Meet "Bluffalo" Sam Insole, a Canadian poker vlogger who just accomplished what most poker players can only dream of.
Bluffalo Sam posted his first video to his YouTube channel back in April 2023 documenting himself playing low-stakes live No-Limit Holdem. What appeared at first glance to just be another poker vlog in a highly competitive space of similar content, later turned into something much more interesting.
He announced his challenge of turning $100 into a whopping $100,000 playing poker with intentions of vlogging his entire journey.
Here's how he did it.
The Beginning Of The $100K Challenge
On April 14, 2023 a YouTube channel by the name of Bluffalo Sam announced a challenge to grow $100 into $100,000. He provided additional context that the challenge had started shortly before the beginning of the vlog series and that he had already grown the bankroll to $1,330 after binking a few online tournaments.
Provided that, he took his $1,330 and immediately started grinding $1/3 live cash games at River Rock Casino in Richmond, B.C.
Building Momentum
While moving through the $1/3 streets, he managed to build his bankroll up to $4,000 and decided it was time to take a chance. Typically, if you ask people on poker forums online they'll recommend that normally you should have at least 20-30 buy-ins at the next level before you take a shot at the higher stake.
However, Bluffalo Sam is no normal player. He took his 8-buyin bankroll straight to $2/5 with a hope to ride some positive variance to new heights.
He immediately lost $3,100. This dropped his bankroll back down to $900 and sent him back to $1/3.
The Big Leap
Having learned his lesson, he stayed much longer at $1/3 and grinded his $900 bankroll all the way up to $10,500 by Vlog #37 on August 23, 2023. By this time, he was playing a combination of live cash games as well as online microstakes tournaments where he was playing up to 20 tables at a time.
At this point, he decided it was time to move back up to $2/5. This time he had much different results.
He grew his $10,500 bankroll all the way up to $60,000 by mainly playing $2/5 but shot taking $5/10 along the way.
Once he hit $60,000, he began shot taking $10/25 and $25/50 on the livestream cash game shows in mid-December 2023.
Winning The Challenge To $100K
There was only a few places were Bluffalo Sam could shot take bigger than $5/10, as typically these higher stakes games run sparingly in live casinos and are taken behind closed doors in private games. The next logical move for him was to enter the livestream arena on YouTube shows like Champions Poker Live and Poker At The Lodge where the games ran $10/25+ consistently.
The following were his broadcasted results from these shows:
Date | Stakes | Livestream | Net Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|
$10/20 NL | The Lodge | -$3,300 | |
$5/5 NL | Champions Poker Live | +$5,830 | |
$10/25 NL | Champions Poker Live | +$7,425 | |
$10/25 NL | Champions Poker Live | +$2,670 | |
$5/5 NL | Champions Poker Live | +$8,875 | |
TOTALS | +$21,500 |
Link to Bluffalo Sam's full livestream cash game results: https://highrollpoker.com/tracker/players/2891
After adding results from his non-broadcasted performances during this time period, Sam had done it. He cracked $100k on January 12, 2024 marking just 10 months since the challenges' beginning back in late April 2023.
The following is a timeline provided by Bluffalo Sam in a Reddit thread he made discussing the completion of his challenge:
Bankroll Range | Game Action |
|---|---|
$100 --> $1,330 | $0.55 - $16 PokerStars tourneys |
$1,330 --> $4,000 | $1/3 Live NL |
$4,000 --> $900 | Failed $2/5 shot take |
$900 --> $10,500 | $1/3 Live NL |
$10,500 --> $20,000 | $2/5 and shot taking $5/10 |
$20,000 --> $60,000 | $2/5 Live NL |
$60,000 --> $108,500 | Livestream cash game shows shot taking $10/25+ as well as some off-stream results |
In total, these results took place over 780 hours at a winrate of $137.38/hr @ 24.98 BB/hr.
Looking Ahead
Bluffalo Sam has now set his sights on a new goal: hitting 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. You can catch his entire 85-episode bankroll challenge on his YouTube channel, as well as his livestreamed cash game performances on his Highroll profile.
If there's anything that this challenge gave to viewers around the world, it's that the poker dream is still alive and well.
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This article was created in help by PokerFlops, an alternative poker news media platform with weekly content on all things poker.
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