I have been playing a lot of 50nl and 50pl full ring since the beginning of the month. There was definitely a learning curve when I first started playing these limits, but I am doing well now that I have made some adjustments based on the players. There are quite a few differences from 50nl and 200nl. Below are some of the major differences I have run across:
1. Nit runs rampant - Table selection can be difficult at times. I usually wind up only wait listing for deep stack tables since a lot of the regular tables are full of short stackers. There are times where all the tables are full of 8/6s to 14/10s. It would be easy to laydown KK pf to some of these guys. I have found myself leaving tables a lot more often than I used to.
2. Loose passive calling stations - On the flip side of nits running rampant, I was surprised how many 50/8 type players you find. They come in different varieties but generally call any pf raise or 3 bet with any two cards. The majority of these players either fold to c-bets on the flop, call when they are chasing a draw, or re-raise on the flop when they flop a monster. They are very predictable and very easy to play against.
The minority of these type players take more adjustments. They are the loose passive players that call any raise with atc pf, but have a fold to c-bet of 0.0 or close to it. Position becomes paramount against these guys. With position, you can milk a ton of $ out of them. Without position, you can wind up building big pots without knowing exactly where you stand. If I have one of these guys to my direct left, I usually wind up tightening up to extreme because most of them don't adjust to your play and will still pay off your monsters.
3. Bluffing of missed draws - I was surprised how often you will see someone over shove all in when their draw misses on the river regardless of their stack size. It is usually the random player that sits down at the table, not the regulars. I was buying in for 100bbs at the deep stack tables but recently increased that to 200bbs mainly because of this over shoving seemed to be happening way too often.
4. Some players get more frustrated when you 3 bet them too much. - A few nights ago, I had been pretty aggressive on the button on one table. A nitty guy (10/8) to my immediate right was obviously getting frustrated when an ideal situation arose. It folded to him in the cutoff and he raised 3x. I had AA on the button and raised like 2.5x his pf raise. SB and BB fold. CO insta-shoves for 100bbs. I call and he turns over AQ. (This was actually at 100nl)
5. Most players don't get all-in with draws that are favorites. - This is mainly the nitty guys. I can't tell you how often I have seen players just call each street hoping to hit their monster draws (straight draw+flush draw, etc) that have to be favorites instead of raising with it. Once they hit their hands become very transparent.
There are quite a few other differences, but these are the ones that come to mind first.
Posts
Agree with all the points. I've been playing $50NL for 2 months now - and have run into the same thing. Particularly points 1 2 & 3. As far as point 3, it's comical how many times you get a player check / calling down a drawing board (clearly drawing a flush / straight) only to shove a checked river on a missed board.
Quick question: why did you move down from 200 to 50? Why not to 100?
The Poker Meister
11:15 AM
congrats on the success. I noticed that you were on the PL PTR leaderboard for the month. Nice!!!
I also agree with your points and find myself guilty of a lot of your points. (case in point, my post today).
WillWonka
11:59 AM
"Quick question: why did you move down from 200 to 50? Why not to 100?"
I started playing some NL100 this weekend.
A few reasons for moving to 50NL:
1. Want to be conservative with my bankroll in case I need the money in the near future. (Started my own business a little over a year ago and Nov-Feb are generally slow when the economy isn't bad.)
2. Confidence factor. I am feeling good about my game again. When I looked over some old HHs, it was clear I had some leaks that needed to be plugged. 50nl has allowed me to experiment with different ways to plug those leaks with less overall $$ risk.
3. The swings are less stressful. I have had a +12 buy-in day and a -5 buy-in since the beginning of the month. The -5 buy-in day didn't effect my mental game at all which may not have been the case at higher limits.
For now I will probably play a mix of 50nl and 100nl.
cmitch
12:55 PM
>> Started my own business a little over a year ago and Nov-Feb are generally slow when the economy isn't bad.
Good luck! I hope the business is going well. From a guy moving in the other direction (coming from 25NL), 50NL seems WWWAAAAYYYY looser, where people are stacking off a lot lighter. The PFR aggression is a lot greater as well, which leads me to start 3 betting more often.
BTW - good hand the other night where you caught me in a steal; not sure whether you had a hand or not, but good catch nevertheless.
The Poker Meister
2:02 PM
Just found your blog.. sounds like you're somewhat local. Tampa Hard Rock can be a gold mine but can also be very frustrating.. haha.. almost like Limit at the NL tables, you better have the best hand at showdown, because you're not blowing anyone off of anything. Top Pair might as well be Quads. Then again, this can be very profitable.
Do you play at any of the other rooms in the area? I like to hit the Tampa Bay Downs room every now and then, and I've gone to Derby Lane a couple times in the past few months, the new room is very nice, I just don't seem to do well there for some reason. Tampa Greyhound is a goldmine for me financially, but I always leave there feeling depressed to have been around so many degenerates for so long... I only go there occasionally these days even though it's closest to me. Bonus for that room though is that you can hop up from the table and grab a few rocks around the corner to keep your focus level up. You know... if that's your thing.
I Wear Flops
9:10 AM
what is 25, 50 and 100NL? Is that the big blind?
Anonymous
1:19 PM
Great analysis. You write really well.
Big D
12:46 PM