$50NL retrospective
So, how do the games @ $50NL differ from those @ $25NL? When I first started playing, I went on an amazing heater @ 50bb/100 and was scheduled to beat the level in a month or less. Then I had an amazing downswing that quickly brought me down to earth and I started to settle in to what the games were really like. The first impression that stood out was the aggressive pre-flop play. Regulars raise big, 3bet big, and everything seems amped up. It's tougher to limp in pots. There's more isolation attempts. Surprisingly, it's not quite as crazy post-flop, but pre-flop can be like walking on egg shells in that a wrong move early could mean big mistakes later. In smaller stakes, I do like to try to get in pots with hands like A2s, 33, ATs, QJ, and the like. If you're in early position, trying to get in pots with these types of hands can be much trickier than $25NL and you're usually forced to make the plays you already knew were right like fold those speculative, marginal hands in early position.

Next, the drop in fish seemed much bigger than before. Granted there still ARE a lot of fish, but it seemed like I had to actively hunt for them moreso plus the table selection went down drastically. At $25NL, I could start tables and have them fill up in the rare event I couldn't just find one already going. At $50NL, it was much harder to find good tables with open seats and I would often times sit by myself at a table for minutes on end. During one of those times, I went back to $25NL just to be able to play and it felt like I was PRINTING money compared to $50NL. It was pretty disappointing because I had hoped that wouldn't happen until $100NL or $200NL.

In addition, value betting seemed to change drastically. With my monster hands, I often went for home-runs @ $25NL and lower and would get paid at least a street or two if not get their stack. At $50NL, I felt like I left a LOT of potential profit on the table by not properly identifying ranges or betting smaller or checking to induce bluffs and the like. It can get even more frustrating when you finally get your set or pre-flop aces all-in and they draw out on you because it seems so much harder to get paid. Stacks don't seem to get in as much. In response, I ended up doing a LOT of barreling and bluffing - not compared to my overall game, but compared to the last stakes. I figured if they aren't going to pay me off, then I need to start picking up a lot of smaller pots. And I did. Of course sometimes you misstep and lose and have to start over so it's not like printing money, but it was still profitable and necessary to succeed in my opinion. Understanding where you're at and your fold equity starts to become key at this level.

The regulars were intimidating at first because their pre-flop bets were so big and quick and their cbet barrels were even bigger and quicker, but half-way into it, I realized they all play pretty formulaic-ally for the most part. Their pre-flop raises are big, their cbets are bigger, but if they have JJ and the board is 72K, they will give up on the turn. If they check the turn OOP having PFR and CBET, they are DONE. By contrast, if they have AA and you have 33 to a rainbow board of 73K, you will probably get their stack. Most of them don't have a lot of imagination. A couple would tread more careful if I stuck around and I was able to tilt one or two and they would act a little more reckless than expected by paying me off lightly, but I don't recall much bluffing past the flop if they missed. But, you still have to be aware of what they are doing and what they are betting and react accordingly. Some bet so big pre-flop and post-flop that it's probably best to either shove over the top or fold instead of set-mining or trying to play any post-flop.

It did take me a while to settle into $50NL, but I'm glad I stuck with it and feel very comfortable there. Not to say that stats or even results are necessary good metrics, I still decided to check some of my PTR stats to several regulars and my BB/100 bested them all, so moving forward, I feel like I have a good foundation to move to $100NL and if I do get knocked back down to $50NL, I can hopefully just regroup, assuming no major, negative changes in the poker landscape.

For any aspiring players moving up, you will probably be tested @ $50NL more so than you have before. You definitely need to understand where you're at in the hand, need to be able to pick up MANY more pots without a hand, and ultimately need to find ways to get paid off with your good hands. This feels like the first level where generic ABC poker probably won't yield you a very good return. To excel, you probably need to start thinking outside the box for yourself if you haven't already

As for me, I'm on to see what the $100NL pool is like. For table selection purposes, I don't anticipate leaving $50NL completely, though. Hopefully the jump up won't be too steep, but even if it is, poker is still the same game @ $100NL as it is @ $50NL as it is @ $2NL as it is @ my home games and casinos - ranges, value, equity, +EV, and so on and so forth