I’m a fan of private poker games in casinos, but game runners should bring their own players, not poach strangers from the casino’s public games who are already on site.
If I were a poker room manager, I’d make that rule clear and give any game runner who breaks it the 🥾
I quit cash years ago when I saw the writing on the wall. This was always the natural flow once the rules were changed. Also assume the floors are almost always on the payrolls of the private game runners via big tips
Re entries make it more fuzzy, but each day I wrote down the first 50 or so games I was going to play (Was using Bankroll Lab to build the schedule). Realize now I can’t find that information so I’m going off the top of my head.
Day 1: $13
Day 2: $16
Day 3: $16
Day 4: $22
Day 5: $24
Day 6: $26
So probably around $20? Averaged about 20-22 tables at a time.
Banning any specific software (or not banning it) won't have big impacts on the games.
Their users will adapt - most will learn to play without it, some will change where they play, a few will find ways around any ban.
The underlying justification here seems silly, given that less than 3 years ago GG had a bona fide super-user scandal.
On the other hand, as far as we know they haven't had one in 3 years and maybe that's because they've actually improved security (or maybe just done a good job hiding it).
The underlying reasoning from GG is more about making it harder to play on multiple sites, which hurts their competitors by decreasing liquidity and further strengthening their market-share.
The software ban will jostle the equilibrium a bit between regs and recs and make it a little bit harder for smaller sites to maintain liquidity. But long term won't change too much.
5) The Dream Is Alive
For years, we’ve heard that the poker dream is dead. The games are unbeatable, the opportunities are gone, and there’s no money left to be made.
I don’t believe that.
My experience over these six sessions reinforced something I’ve believed for a long time -- there’s still money to be made in poker, particularly at lower stakes, if you’re willing to put in the work.
I made $8780 in 68 hours at low-stakes MTTs and I don't believe that number was an aberration. I'm sure certain people will dismiss it as 'run good' despite the advanced metrics saying otherwise. If I'm being honest, I think I ran below expectation. I know that's probably annoying to read, my wife told me to leave that part out.
But here's the thing -- I don't even think I'm THAT good. Part of the reason I avoid playing higher is to limit my confrontations with the wizards of poker, the true end bosses.
Point is, I think my results -- and my process -- are replicable. I don't think I'm God's gift to poker. I don't think I'm this brilliant person who will be remembered alongside Albert Einstein. I'm just some guy who found out he could click buttons really fast, and often, in the correct order.
And if a guy like me could make it work in online poker,, why can't other people?
The dream IS alive.
But I realize the poker dream means something different to everyone. When I watched Chris Moneymaker win the WSOP Main Event in 2003, I wasn’t thinking about winning one tournament for a life-changing amount of money.
My dream was simpler.
Here was a game I loved playing. What if I could get good enough to make money at it? What if that hobby could become a side income, and eventually something more? What if I could spend my days doing something I genuinely enjoyed and earn enough to live comfortably?
That was my poker dream. And more than 20 years later, I’m living it.
So yeah, I'd say the dream is very much alive.
That's a wrap on the $2,500 → $10,000 challenge. Thanks to everyone who followed along and supported me. Back to the usual stakes soon, probably with a sprinkle of the lower stakes stuff because of the reasons listed above. Catch you on stream.
My Thoughts on the $2,500 → $10,000 Bankroll Challenge
Started this challenge for a few reasons, one of which was to break up the monotony of my grind. I was in the midst of a downswing and thought, how can I do something fun / different without sacrificing too much EV? A short term bankroll challenge made a lot of sense. Plus, I was tired of reading all the 'doom and gloom' posts about the state of online poker. I wanted to prove those people wrong and more importantly, show others that the poker dream is still very much alive.
Six days and 562 MTTs later, the challenge is completed. Here's what I learned about the state of low-stakes online poker and the poker dream: 🧵
@Jon_Pardy I spent a good chunk of 3 year stretch recently in a bad swing/burried in MU, and doing the above helped me grind out it without major scores, and on top of that kept a lot of my passion and joy for the game also.
Happy to do a chat about it over zoom/etc if you want.
@Jon_Pardy That you are game selecting well, playing lots of volume, and your variance is just from top end of buyin range and running bad in high EV spots.
Then just cut out highest variance games and study a little harder and take it easy a bit to reset your mind, then grind out of it.
If this is where we are heading back to then sign me up. The best software ever created, no table management, no HUDs, no throwable, no tools, just straight vibes.
The cards.. the sounds of the chips going into the pot. Rail heaven, RIP Doyle, 45 man SNGS, FTOPs Jerseys
QQPK MTT bot investigation (July 16 – October 11, 2026):
-24M player-hands across 3.78M hand histories.
-I estimate that roughly 17.5M of those hands (over 70%) were played by bots.
-Approximately 12,000 bots in total.
-Full list of 11,469 nicknames belonging to accounts I'm virtually certain are bots in the reply below.
If Musk lived in Canada, the most he could give to a candidate would be $1,775. That is one of the most important safeguards we have of democracy in this country. 1/2
I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.
I will not be silenced.
NEW TOOL: Pool Simulator
https://t.co/mEr7hIsbSv
The pool simulator gives a pool of 6-max regs exactly the same skill and plays them against each other at random tables, so every gap in their results is due to luck.
Run 1,000 break-even regs for 50k hands and someone usually ends up around +14 bb/100, while someone else sits around −14.