I have read endless times where people say 1/2NL is easy fishes and easy money. Then I read everyone moving up and getting crushed.

Why not just stay at 1/2NL and make easy money?
Greed? Trying to make a living?

I'd rather make $300 to $1000 in a session than lose $200.
Every time. That's a very good living for most people.

Playing as a hobby, I never plan to go past 1/2NL.
Even better, it's supposedly easier. Works for me.

2NL is where the blinds are 1c/2c. It's easy to beat because people just throw money away because "it's only a few pennies to call and see". It is indeed full of fish, but you can't make a living from it.

$1/$2 blinds is called 200NL. It is quite a bit harder to beat. You won't just sit down and win $300 to $1000 every session.

People talking about 1/2 being easy are talking about live poker, where rake and tipping make winning any kind of real money at 1/2 impossible so you have to move up.

As said previously, it isn't clear if you are talking about 1c/2c online, or $1/$2 live.

Live poker is much softer than online, but it most certainly is NOT free money. Nor is it necessarily easily crushable by anyone who can breakeven at 2c/5c online as you sometimes hear around here, it is pretty much a different game for many reasons.

Visit some English casinos! Less tipping and winning £300-£1K a session is possible (not the norm but equally not rare). Friday and Saturday nights are highly recommended.

If we are talking about live 1/2 then on average you won't be making 300 - 1000 per session. Nowhere near that. A crushing winrate would make you 20/hour, however if you crush 1/2 for that rate chances are you can beat 2/5 (or whatever the next level up is) for a decent rate too which will more than likely be a significant increase on your hourly. Which is why people move up.

I'm sounding argumentative here but it does depend where you live / play. The biggest games spead in most casinos outside of Central London that I have been to is 1/2 but end up playing ridiculously deep, by 1am. The trick is to recognise when the table has turned bad and walk away, not keep swapping pots with regs and donating rake to the house once the visitors have stopped buying in.

Because most of those people saying how easy it is and that they never lose are full of ****.

I meant 200NL. ($1/$2NL)

Yea, it seems regs just play all night, swapping pots and grinding down their pots from the rake. In the end, the house is the winner

lol what?

I would also like to win $300 to $1000 instead of losing $200.

Make that money honey!!!

The **** else could anyone do this job?

Cocaine and hookers my friend...

As previously stated 1/2 Live NL is very hard to beat. In best case you win about $15 to $20 per hour and that is best case. 2/5 NL Live is much more profitable. Most casinos where I play charge $5 every half hour instead of a rake. If you play well you can average between $30 and $40 per hour which can be a good living for some.

depends on the rake if it can easily be beat. i've heard rake is ridiculous in Europe, uncapped or up to $20. gonna be near impossible to beat the rake playing $1/$2 in that game. gotta move up.
in California i think they do a mandatory $4 drop on flop regardless of pot size. gonna be hard to make much playing $1/$2 in Cali. gotta move up.

most live games drop 10% up to $5 and many drop an extra dollar or two for badbeat/high hand promos. $20/hr can be sustained in these games under the right conditions obviously. good table selection is important.

but if you can make double doing the same work by moving up to $2/$5 then why wouldn't you? i'm currently playing $1/$2 with the goal to move up when my bankroll and skill set can handle it.

If someone can beat 1/2 for $x/hr, they can potentially make more $x/hr moving up

If you're just concerned about having a good time while you're playing and making easy money often, even though it might not be as much as you could make while moving up and not having as good of a time, sticking to 1/2 is probably for the best

i've also heard many say $2/$5 is just as easy to beat as $1/$2. i don't have much experience at $2/$5 but based on my limited experience at that level the field is much tougher. 3bet are KK+ 95+% of the time in $1/$2... not so on $2/$5. (just one example)

so i think some adjustments will need to be made when we move up to avoid getting crushed.

simple answer; because gambling is fun

Players that can beat 1/2nl live and then move up to 2/5nl and get crushed are not very good players. Typically, these are players that have "learned" how to beat 1/2nl without learning the fundamental concepts of poker. They essentially just learned how to win at a certain level playing a certain style without understanding the theory behind it.

So when they move up to 2/5nl they play the same and get crushed because the game at that level is different.

However, players that are "good" and understand the theory/concepts move up and likewise beat the next level. Then they move up again and beat that next level. Rinse and repeat until they are no longer good enough to move up...

For the most part, 1/2nl is soft and beatable however a lot of the time there just isn't all that much money on the table on a consistent basis.

The typical 1/2nl game will have roughly $1.5k to $3k on the table.

The typical 2/5nl table will have $3k to $8k on the table...

The typical 5/10nl table will have $8k to $20k on the table...

The typical 10/20nl table will have $20K to $50k on the table...

see a pattern. The more money on the table, the more you can win depending on your skill level. As you move up, players get better.

Now, there is nothing wrong with staying at 1/2nl if that works for you. In fact, I know of several grinders who only play 1/2nl because they have the game completely dialed in and like playing brain dead droolers or noobs all day. Nothing wrong with that if that floats your boat.

But it is pretty silly to infer that moving up in limit is a mistake when poker is a skill based game...

The 200NL table I play seems to have avg starting stack of $150. Lots of $100 startings with muitiple reloads. Rare to see $300.

This is another problem at 1/2nl. Players treat the game like blackjack. If they double up, they like to leave right away for fear of giving it back.

conversely, as you move up in limit, players tend to stay and grind longer even if they double or triple up. So, you get more money on the table since the money tends to stay on the table longer

No, this 200NL game people play for a LONG time.
It's more like they grind all night long, and the rake ends up with it all.

So how is this game you are describing resulting in $300-$1000 wins on a regular basis?

Vs the right fish and good table selection can yield 50/hr plus. At 1/2. Its filthy how bad/spewy some of those guys can be.