The idea behind our October demo was to show people that they can build a bankroll from pocket change. While talking about the concept, Jeremy bet me $100 if I could go from $10 to $1000. I thought about it for a few minutes and figured that micro limit cash games were too volatile. So, I figured the safest bet was to do it using 9 player Sit and Gos. However, $3 + $0.40 over three games is $10.20. I really wanted to start with 3 because of the expectation (i.e. 33% of the players are in the money so over 3 games it's a pretty safe bet that I won't be bankrupt). I negotiated and convinced him to let me start from $15. This now enabled a new budget of 2 games of $5 and 1 game of $3. The total cost: $13 + $1.40 in rake.
This was my First attempt to rise thru the levels from such a meager bankroll. The only other time I have done this is when I first started playing online poker 5 years ago. Sure enough, I managed to win one of the $5 games ($22.50) and I placed 2nd in the $3 game ($8.10). My bankroll was now over $31. I quickly started some new games all of which were $3 and $5 and each were 9 players. It felt great to have got off to a good start but it was still a long way to $1000. When I finished the second set of games I immediately started more. I was addicted and my GF can attest to that.
Over the next week I played constantly. I was so determined that everything else took a back seat to poker, even eating and sleeping :) A few days into the challenge I was up a couple hundred. I thought holy crap I might do this in 1 week! Unfortunately, I spoke too soon and hit a few snags. I had AA cracked twice in a row with A3 and K6. The quality of player at these limits is far from great. I actually lost 9 tourneys in a row and the bad run set me back to around a hundred bucks. I was a little dejected but took the night off and started again the next day. From here it was a steady increase to my goal. It ended up taking me a bit less than 14 days. I saved all of the hand histories and created an archive for all of the log files.
My play, also earned me a few promotional bonuses. I hit a top 10 finish on the poker star's Battle of the Planets which scored $150. It also scored a ticket into the monthly Battle of the Planets freeroll. my play qualified me as a Gold Star member and thus I was registered into the monthly VIP tournament. The player points I accumulated also bought me into the Million dollar turbo takedown.
**** UPDATE ****
Monthly Gold Star VIP Tournament won $80.
5339 players participated in the Monthly, Gold Star VIP tournament. The prize
pool was $100 000 awarding $15 000 to first place. Also, the top 750 players
were paid. 601st was $30, 180th was $100, 30th was $290, 18th was $480, 9th was
$900
As you can see there's not much point to squeeze into the money. Because it would be nearly impossible to have a shot at the big prize. As such, I never let myself fall to any less than 12x BB. I wanted a valid shot at first place or else I was happy to be eliminated. I took some stands with mid pairs but they went unchallenged. I basically scraped up the blinds as the game went on. I looked for spots to snag some chips without any risk.
My blind trouble started with 500 players remaining. I got a few medium strength hands in early position and opted not to play them. At $400/$800 I was down to 16xBB. Twice I had the SB limp so I raised with nothing. Both times it let me take down the blinds and antes without seeing a flop. At 500/1000 I was moved to another table. It couldn't have come at a worse time. I knew none of my opponents and they didnt know me. I typically like having a tight table image at this stage so that I have great fold equity which enables me to steal blinds. Stealing the blinds and antes at this stage is what keeps you alive. I hit the 220 hand mark at this time which is my mark to reset my expectation. I decided to sit tight and let myself drop to half of the average stack and then make a final stand. Unfortunately, my cards went dead. From hands 220 to 260 Absolutely nothing. I picked up AT and folded to a raise PF - i was against AK and AJ and would have lost if I called.
My last stand was with AT, from the puck I pushed the BB but he had QQ which held. I was eliminated by won $80.
**** UPDATE ****
TURBO TAKEDOWN won $453.00
9700 entrants I started patiently but into the third hour I was forced to make a
move with a weak hand. My stack was being widdled away by the blinds so I moved
with A8 and was called with 77. My hand held up. Then I went all in with 88 vs.
AJo and won. Put me back to over average.
I pushed with 88 again on the puck against the blinds. There were 20 ppl to go out for a $90 difference. But, first place is 100k. The difference is too great to refuse the chance to win it. My stack was widdled away again and I was forced to make another move. I was eliminated around 170th place with a 65% chance to win.
Winnings: $1041.26 + $80.00 + $455.00 = $1576.26
Our original $15 investment has won over ten thousand dollars!