Pokerbrahs’ $200 to $2,000 Non-Hold’em Challenge

High stakes poker players seem to hog the limelight. It’s only natural because almost every poker player on the planet dreams of winning a huge sum of money and be able to play against the very best in the world. But those elite players had to start somewhere, many grinded their way from low stakes games, just like partypoker player “solskjaer”.

Known as solskjaer online at partypoker, Pokerbrahs on Twitter, or simply Scott to his friends and family outside of poker, is a 39-year-old from Lancaster, Lancashire in the United Kingdom who has lived in Europe for almost seven-years. By day he is a manager of a bar, but by night he hits the partypoker tables in an attempt to turn $200 into a $2,000 bankroll.

“My poker story dates back to the early 2000s where I played quite a lot of competitive chess,” explains Pokerbrahs, “I still play chess sometimes but back then I was totally clueless as to what poker was.”

From chess to poker

Some of Pokerbrahs’ chess-playing friends decided to show him how to play poker, Pokerbrahs picked up the rules quickly, fell in love with the game almost immediately.

“I’ve always been super competitive when it comes to games in general. It took me a few years to become a profitable player, but I mostly always enjoyed it and that’s the most important thing in any game.”

While large sections of the online poker world hit the no-limit hold’em tables, Pokerbrahs prefers any game other than NLHE, although he does still frequent these tables because “that’s where most of the action is.”

It’s in the non-hold’em games that Pokerbrahs is attempting his bankroll building challenge, taking a $200 starting bankroll and attempting to turn it into $2,000, all while abstaining from drinking alcohol for 12-months.

Moving to partypoker

“The challenge is to turn $200 into $2,000 playing only mixed games. I saw an increased schedule with the PLO and PLO8 games on partypoker and that’s why I chose to move my bankroll there. A typical day for me poker-wise is not the healthiest at the moment. I end up grinding 8-12 hours with very little in the way of preparation, proper nutrition, exercise etc. before or after. I’m looking to make my lifestyle a bit healthier this year in general – I’m not drinking alcohol for the whole of this year, which is quite the challenge for someone who works in a bar and gets his drinks for free, but I’ve managed it so far and I’m looking to add more healthy goals along the way. I’m aware that my poker days need to have a bit better of a structure to them and I’m looking to change that soon also.”

Another victory for the partypoker grinder

Pokerbrahs is enjoying plenty of success in the Omaha Power Series tournaments at partypoker. A victory in the $3.30 PLO Bounty Hunter: $500 Gtd netted him $112, another $95 was added to his bankroll when he topped a field of 223-players in the $2.20 Sunday PLO8: $500 Gtd and his bankroll surpassed $1,000 this week when he won the $11 PLO Bounty Hunter: $1.5K Gtd for $460 (including bounties).

“I really like the PLO PKO games. In general these games seem to attract a more recreational / fun element to the game and I think anything that encourages more enjoyment of the game is good for the long term sustainability of poker. While on certain occasions you have to play looser or call lighter because of the size of the bounties, I try to approach PKOs not too differently to a normal tournament.”

Streaming on Twitch

Like many online poker players these days, including our own Team Online, Pokerbrahs is an avid streamer on Twitch and says discovering Twitch rejuvenated his joy for playing the game.

“I always feel super hyped when I get a big host and see the chat buzzing, it’s a really special feeling when you see you have a few hundred people cheering you on when you’re deep in a tournament.”

So what is Pokerbrahs going to do once he has completed his $200 to $2,000 challenge?

“I’m not going to lie, I see partypoker signing up a lot of Twitch streamers and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I would love to be one of them! I see them doing by far the most positive things for the online poker community and I would love to be part of that.”

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