The $1.71 challenge

Shortstack

The $1.71 challenge Part 1
Not satisfied with playing in a WPT event in January I have set myself another challenge....

To turn $1.71 into $1000 dollars.

I thought I had cleared out my Victor Chandler balance, but lo and behold there is this princely sum sitting in there going to waste! I was at Catherine's brothers last night, he plays a bit of poker at home and watches it on TV so I was trying to convince him to start playing online. I told him to deposit a small amount and start at the micro limits and see how he gets on. Whether he does or not is up to him, but I am determined to show that you can start with a little and roll it up nicely. I may not succeed, especially as VC is full of novice's at the lower levels who can bust you with a multitude of suprising hands, but it will be fun trying.

I will only be playing during work, so I will be at a disadvantage as my customers must come first. However at the low limits I think I will still have an edge. Here's the plan :-

1. Take my humungous bankroll to a .05/.1 NL table and work it up to $11
2. Most people would quit while ahead with 500% profit. Not me! I will then use to enter $1 Sit'n'Go's.
3.On reaching 10 buyins for the next level of buy ins I will move up.
4.Wake up!

The First round

Shaking somewhat I found a full table and stuck myself on the waiting list and within a few minutes my hard earned wad was at the mercy of a table full of seasoned VC sharks.

My first hand was a monster. It had been raised in early position and although I was sure I had the best of it, I overcame the desire to max raise all in and clicked my 7 2 off suit into the muck.
10c down already and the blinds were coming round to me. The bullies on the table stole both and I had lost over 10% of my stack already. Not to worry, AJ next hand, raised 4x blinds and now they all fold to the new master of the table.

99 next and again I raised. Respect does not last long amongst these streetfighting players and I am called in 2 spots. Flop contains a magic nine but also 2 diamonds. My mouse hovers over max and I close my eyes and pull the trigger. When I open them I see that I now have $5.07. Dunno what they called with but I saw a diamond on the river!

Too much confidence can be a dangerous thing and a few hands later I am left teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Having raised with AQ suited before the flop and been called by two players, I was first to go on a board of A 9 7 rainbow. Before I could resist I was all in again. This time I was called by a psychic with 10 6 who hit his 8 on the river.

Now only 60c left I sat out a few hands whilst having a ciggie to calm my shredded nerves. I decided to go back and wait for AA and quadruple up. However when dealt KQ hearts my finger slipped and I was all in and my life was on the line as two riverboat gamblers called and proceeded to bet in a side pot after the flop which contained the A of hearts. Imagine my suprise when the turn and river were both hearts and I scooped a pot worth $1.94. Back into profit. Ker-ching!

KK late position, 3 limpers, ALL IN, not one measly caller - chickens.

Miss a few flops, down to $1.50

AJ - raise gets two callers, A high flop, ALL IN, two callers! back up to $4.73

Limped with 5 5 checked down by 3 others, 4 overcards on board, 5's held up.

5 8 in big blind. Flop checked giving me a free 9 on the turn to make my str8. Put low stack ALL IN. He called, now up to $7.54

Nothing for a while and the pick up AK off suit. Raise it up to .5. Low stack calls. J 9 7 flop. Bet half his chips and he called. Turn 2d making 3 diamonds. Put him ALL IN. At last someone folds a hand after the flop!

Only $3 off my target to reach stage 2. Playing poker of this quaility and against such world class players is exhausting, but I manage to hold myself together until this happened :-

A2 clubs, limped UTG. 3 other limpers and blinds see flop of A 9 2, two hearts.I bet .40 and was called by one player. Turn is 2 of hearts. BINGO. I use all my hyena like cunning and pause then check. He throws out a $1 chip and I pause again before raising up to $3. With a zen like belief he has me like a rabbit in the headlights of his 4*4 he re-raises me ALL IN. Quicker than a flash of Janet Jackson's nipple, I am in the pot and now my treasure trove stands at $15.69! I am dealt the next hand before I can leave the table and decide to see the flop with Ac 8s. When the flop comes three clubs I call a $1 bet before folding to a $5 on the turn which is red.

