The Zorag Challenge

That's what I am calling it. Zorag is calling it King of the Mountain. Any way you slice it I love doing these little challenges. It gets me interested in playing and not just aimlessly playing. From his blog here is the challenge:

Over at www.getastake.com, I am running a series of stakes that will culminate in the horse playing a $107 90 player triple or nothing sit and go at Poker Stars. So far, 1 person has completely busted, and the others are still running.

Here's the plan:

Stake Details:
Step 1:

Start with 5 x 2.20 Satellites to the 1/4 million. As you win them, unregister from the 1/4 million for the $T. Run these until you reach $25.00

Step 2:

At $25, start playing $5.40 double or nothings. Do this until the bankroll reaches $60. If bankroll drops below $16.40, go back to Step 1.


Step 3:

At $60, start playing $11 double or nothings. If the bankroll falls below $40, go back to Step 2.


Step 4:

When bankroll reaches $118, congratulations, you can now play a $107 triple or nothing.

If you lose this tournament, you will still have $11 left. You may cash out or start climbing the mountain again. If you lose the triple or nothing, there is no shame. You went the distance, you just didn't claim the prize.


Upon reaching Step 4, you may opt out of the challenge and Ring the Bell. You will be a quitter. Your name shall be carved upon the list of washouts. We shall make fun of you. The shame may be too much for you to show your face in the forums again. But you can quit at this point.



At any time, you may play a Step lower than your current one. If you want, you can play the 2.20 satellites all the way up to $118 before playing the triple or nothing.


I am going to take this challenge myself, and will blog my results. I have started by taking some of my FPPs and playing a 210 FPP to the 1/4 million. I have unregistered, and have $11 in Tourney Dollars to start my climb.


If you go to www.getastake.com and sign up, be sure to type Zorag in for your referral.


I deposited $22 into my account yesterday, enough for two shots at the challenge. I figured the first step was a 1 table SNG with one winner and some cash for 2nd. Wrong. It's actually a 4 table SNG with 1st-6th getting a $11 seat and 7th getting the leftover $6. They are played with a torbo format so they go quick. I whiffed on my first two chances. I pretty much didn't play a single hand before we dropped a table.

On the third try I was able to win a seat. On the very first hand I limped with 66 and saw 4 people call before the BB min-raised to 40 and everyone called. Flop Q64. Sb min-bets and gets one caller before I raise to 100 and only the SB calls. On the 10 turn I ship and he calls with QJ drawing dead and I get the early double. After that I played very few hands and bled down to around 2100 when we were down to 2 tables. At the 100/200 level I shipped the JackAce soooted over a short stack shove of less than 2bb's. Unfortunately I ran into KK in late position but the boomswitch was activated and I binked the A on the flop good for a 5100 stack.

Reaching the final table I was 5/9 and didn't have to play a hand the rest of the way. All of the short stacks busted like they were supposed to and I won the seat. So starting with $11 for the challenge less the three $2.20 buyins and the $11 seat I am sitting at $15.40. I need to get to $25 to move to step 2 which if I get there should be a lot easier for me since I have played approximately 1 brazillian of the double or nothings.

My ultimate goal is to get the $300 and apply it towards the 200 seat WSOP guarantee on 6/14. I will write-up my progress as I go.