Challenges and prop bets are neither uncommon nor unheard of in the poker community and some pros like Joey Ingram have become synonymous with these challenges. But, while most pros indulge in prop bets of bizarre nature including bench pressing contests, karaoke singing and music video views, we now learn of two very prominent names in the poker fraternity, Charlie Carrel and Doug Polk, taking part in bankroll challenges.

UK High Stakes crusher Carrel has taken up the challenge of turning a $50 bankroll into $10,000 by only playing microstakes and at the same time streaming his progress on Twitch and YouTube. On the other hand, the boisterous pro Polk just completed his two-year long bankroll challenge of starting with $100 and building it up to $10,000.

Charlie Carrel’s $50 To $10K Challenge

Charlie Carrel started his poker career with a $15 deposit in his PokerStars account and won a $1 buy-in 180-man sit & go for $49 at the first attempt. He quickly built up a bankroll of $60,000 and his chopped win at the PokerStars Sunday Millions event for $200,000 catapulted him into the limelight. Carrel switched to $2/$5 six-max Zoom where he crushed opponents daily. His bankroll peaked at $520,000 from his $15 investment.

Following his trailblazing start in online poker, he slowly began to dominate the live felts too. With a €1,114,000 win in the €25,500 8-Handed High Roller event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final in 2015, his total live earnings reached $6.2 Million.

In a tweet posted on August 15, the English pro announced his retirement from poker but at the same time also stated that he is going to prove that the poker dream of turning a small deposit into a large sum is still alive.

I’m starting a $50 to $10k Bankroll challenge. I’m retired from poker, but I would love to show the dream is still alive ❤

Join me at https://t.co/brzqGGhR3Z pic.twitter.com/OIDCdXXkUG

— Charlie Carrel (@CharlieCarrel) August 15, 2018

This time he started the journey with a $50 deposit in his PokerStars account and is trying to grind his way to $10,000 all the while streaming his play on Twitch and YouTube.

Carrel is using a 20 buy-in rule meaning he can move up stakes once he has 20 buy-ins for the next stakes; he will drop down stakes when he has 17 buy-ins for the current level. He began with $0.01/$0.02 Zoom but is currently playing three tables of $0.02/$0.05 with a $166 bankroll.

Doug Polk Completed His $100 to $10,000 Challenge

While Carrel is just starting with his bankroll challenge, American pro Doug Polk just finished his. Back in 2016, Polk announced on his YouTube channel that he’ll be streaming his attempt at running his bankroll from $100 to $10,000 on Twitch from August 7.

Polk is an immensely popular YouTube personality who is liked by his followers for his straight forward and fun-loving attitude.

Stating that his fans voted for this challenge specifically against three other ideas via a poll on Twitter, Polk began his journey with a $100 deposit. Playing freerolls, $1 buy-in heads-up sit-n-go’s, and $1 buy-in tournaments, the YouTuber maintained strict bankroll management by ensuring he has 50 to 100 times his buy-in on tournaments, and 30 to 40 buy-ins for cash games depending on the situation.

Polk regularly streamed his games and several sessions later he finally managed to achieve his target. On August 22, Polk crossed the $10,000 mark. He posted a video on his YouTube channel titled “Top 10 Bankroll Challenge Moments ($100 to $10,000)”.

We did it pic.twitter.com/jNq3xy9EtQ

— Doug Polk (@DougPolkPoker) August 23, 2018

Challenges like these certainly go a long way to prove that if you play well and make the right moves at the right time, turning a small deposit into a big bankroll is not an impossible dream.

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