Earlier this month, Kevin Martin embarked on an extreme bankroll challenge in which he got rid of most of his assets, wiped out his poker bankroll and decided to build a $5,000 bankroll from scratch. In addition, he live streamed the entire journey 24/7, but ultimately failed to reach his desired goal of $5,000.
After 500 hours of streaming and with a final profit of $500, Kevin decided to end the challenge. After the final tally, he had earned approximately $3 per hour of poker play. Most of the remaining hours during the live stream on Twitch were spent sleeping, eating, or just taking a break from playing poker. Live streaming poker isn't easy, especially when the cameras are running 24 hours a day for three weeks. Not once did he take a break from grinding on buy-ins well below his normal bankroll, even during the brutal sessions.
The growth of Kevin's bankroll was slow and inconsistent, peaking at $1.300, but then dropping from there to a final $500. The money won was supplemented by the challenge's main actor with an extra $500, which he donated to a random YouTube subscriber.
He commented on the whole challenge himself saying, "Poker is very often a beautiful game of skill, but there are a lot of things that don't work out for you. A lot of good players have gone broke and I would recommend you play passionately, just always take care of your money. I woke up and squatted every single day. I couldn't have tried harder in this thing and I really didn't think it would end up like this."
That 500 hour stream was so trippy for the brain
- KMart (@KevinRobMartin) March 23, 2024
I'm chilling + restoring the soul and getting ready to build the next thing. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/lSYSTHABIj
It was a huge success in one respect, and that was its streaming stats. He had 1.6 million views of all his videos on YouTube this month and gained nearly 17,000 new subscribers there. On Twitch, he also gained nearly 5,000 new subscribers and had 305,954 hours watched on the platform this month. So, even if he only managed to reach 10% of his target, he certainly doesn't need to mourn - his social media accounts have grown significantly, his challenge has been written about all over the world, and last but not least, he just confirmed that building a poker bankroll is definitely not an easy task.
What do you think of the challenge? Did you follow it and wish KMart success? Would you dare to do something similar? Let us know in the comments on our social networks!
Sources - Pokerstrategy, Pokernews, Twitter (X), Twitch
