Hey everyone,

It's been a while, but I'm back in the action!

After a long break I've set myself an ambitious challenge – grinding from NL200 all the way up to the big league (NL5K+).

Quick backstory: I play since many years (recreationally most of the time) and I was around breakeven up to NL100/NL200. However, my attempt at higher stakes proved to be a complete disaster, but that's all in the past. So after a long break I spend the last couple of months working on my game off-tables, learning completely new strategies.

Some of my old graphs:




The data here isn't comprehensive; I should have over 2 million hands total (maybe 3m+ ). Anyway, overall I'm probably around breakeven at NL100/200, but I've taken some significant losses at higher stakes, not just because of poor skills, but also due to some HU matches against solid regs and lack of mentality. Overall, I estimate I'm down around 5-10bb/100 at NL500+ when considering all hands played. This is just one of many reasons why I'm starting this thread: to stick within my bankroll, play exclusively 6-max, and keep a detailed journal of my progress.

I've already done a bit of a warm-up over the past few weeks , just to get a feel of the games. Well, while I've still got a long way to go, I'm feeling confident about the road ahead. I've given some challenges a shot before, but I didn't manage to see them through to the end. Mainly, it was because I lacked the necessary skills and mindset. However, I'm optimistic that this time will be different.

The plan is simple: I'll follow a kind of aggressive roll management, 20-30 buy ins with 5bi shots. I'll play 6-max reg cash tables only, 4-6 tables, for 20-25 hours a week, plus I'll dedicate at least 10-15 hours a week to off-table work.

My goal? NL1K by the end of the year and NL2K+ by 2025. For now, I'll keep my nicknames anonymous.

BANKROLL:

NL200 -> 20 buy-ins ($4,000)
NL500 -> 20 buy-ins ($10,000)
NL1000 -> 25 buy-ins ($25,000)
NL2000 -> 25 buy-ins ($50,000)
NL5000 -> 30 buy-ins ($150,000)

* When down -5 buy-ins, I'll drop back down in stakes. And I'll only move up once I've hit the required profit (no bonuses or rakeback).

So today, I start with a $4K roll at NL200. Once I reach the $6K profit (+30 bi), i'll shoot NL500 or if I lose $1K (-5 bi), i'll step down to NL100. I'll be playing on the major networks: party, ipoker and pokerstars. And as I get higher (over NL1K) and need more high-stakes action, I'll add ggpoker.

I'll try to provide regular updates, at least 3-4 times a week, but possibly even daily.

It's gonna be a ride. Stay tuned for updates.

See you at the tables!

Hey everyone,

Over the weekend, I ended up playing about 24-25 hours over 2-3 days, which is more than I planned for the entire week (and obv what was reasonable). I got really into it and didn't leave much time for off-table work. But going forward, I'll make sure to balance my time better.

During those long sessions, fatigue kicked in, leading to some questionable decisions. So, I'm getting back to my regular routine - 20-25h play/week, short sessions, 4-6 tables.



As I won't be putting in as much volume, I'll share updates 2-3 times a week. See you at the tables!

Nice work man. It is definitely a balancing act. It's a game where the variance is evened out over volume but only if that is productive volume. Definitely something I need to work on as well. Keep going, you've got this!

It's been a week since I kicked off this challenge and while I haven't put in a ton of volume since my last post, everything is going as planned. I've been playing for a few hours a day, and dedicating 1-2 hours/day to off-table work. Anyway, nothing too exciting happened over the past few days, so I’m hoping to have more interesting updates to share with you next time.

Week 1 results

Hey guys,

Quick update! It's been 2 weeks since the start of the challenge, and things are going pretty well. I've had a solid run since the beginning, including the warm-up period, so I'm expecting some tougher weeks ahead. But honestly, I'm looking forward to facing the downswing so I can test my mentality and resilience, and see how it affects my game, especially after the long break.

Right now, I'm up 27-28bi (+$5,5K, +15bb/100, 11.5bb EV), so just 2-3 more buy-ins and I'll be taking shoots at NL500. Hopefully, by the next update, I'll be there

Week 2 results




Cheers!

Awesome results man, congratulations!

After today's session, I've hit my target #1 - $6K profit at NL200 (30 buy-ins), so it's time to take a shot at NL500. I'll stick to a 5 buy-ins stop loss. Let's see how it goes!

Sharing some stats below. Pretty happy with the results from the blinds so far.





Cheers!

I don't know what your financial situation is but my opinion is that your bankroll management is v. aggressive for someone with a lower winrate historically.

Your BRM considerations should include:
- Your financial situation and if you have any expenses or dependents
- Your general appetite for risk and ability to rebound when things don't go your way
- Your winrate and playstyle (how aggressive you are) which will affect your net "variance" (these are the 2 primary inputs for variance calculator)


Another thing I would comment on is your volume - while its great to have played millions of hands, its quality that matters as you move up, consider cutting tables to focus more on the dynamics of the table so you can adjust to maximise your WR and increase the chances of successfully shotting.

Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback!

As I mentioned before, I took a long break from poker and spent that time off-tables working on my game, so I expect my winrate to be higher now. I'm still far from where I want my game to be, but I believe I can make significant improvements over the next months as I grind my way up to higher stakes.

Right now, I'm not putting in the volume. I usually play 4 tables, sometimes up to 5-6, with careful table selection. I'm comfortable playing with 20-30 buy-ins and can maintain my A-game without feeling pressured or so.

That said, I need to make some adjustments after my shot at 500NL FAILED! I was playing 2-4 tables at NL500 with very juicy games, but things didn't go as planned. I lost a few big hands in a very short period, so on the go I decided to deviate from the initial plan and extend the stop loss to 8-10 buy-ins (instead of the initial 5 buy-ins), because I didn't feel frustrated and stayed focused on my game. Well, I ended up losing 10+ bi in just 500-600 hands...

So, adjustments to the initial plan need to be made. Moving forward, I'll take another shot at NL500 with 25 buy-ins instead of 20 and implement a 5-6 buy-in stop loss (spread over 2 sessions, with a 3 buy-ins max stop loss per session). Considering the 2.5x step from NL200 to NL500, I'll likely take a shot with even fewer buy-ins next time (like 4-5), because it takes longer to rebuild.

For now, I'm back to NL200 (currently at my initial bankroll after losing those 10 buy-ins at NL500), so I'll need to make an $8.5K profit at NL200 ($12.5K roll) before taking another shot at NL500. This time, I'll strictly follow the stop loss, no matter how juicy the tables are

Btw, as I'm currently at a $4K roll, I'll treat this as a shot. If I lose 5-7 buy-ins at NL200, I'll move down to NL100 until I rebuild.

I'll update my initial post to reflect these changes to my bankroll and stop loss strategy.

Sharing some graphs below.

Gl in your grind!
And I listened to this podcast today and found it useful (only 20 min), might give new perspective about BRM to you as well.