I’ve played another 1,000+ hands in my $50 challenge and things are still looking good. I’ve completed a total of 2717 hands with a profit of $260.73, giving me a (still not possible to maintain) winrate of 37BB/100. The chart and graph are posted below.

Several months ago I threw about $1k on Ultimate Bet and ended up running bad and tilting my ass off to some pretty decent opponents. The players I’ve seen at .05/.10 and .10/.25 are so much softer than the .50/1.00 players. Another nice thing as that there is never any waiting for an opponent, within a minute I always get sat by someone ready to play.

HEM Graph

HEM Stats

I am focusing on avoiding tricky lines and relentlessly value betting my strong hands. Bluffs are certainly to be used sparingly, most of mine have been picked off by bottom pair or king high type hands. Not to say that bluffs aren’t important, once I get caught bluffing I never seem to get credit for anything the rest of the match.

There seems to be a good percentage of players at the micros that love to slow play. So, when it goes check, check, overbet, you can pretty safely lay down most of your holdings.

My next update on the challenge will include some of the big hands I’ve played so far. Until then, good luck skill at the tables!

I started easing into my $50 challenge a little over a week ago. If you haven’t read my post announcing the challenge I’ll give you a quick rundown. I’m starting with a $50 bankroll on Ultimate Bet and trying to grind it up to $1,000. I admit that I’m using very aggressive bankroll management, but I’m perfectly willing to drop down to lower stakes if I’m at risk of losing the challenge.

I’ve been grinding mostly the .05/.10 HUNL games so far. I currently have my $50 starting roll up to $212.80, which is obviously awesome. Of course I’m not assuming that my current winrate is anywhere near attainable long term, but it’s still nice to see. I’m running at 51BB/100 (lol) over the last 1600 hands. We’ll see when the poker god’s start pissing all over me.

Here’s my graph and stats.

HEM Graph

HEM Stats

The most noticeable difference between .05/.10 and higher up in the low stakes is that you can value bet full pot on every street and still get called down quite often. This means you can take down big pots with your strong hands. That doesn’t mean that the player’s aren’t paying attention though, you still need to get caught with a bluff once in awhile… but once you do, it’s on!

I’ll update on this every 1,000 hands from here until I hit the goal or go busto. If you have any questions about the stats please ask.