He only won $500 and didn’t gain traction before deciding to call it quits
One of poker history’s craziest bankroll challenges is over. Kevin Martin ended his live-streamed poker bankroll challenge after 500 hours and a profit of just $500.
Also known as “Poker from Zero,” he planned to turn $0 into $5,000 while live-streaming his entire life until he reached his profit goal or hit 500 hours. He started by pawning off a few personal items and putting a few hundred dollars in his online poker account. The remaining funds were from his micro stakes poker winnings.
Martin posted a brief video on X just after ending the challenge on Wednesday and was forthcoming about the tribulations of being a professional poker player. “In terms of the poker, I have to be humble about it. We just take the ‘L,’ man, we just take the ‘L,” said Martin. “I won, but like we just failed at the challenge.”
Poker from Zero is officially over.
What a ride it was. Thanks everyone for watching, hope we entertained. 💙 pic.twitter.com/yvKkBDZWCT
— KMart (@KevinRobMartin) March 20, 2024
Martin ended up making about $3 per hour of playing poker. He spent the remaining hours during the Twitch livestream eating, sleeping, or just taking a break from playing.
He also accepted that many haters criticized him for not continuing to reach his $5,000 goal, but he didn’t give any excuses. “We just didn’t get there. We just didn’t crush. I’ll take responsibility, bro, I could have played better,” Martin admitted.
Martin’s team uploaded a recap video from the previous day to his YouTube channel during the challenge, which saw a huge number of new subscribers during the 24/7 live stream over the past few weeks.
The bankroll challenge ended at about 10% of the initial goal, but thousands watched “K-Mart” on Twitch, and his YouTube channel grew while showing poker fans worldwide how demanding it is to build a bankroll from almost nothing.
