The Professor Challenge – Day 23: Adjusting to the Regulars
Updated: Oct 16
💰 Bankroll Progress
Starting Bankroll: $228.606
Ending Bankroll: $250.903
Session Result: +$22.297
Rakeback: $4.70
Poker Room: Titi Poker
Format: NL20, 40BB short-stack buy-in
📖 Table of Contents
🎯 A Standard Session With a Positive Finish
Day 23 was a much more normal session than some of the recent swings. There were no enormous coolers and no dramatic strategic changes — just the usual mix of preflop all-ins, loose calls and small adjustments to the Titi Poker player pool.
The most important thing is that the session finished in the green. The bankroll moved from $228.606 to $250.903, for a table result of +$22.297.
If you missed the previous entries, read Day 22, Day 21, and our Titi Poker review for more context on this new phase of the challenge.
🃏 AK vs A6 and the Usual Preflop Chaos
The session still had the kind of spots that make Titi Poker so unusual. I lost a preflop all-in with AK against A6, another example of opponents arriving at showdown with hands that would often be folded much earlier in tougher games.
These results are frustrating in the moment, but they are also evidence that the field remains extremely loose. If players continue putting money in with dominated ranges, the long-term objective is simply to keep taking those spots without becoming results-oriented.
🧠 Adjusting to Aggressive Regulars
The more interesting part of Day 23 was not the recreational action. It was starting to identify some players who look more like regulars and appear to be 3-betting too aggressively from the blinds.
That changes the way I want to respond. Against opponents who defend and 3-bet too much from the small blind and big blind, I need to avoid automatically giving them credit for premium ranges.
The adjustment does not mean fighting every 3-bet. It means widening the range of hands I am prepared to continue with when the statistics and observed hands show that a player is applying too much pressure.
📊 Using More Data to Refine the Strategy
One of the biggest advantages of staying on the same room for multiple sessions is that the information becomes more useful. I am no longer playing almost exclusively against complete unknowns.
As the sample grows, I can start separating the very loose recreational players from the more aggressive regulars. That should make the next sessions increasingly exploitative rather than generic.
The challenge now is to keep the adjustments controlled. A few aggressive 3-bets are not enough to label someone permanently. The best approach is to combine the HUD statistics with actual showdown evidence and keep updating the read.
💸 Rakeback Adds Another $4.70
The Day 23 rakeback screenshot shows another $4.70 available to redeem.
This continues to be an important part of the challenge. Even on relatively standard sessions, the private rakeback deal adds a second source of return and helps smooth the natural variance of short-stack cash games.
📺 Watch the Full Session
The complete Day 23 Titi Poker session is available on The Poker Broker YouTube channel below.
🎓 Technical Comment by Marchese del River
Day 23 is technically more interesting than the final result suggests. The main development is the beginning of a more specific adjustment against regular-looking opponents who appear to be overusing blind 3-bets.
When a player 3-bets too frequently from the blinds, the exploit is not simply to call everything. The correct response is to identify which hands have enough equity and playability to continue profitably, while also recognizing when a 4-bet becomes a useful countermeasure.
Short effective stacks make this especially important. At around 40BB, preflop mistakes are magnified because a 3-bet already commits a meaningful percentage of the stack. That means range discipline matters even more than in deeper games.
The AK versus A6 result should be ignored strategically. Getting dominated hands to put money in preflop is exactly what we want. The useful information from the session comes from the regulars: keep collecting data, compare their 3-bet frequencies with actual showdowns, and adjust only when the evidence is strong enough.
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💭 Final Thoughts
Day 23 was a standard but useful session. The bankroll increased from $228.606 to $250.903, producing a +$22.297 table result, with another $4.70 in rakeback.
The biggest development was beginning to identify regulars who may be 3-betting too aggressively from the blinds. That gives me another exploit to test as the hand samples become more reliable.
The Titi Poker phase is still young, but the picture is becoming clearer with every session.
The Bankroll Challenge continues.
