Right i've had enough of donking around in the hell hole that is micro stakes. I will give poker one last shot and if I fail again I am done for good. My aim is to make it all the way from 2nl to 500nl playing 6-max Zoom. I will split this goal up into 8 mini challenges to keep me motivated. Challenge 1 is to earn $60 at 2nl.

Starting Bankroll





Wish me luck!

GL. What are you doing differently this time? Why do you expect to succeed when you've failed previously?

Thanks spikeraw. Yeh I admit I've been a serial challenge thread maker in the past and never even come close to completing any of them. If it were anyone else I would call them a fool and tell them to stop being deluded. Unfortunately I'm too stubborn and have wasted too much time playing this game to not give it one last wholehearted attempt. Feel free to write it off, I won't be offended.

He's back boys and girls <3

Good luck in all seriousness

Haha thanks Labax

Sup man, wanted to say I'm doing the same thing in my thread. Many failed attempts to get out of the micro stakes but giving it a last go. Going well so far. gl.

Thanks. Will be following.

That's fine, but you didn't answer the question.

8.37/60
14%

First session completed. Off to a good start running nicely above ev. Finished up +$8.37 after roughly 1000 hands.





No really exciting hands to talk about yet. Here is one hand that I played really badly. Advice on how I should have played it would be much appreciated.




Did not expect him to turn up with that hand after checking the flop. I put him on AK after he bet the turn. I decided to peel thinking I had good implied odds if a 7 or 9 hit on the river.

Fold pre (would call TT+). Fold turn with 3rd pair and gutshot. You're likely behind otr as well when he bets pot after less than half pot turn bet.

Note he 3bets sc pre.

Good luck on your quest what site are you playing on ?

Thanks for the advice.

Thanks, I play on Stars.

18.11/60
30%

Unfortunately i've been very busy in the last few days so haven't been able to put in much volume. Played another session of 1000 hands and added $10 to the bankroll so things are going ok. BB/100 is currently 45.25 and ev BB/100 is 18.12 so running very nicely.

Here is the graph for the challenge so far:







Still yet to have any really exciting or interesting hands. Here is a standard hand that came up. As a little hand reading exercise for you guys, see if you can work out what range of hands either hero or UTG could have at showdown:



I will reveal the hands once a few people have tried working it out.

9.96/60
17%

Hello downswing!

Just played this horrible session:



Quite pleased with how calm I stayed and really don't think any of the hands could be attributed to tilt. Oh well just one of those days.

Still waiting for some responses to the hand I posted above.

I think you are focusing too much on short term results, 600 hands is like basically nothing, maybe less than nothing hehe. Other than that, gl OP and seems like you are going in the right direction!

Hmm I think you may be right. I'm going to change the challenge to playing 50,000 hands at 2nl. If my winrate after 50,000 hands is lower than 5bb/100 I will play another 25,000. I will post graphs after every 5000 hands. I think this is a much healthier challenge and less results orientated. Thanks Anyway.

Hand 1: Honestly, I don't think it's that bad. Pf folding to 3bet is a mistake I think. You have position, a good hand, and effectively 100BB deep. I think calling is correct even though villain is repping a tight range. Anyway given how the hand was played, I think QJ is gonna dominate his range more than any other hand, followed by AK, random 7x's, other value hands you beat, and hands that villain is just spazzing out with. Because of this and the fact that whenever they bet pot on river at these stakes it's around 80-85% for value, the river is a just call IMO.

Hand 2: A3s, A7s?

Like ExpectedV and corvusim I have my own uNL challenge going and it's important to not get caught up in short term results. Yeah 3.5BI under EV in 650 hands is a rough downswing but you're gonna have worse days and sessions in the future if you keep up. It seems like you understand this tho and I wish you GL on your journey.

Thanks for the support Labax!

Hey, interesting thread.

Few tips:
- Don't try to think or anything differs from the most simplistic/basic strategy. Also dont try to develop your skills - for a very long time those wont be needed (if ever). Re-inventing the wheel isn't needed for your stakes.
- Don't expect yourself even remotely having fun or being challenged etc when playing.
- Don't even attempt to make a living out of it even if you live at very cheap places, let alone scheduling vacations or anything - never happens.

Basically just threat it like the ****tiest job in the world, except you're required to perform your top level 24/7 for a few coins & no perspective.

Good luck!

He probably had AJ, Axs, but it's 2nl where they might call with pocket 2s lol
I think you had KK,QQ, maybe a set of aces

Nice try but DonkeyKongMK wins this one.


Did I play it ok or would people suggest another line?

Wp

5000
10%

Finally managed to finish my first 5000 hands which means i'm 10% of the way through the challenge. Currently running at 17bb/100 which is pretty nice. Has been a bit of an up and down start to the challenge though. I've managed to steady things after a large downswing so fingers crossed it's smooth sailing from here on out. Here is the graph for the challenge to date:



I'm a bit concerned about my redline. I was under the impression that a breakeven redline was optimal in 6-max so would appreciate some advice on what may be causing it to be positive like this.


Here are my biggest winning and losing hands for the challenge so far. Advice on both would be appreciated:

Biggest Win: $3.47

I know that AK is a large part of the UTG range and I was edging towards folding the river if villain bet anything between 75% to 100% of the pot. When the overbet shove came I was pretty certain villain had a busted draw and was trying to fold me off a medium one pair hand. Maybe it was a bit spewy calling as villain could play a set in the same way. Are you calling here?


Biggest Loss: $3.22

This was a bit of a cooler but maybe I could have avoided it by playing it differently. How would you react to the large flop raise? I considered jamming and also folding as villain so often has a set here at 2nl. Tricky spot.

On the first hand, can´t really decide what to say until I know what stats villain has.
I would not call if he was TAG or NIT but would probably call someone with like 28+ VPIP/ 25+ PFR. But seeing now that he opens QJs indicates that he is not either TAG or NIT and if that correlates to his statistics then it was a good call.

Second hand, don´t think that rr turn is the best here.
Regarding his raise on the flop, calling is the best option í think.
A lot of sets of course, maybe QQ also. Not KK/AA since he would have 4bet you with that pre flop.
With his 50% bet on the turn it feels like a draw or AJ.
I would have called the turn and then I would have called up to about 65% bet on the river.
If he slams all in on the river it´s pretty tough. Screams flush and kinda make sense also to rr flop with AKs here, I wouldn´t tho.
But also, on this hand it depends on the villain. Would call a fish on the river but not a NIT/TAG.

I think it's fine and GL on your journey.