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Poker is Not Dead: ascendpkr an NL100 Regular Shared The Experience on Reddit

Poker is Not Dead: ascendpkr an NL100 Regular Shared The Experience on Reddit
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Vasilisa Zyryanova Blog Content Editor
Fact Checked: PokerListings
  • Updated: July 6, 2026
  • Read time: 3 min

In a world where interviews and AMAs are mostly given by media personalities and popular advisers, a first-hand account from the real grinders is especially precious.

So, when poker pro ascendpkr, who had risen to NL100 from the micro-stakes, shared his recent results on Reddit and started an Ask Me Anything, people eagerly asked him questions in the hopes of gaining some truly relevant experience.

ascendpkr Graph
ascendpkr Graph

We’ve compiled the best parts of his AMA into this interview-style article for easy reading. Enjoy!

The Reddit AMA With ascendpkr

Q: How many tables do you play at a time?

A: Currently I play 8 regular tables + 1 zoom table which means I’m playing around 900+ hands per hour.

Q: Do you play MTTs at all separate from this?

A: I never play MTTs. Only cash games. Before I got on PokerStars select I was just mixing some tables on Stars because my main site was WPN. Since 14th of April my main site is Stars. Also this doesn’t include rakeback which is another minimum 3.5bb/100 currently.

Q: How much time do you spend studying?

ascendpkr

I would say I spend on average 1 hour per day currently. I don’t have a fixed schedule. Sometimes I will just study a lot of a few days in a new spot etc. in the past I studied quite a lot more.

Q: If you include time spent reviewing and studying what would you estimate your hourly from poker is?

A: I would say on average now I spend about 1 hour per day studying. I play on average 4 hours a day. Given that, my hourly (assuming this is my real winrate and not inflated by variance, which is possible]) is about 90-100$/hour right now, assuming 1 hour of study per day (including rakeback which is about 3.5bb/100).

Q: What does a day of grinding look like for you and how do you keep the mental game in good shape?

A: I wake up at like 3am to have the best games on Stars, I grind for an average of 4 hours/day 6 days per week and that’s it.

I don’t do anything special regarding a mental game. It’s always tough and I’m not great at it. I just have millions and millions of hands under my belt which makes it easier because I’m used to the swings. My main leak is actually risk aversion.

Q: How do you handle a 30-40 buy-in swing over 10-20,000 hands without working on your mental game?

ascendpkr

You never really get used to the swings completely. You just have to grind through it and try to play your best. It’s always hard. That’s the reality.

Q: What is your rakeback?

A: On PokerStars select I have to rake $4.2k per month and I will get 50% as a baseline. There’s actually an extra promotion which gives me up to 10pp additional. My average rakeback currently is about 55%.

Q: Is all your volume on Stars or do you play on other sites?

A: Nowadays yes, all my volume is on Stars. PokerStars has the cleanest games. I have a high winrate on other sites (e.g. the main site used to be WPN where I had 6bb/100 at 100nl but I think there was tons of cheating and shady stuff going on there). That’s why I think my winrate on Stars is higher than on other sites.

Q: When you started out, what was your bankroll, and what was management like?

A: I started with 10$ deposits lol. I was always interested in the strategy part of it (I never played a casino game other than poker in my entire life ) and was always very nitty with my bankroll management. I’m very risk averse by nature I think.

Q: What are the biggest adjustments you’ve had to make to win as you’ve climbed up the ladder?

ascendpkr

No big adjustments. Regulars will become more aggressive, especially preflop as you move up.

Q: Where are you based? How expensive is your life?

A: Right now I’m in Thailand but I travel the world a lot. I have a wife and kids, so my expenses are on average about $3.5k. My winnings are completely tax free. My hourly on Stars is currently $90+/hour which I wouldn’t get in any job that I would be able to get.

Q: What monitor do you use? And are you using a PokerTracker 4 HUD?

I use two 27” + laptop monitors. And yes, I use a very simple HUD on PT4. Most of my decisions are not based on HUD stats. I have some river stats to identify some tendencies of the regs.

Q: Do you study with mass data analysis (MDA) and was this a major contributor to your win rate?

ascendpkr

I know the most common nodes where people deviate. But I believe that MDA is primarily important vs fish because you can’t really build a sample vs them so you play mostly vs the average. Vs regs you should mostly use individual exploits because you build samples vs them.

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