Enough! I said to myself, my basket is full - no need to be greedy. I left the table and made my self a cup of coffe to celebrate!

If you are able to stand the suspense, please tune in for the next episode soon......

fintan

Thats the funniest thing I have read in a long time, best of luck with round two!

careca

Good story, well told. If you make the 1000, and I'll have to take your word on it, I'll stand you a pint at the next SA tournament.

Drakar

Actually, this would make a good long term game, or a tv series hehe. You could have a few friends who deposit 10 units of your favourite currency, and see who has the most at the end of 1 month. If they are people you know in real life, you could check their deposit history round at their house.

It would be nice if one of the online casinos supported something like this, so you pay 10 yoyos at the start of the month and get 10 yoyos of credit which is put in a special fund which can't be added to til the end of the month. People who've earned the most at the end of the month would get some kind of bonus, and everyone can withdraw their money and go again for the next month.

MadsL

$1.71! I dream of $1.71 in my VC account. When I got back from holiday I had exactly 0.10c left in the account. I played it up through to $25.35 - sit and gos and a 0.25c rebuy - only to shred it away again in a horrible day of cash games and those mad $1 Speed rebuys. I thought I'd get paid on a 800 action point freeroll, only to go out 20th (grrr) where 18 got paid.

My current balance is now 0.07c with 260 APs left. So I'll join the challenge!!
Now to set the alarm for the 4.45 1c Rebuy!!

jArgHA

excellent stuff, that was a great read. when does round two commence? best of luck with the challenge.

Shortstack

Still climbing!
4 1$ sit'n'go's 1st 4th 5th and 2nd balance now $16.89. Two out of the money finishes were Aces cracked by AJ and Kings by Fours! The beats still hurt even at these limits ! Over halfway to next level and $3 sit'n'go's.

Mr. Flibble

I recently transformed $3 into $102 on VC in sit and gos - it took a few weeeks. And then a few days ago got back down to less than $2 in a few hands of a shorthanded cash game. I'll join you in trying to build it up to $1000

CoD

my VC accoutn i put $40 in, and keep getting to $1400 then drop loads then back up....and down

MadsL

Do freerolls count?

I just turned $0 on labrookes into $39 in their $200 freeroll. Came 2nd (winner had a monster stack, 500,000 from early on, 800,000 at the final table)
Absolutely Knackered - 4 hours of poker - 1500 runners!

I'll see how I go with that...

Sit n Gos next..

Shortstack

Have been debating with myself as to whether I can include freerolls in my quest. I think if I only use action points accumulated since the start of my journey into micro limit nirvana then it would probably be ok. As long as I only play freerolls at work I can easily police this as I use a different skin at work so the action points only started when this started. However I need to be not tempted to use my home pc's action points as I have over 25k on that skin!

Glad to see that so many people are enjoying the blog, Interesting to see if anyone else who is starting off with a low bankroll can make it!

It is tough having the discipline to treat these low limit tables with any respect but I have played 7 STT and won 3, 2nd,3rd,4th,5th once each. Bankroll now stands at just under $30. Now I am at the $3 buy in level, I started it earlier than planned, I entered one at $19 when I noticed there were no $2 ones. Luckily I won so now I have almost the necessary 10* buy in to stay at this level until $55.

Interestingly, although it is a short sample, my in the money stats are similar to my results in the $50 Party STT's, Although the ratio of 1st's is higher in the lower limit games.

By the way anyone who is a fan of STT should try Pokerstars. I have played in 4 in row and never finished less than 2nd. All losse's were to 10% or less river cards appearing. The blinds on these increase in timed 15 min levels and the ante structure is such that by the time you are in the money it is still usually at 75/150 and you get 1500 chips to start with - Great value for any semi decent player. Be warned though if you go too far above $50 buy ins you will run into some serious players by all accounts!

Stay Lucky!

Imposter

So have you lost all the dosh yet or what?

Shortstack

Up to $64 now ! you can follow progress on my blog. See link below.