Hey guys,

First of all: Happy New Year to all of you guys!

I had a challenge here already a couple of months ago however had to stop it because I was busy finishing university which I now have done so the next like 24 months I will have the time to fully focus on this challenge.
That is the reason I decided to restart the challenge however this time a little different.

First I would just quickly like to explain again who I am:
My name is Benny, I am 21 years young and currently living in Stuttgart.
I am studying economics currently in the 5th semester.

I first got in touch with Poker basically due to my former business which was tennis betting having had a couple of sharing deals with poker players.
I started to deposit 10$ during the off-season with no real aim behind it, just having fun.
The problem was the fun this made to me was so high I had to deposit again and this time much bigger afterwards
During 2015 and 2016 I lost around 4.5-5k$ playing poker but basically really not paying attention on the money as my focus was betting and it was more fun to me. I tried all formats: Sit&Goes, Mtts, Cashgame immediately playing on big limits loosing my money.

I had to stop betting a couple of weeks ago as I have more "real life aims" like working hard on my body, eating healthy and in general being more flexible which is simply not accord able with the lifestyle you have to live as a full time bettor.

Most guys will ask me why I am opening a poker blog after loosing so much money.
I simply really like and have fun playing the game (even if I lost money) and now after quitting betting I am searching for a new project and Poker is the perfect area for me.
I think bringing huge money into a business you really did not work on yet is dangerous and thats the reason I start this challenge/blog:
I know that I have the patience of grinding up from the bottom even if it might take a lot of time and hard work will be needed but I am willed to do required things and I also know I can do it as I already did it with betting.

This is a blog which has the aim to turn 200$ starting bankroll into 200k$ by playing Nl 6max Nl Holdem Poker.
The way I will try to achieve this is basically by setting hard and clear aims here which I will try and document to achieve.

The first step of this challenge will be playing 100k hands Nl2 Zoom Poker at Pokerstars as focused as possible until 01.03.2017.

Why have I decided to open a blog to document my way?
Several reasons: First of all I think that this will help me playing my best poker as motivation is higher for me. Second I want to motivate, inspire but also warn people and last I had the opening when I was betting good documentation protects me from tilting.

Daily bankroll updates, Daily big hands, Graphs, probably some real life pictures, different ways I improved my game (mentally, mathematically etc) and more will be part of this blog.

Hope you enjoy reading, if there are any questions, suggestions or whatever I am open to discuss all.

First session update will follow this evening.
Grinding on stars at first: benzema1995.

Lets go - Challenge accepted!

Current Step: Playing 100k hands Nl 2 Zoom Poker at Pokerstars until 01.03.2017


Current bankroll: 200,00$
Profit overall: 0$
Current level: Nl2 6max

Decided to start the entire project of playing tomorrow because simply feeling to much tired to play as focused as possible however tomorrow going to play two sessions, each session contains 3 1/4 hours of play and 3/4 hour break so aiming to play 1200 hands+ tomorrow.

Well, the aim was to play 1200 hands+ today however I was simply not able to do even a small part of it as I woke up feeling completly sick.
Basically spending all day long in bed with felt 10 tissues.

Played a small sample in the morning but playing horrible and decided to get back for a couple of hands in the evening.
Really have to control my motivation, just do not want to play when I am not able to focus enough to really achieve what I want to achieve.

All over 97 hands today (real grinding day lol) and this one here:



Not happy with my play on the turn, should have played much more aggressive there.
I think a set would have already reraised on the flop/turn so I was really confident being ahead (Little scared because of the possible streight in the end).
Good start regarding profit for the challenge.



Current bankroll: 203,65$
Profit overall: 3,65$
Current level: Nl2 6max
Current challenge: 100k hands until 01.03.2017
Current amount of hands: 97

Good day in the office.

Early update as there will be no evening session today because I will play some live poker with friends in the evening.

Started the grind really early because I knew I will probably not have time in the evening.
Felt like playing most of the time with really good focus listening quiet to some nice oldschool american rap (nothing that pushes me to simply not overplay and really taking my time to do my decision).

So over the day I played 851 hands grinding around 4 hours which is a good step in the right direction but still not the volume I was hoping for.

Had some crazy hands, one ridiculous lucky one I really want to show you:



Really lucky in this situation.
Another really sweet spot I would like to show you (credits to me pushing on the river )



So overall finished the day with a profit of 8,99$.


Quick graph to just sum up the first two days of the challenge:




Will not stay to long tonight to be able to increase my amount of hands to 1k-1.2k tomorrow, thought also about two tabling but still to early for me will probably need more time to have the right confidence and focus to go for a second table.

Current bankroll: 212,64$
Profit overall: 12,64$
Current level: Nl2 6max
Current challenge: 100k hands until 01.03.2017
Current amount of hands: 968

Better volume!

Left home game poker pretty early yesterday evening to start the grind fresh and well-rested today.
Decided to go for two sessions: First one in the morning and second one in the evening.

Overall pretty solid grind I think.
Difference compared to the past two days was basically the low amount of high quality spots which I take the main money from the opponents.
Had one good spot preflop getting it in with AA against KK and another one on the flop with top set having like 80% however he went for the straight on the turn, sometimes there is just nothing you can do.

Anyway overall today much happy with the volume and the solid effort through the day.

Today just one really strange hand, normally not my style involving myself in a 2$ pot having "only" pocket eights but should be good this time:







Overall played 1060 hands today and finished with 4,12$ profit and additional +1,23$ EV Diff.
Really getting comfortable at the table realizing early dangerous situation and always trying to think as logical as I can.
Trying to continue like this tomorrow: Playing solid, spot nice situations and play with maximum focus.
Clear aim is to continue like this until I have around 15-20k hands before I will start adding a second zoom table to increase the volume.

Spending the evening basically with two good friends of me watching darts: The worlds best will play with some German prominent people today and will follow this for sure on television also hopeing to go in the Ally Pally at some point in the future, would be great fun.

Good look to everyone grinding tomorrow!

Current bankroll: 216,76$
Profit overall: 16,76$
Current level: Nl2 6max
Current challenge: 100k hands until 01.03.2017
Current amount of hands: 2028

Bad day in the office.

Started the grind early in the morning and already in the first session a couple completely strange hands.
Could probably post like 20 crazy spots today but I think those situations just happen and you have to accept them.

Overall finished the day playing 942 hands and lose 2,73$ which sounds still fine having had one spot KK vs AA and no help.

I am just not happy with the way I played today, focus was not as good as past two days and also my mindset was not as good as it could be .
Already now having so many sick spots I would like to analyze and this will also happen but not now as I want to win the challenge, afterwards I am planing to do 1 week of intensive reviewing but all step by step.

Just two hands I would like to show you today, first one pretty funny actually, just one classic spot 80% of Nl2 pool on that river.



Second one just foolishness from my side calling a huge overbet with just a weak hand. Intention was his flush draw but its just no value to call on this horrible price he is giving me (however easy river decision).
Just one of the general problems I am still having sometimes giving my opponent to small ranges.





This day was probably a good lesson for me long term showing myself how weak I am still playing and how much room of improvement there still is.

Next post and graph will follow on 10th January (just thinking its fine to skip blogging some days).
On Tuesday I will also announce my aim regarding my bb/100 hands target for the first 100k hands.

Have a nice evening grind.

Current bankroll: 214,03$
Profit overall: 14,03$
Current level: Nl2 6max
Current challenge: 100k hands until 01.03.2017
Current amount of hands: 3002