the foundation is sand, your strategy isn't going to stand up well.

I can appreciate not wanting to blow 100s of $ on a solver, but I think GTOWizard has a cheap 40$ month edition to it's pre-solved ranges. Starting with that is better than nothing, you can get a lot out of it - and it's just 8 buy-ins a month of 5NL.

Investing in study tools is probably the best use of profit you can have for poker - it always pays itself off when used effectively.

It's not impossible, but I don't know many regs at 200NL that are exploit-only. You need to be able to play well against them.

Indeed, but without wanting to sound unappreciative of your advice(I do appreciate it) I am aware of this already.

I will keep it in mind and keep learning what I can with what is available but until I see the need for it I don't think it would be wise to drastically change the way I'm playing right now. I already incorporate some aspects of GTO but mostly play by experience, intuition, psychology, etc which I believe is a much more profitable way to play against most humans, especially ones that are not using GTO themselves. Once I get closer to my goal and if I feel I don't have an edge on the regs anymore I will definitely look into it more though

Day 3 Results:


Biggest win of day:

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD 2 Poker HUD and Database Software

NL Holdem 0.05(BB)
BTN ($5) [VPIP: 18.3% | PFR: 14.7% | AGG: 23.5% | Hands: 115]
SB ($2.26) [VPIP: 37.5% | PFR: 3.1% | AGG: 30% | Hands: 32]
HERO ($5) [VPIP: 24.9% | PFR: 20.4% | AGG: 35.9% | Flop Agg: 39.2% | Turn Agg: 36.9% | River Agg: 32.2% | 3Bet: 8% | Fold to 3Bet: 57.3% | 4Bet: 7.5% | Hands: 25552]
HJ ($1.89) [VPIP: 36.7% | PFR: 16.7% | AGG: 31.8% | Hands: 30]
CO ($5) [VPIP: 28.6% | PFR: 21.4% | AGG: 36% | Flop Agg: 35.4% | Turn Agg: 39% | River Agg: 33.3% | 3Bet: 5.3% | 4Bet: 6.3% | Fold to 4Bet: 100% | Hands: 432]

Dealt to Hero: A Q

HJ Folds, CO Raises To $0.12, BTN Folds, SB Folds, HERO Raises To $0.50, CO Raises To $1.10, HERO Calls $0.60

Hero SPR on Flop: [1.76 effective]
Flop ($2.22): Q 8 6
HERO Checks, CO Bets $0.52 (Rem. Stack: $3.38), HERO Calls $0.52 (Rem. Stack: $3.38)

Turn ($3.26): Q 8 6 9
HERO Checks, CO Bets $3.38 (allin), HERO Calls $3.38 (allin)

River ($10.02): Q 8 6 9 2



Current BR: $164.27

Day 4 Results:


Biggest losing hand:

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD 2 Poker HUD and Database Software

NL Holdem 0.05(BB)
BTN ($6.05) [VPIP: 19.4% | PFR: 11.1% | AGG: 27.6% | Hands: 217]
SB ($8.72) [VPIP: 24.6% | PFR: 20.7% | AGG: 32.1% | Flop Agg: 37% | Turn Agg: 39.5% | River Agg: 26.9% | 3Bet: 9.4% | Fold to 3Bet: 75% | 4Bet: 28.6% | Hands: 314]
BB ($1.09) [VPIP: 39.5% | PFR: 0% | AGG: 22.6% | Flop Agg: 0% | Turn Agg: 37.5% | River Agg: 80% | 3Bet: 0% | 4Bet: 0% | Cold Call: 52.9% | Hands: 39]
UTG ($5.21) [VPIP: 61.4% | PFR: 2.1% | AGG: 35.3% | Flop Agg: 31.2% | Turn Agg: 40.8% | River Agg: 43.2% | 3Bet: 1.9% | 4Bet: 0% | Hands: 146]
HERO ($5.60) [VPIP: 25% | PFR: 20.5% | AGG: 35.9% | Flop Agg: 39% | Turn Agg: 37% | River Agg: 32.4% | 3Bet: 7.9% | 4Bet: 8.1% | Fold to 4Bet: 61.4% | Hands: 26494]
CO ($9.24) [VPIP: 34% | PFR: 28% | AGG: 38.1% | Hands: 203]

Dealt to Hero: Q Q

UTG Calls $0.05, HERO Raises To $0.20, CO Folds, BTN Folds, SB Raises To $0.70, BB Calls $0.65, UTG Calls $0.65, HERO Raises To $5.60 (allin), SB Raises To $8.72 (allin), BB Calls $0.39 (allin), UTG Calls $4.51 (allin)

Flop ($20.62): 7 7 9

Turn ($20.62): 7 7 9 6

River ($20.62): 7 7 9 6 T



Our last 15 sessions:


Let's keep this run good going as long as possible





Current BR: $190.99

Very solid!

gj gl

Day 5 Morning Session:


Tables were pretty dead full of nits and regs so decided to cut session short and work some more on my ranges.

Are you designing these yourself or following ranges you've found somewhere?

Designing them myself based on my results plus a little help in hand selection from a solver.

Preflop is pretty solved - I would advise making a free GTOWizard account and using the preflop ranges (which afaik are are available for free) on the “postflop included” section.

Designing your own preflop ranges is going to lead to an overall -EV strategy which will compound EV loss as you make decisions on later streets.

Preflop is solved in solver vs solver. But I am not a solver and neither are my opponents

Here is a prime example... here are all the suited hands solver does not open on the button... should I stop opening these because solver doesn't? I know you could say you could deviate depending on the blinds etc but in general unless I have good reason this my default strat. Humans do not defend their blinds as well as solver apparently. Also, solver recommends opening K5s UTG.... I will hemmorage massively opening that and hands like it utg.

in the sb as well. the trash suited hands solver does not open...

Yes I have to defend my range harder vs 3bets but worth it imo