Moving from 25NL to 50... questions

[deacon_bluez]

1. How do I know when I'm ready to make that jump? In terms of BR, I'm pretty much there, just under $1500. But I'm thinking I might wait a bit. I just got PT like a month ago, and I'm wondering if I should track my winrate at 25 for a while, maybe another month or two at least. I am ahead $610 over about 27K hands for the month of Feb., but don't have my rate handy (I'm at work right now), though I recognize that this could just be positive variance. Jan. was a positive month too, but at nowhere near the same rate. I've also settled into a pattern of 21/7/1.5 which has been profitable, but I'm thinking about continuing to tighten up and get more aggressive, and definitely limp less preflop.

2. What is the difference in ability level from 25 to 50? Is there any generality for what I can expect? I played mainly 10NL for about a year, and I was surprised when moving to 25 that it was just as fishy if not moreso.

I won't lie. The prospect of playing for $100+ pots is a little scary. On the other hand, I have gotten fairly good at shrugging off losing a $40-50 pot when I know I played the hand right.

Any advice/encouragement will be appreciated.

[Muzzard]

I've also settled into a pattern of 21/7/1.5.

That's pretty bad, I can't see you being that big a winner with those stats at 50NL. I'm surprised you're a winner at 25NL too.

Try and get your PFR closer to your VPIP. Something like 12/8, 17/15 or 21/18.

[d0zer]

I've logged far more hands at 25NL than 50NL, so my experience could be a little too limited, but I've found the play to be a little better at 50NL. Players are a little more cautious about getting it all in, even 30/3 types. There's still more similarities with 25NL than there are differences. There's still people willing to go broke with TPTK, still shorty LAGGs willing to go broke with TPNK ...

I found my table selection standards had to go down a little -- I'm used to 25NL being able to find 30%+ flop / 16BB+ avg pot tables with relative ease, but I had to lower my standards a bit for 50NL. Not that these tables don't exist, they just aren't quite as plentiful...

If you've got a solid winrate at 25NL, you'll probably have one at 50NL as well...though you might wanna look into that 21/7 thing. There's more thinking TAGGs at 50NL who will be able to read that style like a book. Too much limping weaker hands makes raising strong hands predictable. I still need to curb my limping, I'm running closer to 16/11/3 now...

[deacon_bluez]

If you've got a solid winrate at 25NL, you'll probably have one at 50NL as well...though you might wanna look into that 21/7 thing. There's more thinking TAGGs at 50NL who will be able to read that style like a book. Too much limping weaker hands makes raising strong hands predictable. I still need to curb my limping, I'm running closer to 16/11/3 now...

OK, so maybe another month at least pushing that 21 a little lower and the 7 higher. That will make the BR nicer too before I make a try.

[d0zer]

If you've got a solid winrate at 25NL, you'll probably have one at 50NL as well...though you might wanna look into that 21/7 thing. There's more thinking TAGGs at 50NL who will be able to read that style like a book. Too much limping weaker hands makes raising strong hands predictable. I still need to curb my limping, I'm running closer to 16/11/3 now...

OK, so maybe another month at least pushing that 21 a little lower and the 7 higher. That will make the BR nicer too before I make a try.

The first thing that was recommended to me when I was running 16/8 was to limp less, raise more. One of the ways to accomplish this is to raise behind limpers with a wider range on CU/BU, and blind stealing more. See spoon's post on blind stealing & raising behind limpers.

I'd suggest making these changes slowly, when I first started taking the advice into consideration I turned into a bit of a spewtard and had to back off a bit to attain a nicer balance...