I gave myself a preflop range challenge: Play 5,000 hands in 5 days strictly with the KISS Cash Game Ranges.

Spoiler: I crushed it! $45 in winnings ($5 buy-in games) with a +17.84bb/100 hands win rate, while running a super tight 14/11 game.

Get the KISS Cash Game Ranges and the Challenge Tracker here:

I review my own 5K hands challenge results in this YouTube video:

Download this podcast episode #419 and listen as you do the laundry!

The KISS 5,000 Hands Preflop Range Challenge

I played these 5,067 hands all at 5nl, 6max, on Ignition poker. What a great site to play tight ranges on! It's full of fish which makes tight play super profitable.

If you want to play with loads of fish on anonymous sites, sign up under my affiliate link below (thanks for the support!):

• Ignition Poker (US Only)
• Ignition Poker (AUS Only)
• Bovada Poker (US Only)
• Bodog Canada (excluding Quebec)
• Bodog Latam (Accepted in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela)

How can you make money in micro and low stakes games with tight play?

• Tight ranges give you a mathematical advantage over your looser opponents that they can't overcome in the long run. The KISS Cash Game Ranges will have you VPIP'ing roughly 14% in total. The Flopzilla Pro screenshot below shows you the equity advantage a tight range like that has over a looser 38% range. You have nearly a 20% equity advantage!
• Also, most micro stakes players are fish and lack the skills to fight back effectively against you.

My 5K Hands Challenge Statistics

Some observations comparing statistics pre-challenge to challenge:

• I tightened up from a 19/17 player to 14/11 (TAG indeed!). And this led to a doubling of my total win rate from 8.1bb/100 hands to 17.8bb/100 hands.
• I folded vs 3bets after raising 5% less (from 73% to 68%). However, you can see my win rate increased to +1,452bb/100 hands (see win rates below). I think this is because I was raising left often, so I had tighter ranges with which to defend against 3bets.
• My 3bet dropped by more than half from 6.8% to 3.3%. This is because the KISS Preflop Ranges have you 3bet bluffing a minimal range. However, my win rate jumped from +564 to +1,608bb/100 hands!
• I'm just about the same player when it comes to cbetting flops and turns, but I was a little more aggressive on rivers. With my tighter open-raising ranges, this led to improved win rates when cbetting flops and turn (seen below). However, my river cbet win rate dropped. I need to review these hands to see what cuas

My 5K Hands Challenge Win Rates

Observations comparing win rates:

• I improved my win rates with all but 2 plays; Calling 2bets in the SB and Cbetting Rivers. The huge -452bb/100 hands loss was due to one huge losing hand where I flopped the nuts, got it all in with the best hand, then got rivered for a 300bb pot. Drat!
• I love seeing my Call 2bet win rate be positive at +49bb/100 hands. I found lots of great calling opportunities where I hit a strong hand and got value, or found ways to bluff them off their hand post-flop.
• It's great seeing all 4 post-flop calling situations see huge increases. Especially the two river calling win rates at +3,720 and +574bb/100 hands.

My Challenge to You

1. Play strictly KISS Cash Game Ranges for 5,000 hands. This means you're not raising nor calling (and definitely DO NOT LIMP) with hands outside of the ranges.
2. Push yourself to play more hands in less time.
3. Play only one stake and only 6max or FR. This way you can compare your before and after results apples to apples.
4. DO NOT play non-KISS hands.
5. DO NOT call with hands outside of calling ranges.
6. Record your pre-challenge results.
7. Record your post-challenge results, and compare the two.

Why should you do the challenge?

• Learn to play tight and aggressive poker.
• Good preflop decisions lead to post-flop success.
• Finally make money at the micro stakes.

This video will help you fill out the tracker once you download it above:

One of my students at the Poker Forge, Travis, crushed at 10nl with this challenge:

Another student, SG, had break-even results for the challenge: