Howdy. I'm just wondering, I was able to hold my own at the £2/5 tables when I took my shot. Honestly, I'm thinking of going more regularly and I'm currently rolled for it. I'm willing to step down in stakes if need be.

I was wondering if anyone had general collections of advice for how £2/5 plays different from £1/2 and 1/3.

Major difference is you're gonna be playing more deep stacked poker which is much different than a shallow 1/2 or 1/3 game. So the answer in a nut shell is stack sizes. IMO and IME you still get the same mix of good players, fishregs and everything in between.

Please do a search ITF. There are a lot of threads on this subject.

At 2/5: less limping, more 3betting. A 3bet isn’t usually just QQ+,AK like at 1/2 or 1/3. Still expect to play a fair bit of multi-way pots (because people call too much and other people still don’t 3bet enough to punish them). Level-up skill: Learn your preflop configurations and know the good spots to 3bet or 4bet light. Learn how to play 3bet pots HU when two players can both have wide ranges.
At 5/T: Less multi-way pots because players understand you can’t flat an open if there’s danger of a squeeze from behind. More light 4betting by regs in response to the light 3betting (light 4bets not really a thing at 2/5). Level-up skill: Finding spots to 4bet light and playing in 4bet pots both as preflop aggressor and preflop caller.

Here's one from a few years back.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...ition-1732612/

The skill level of the best players at 1/2 and 2/5 aren't that much different. The main difference is the weakest 2/5 players are much better that the weakest 1/2 players. Nobody casually sits down at a 2/5 table. If your strategy is to simply play a tighter range than your villains and value bet them to death when you have a big hand, you'll find yourself far less less successful at 2/5.

Also test the waters where you play and see what the conditions are.

At Parx on slow days the 2/5 tables are littered with pros waiting for a good 10/10 or other good high stakes game to open up and it makes the games less profitable. On Friday and Saturday nights there are often a bunch of people who don't normally play deep stack poker at the 2/5 tables and the games are much softer on average. There have been times when the tables are so loaded with pros that I have stepped down or went home.

keep yer ego in check. If the game looks good hop in. If not get up and leave. Pay particular attention to the people to your left. If they are good and making life even a little difficult for you leave. When new guys are taking a shot one of my favorite things to do is to lean on them hard and make their lives difficult. They come unglued and make huge mistakes. Dont fall into this.

Play your game. Just cuz you are moving up does not mean you suddenly have to make sick plays. Play your game - in fact snug things up a bit. No one will know, and it will keep things simpler for you till you get comfy with the new stake.

Do not try and be a super stud. No 3 ballin with A5o or anything like that. Do not try and justify marginal or silly plays. I am not saying dont semibluff. I am saying do not open yourself to potential spew. I took 2 paragraphs to drive this point home cuz soooo many fall into this trap. They do something stupid pre that carrys over to the flop and into the turn and suddenly you have pissed away 40 bigs

Dont feel the need to defend your blinds big time. If its defendable great if not fold.

Take your time with your decision making process. People get a bit frantic when they are out of their element and will blunder. When the action is on you take a breath and think about what you are trying to accomplish in the particular hand you are playing. THen make the appropriate decision

Great reminders as always Squid. Basic stuff like this cant be overrated or been said too may times. its just too important. Hope life is treating the legend good.

life is good my friend. Had been working on a different gamblin project for a while. About 2 months ago a fantastic poker game fell into my lap and have been really ramping up my poker play. Its been a ton of fun after an 18 month hiatus.

Hope you are well as well - Any plans for coming stateside?

Good stuff,get the cards in the air again is always fun after a break. Yeah,i actually do. Have booked a Vegas trip recently, for June next summer. 2 weeks holiday stayin at Aria,really looking forward to it.

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OP is using pound sterling signs and IME there actually is a significant difference between 1/2 and 2/5 in the UK...at least in London where I've played a fair amount.

2/5 is generally a far bigger game...often 300bb initial buy in when the table opens with 'match the biggest stack' allowed in many places and it is very often the biggest holdem game in the casino, so it does attract some highly skilled players. (I've played in London rooms where 1/2 is the biggest game going...again very often where everyone is 500bb+ deep)

it doesn't mean they're all wizards but I would recommend OP doesn't buy in too deep and watches and listens carefully to the other players and...as Squid says...be humble and smart about table selection and also in terms of how he plays.

First hand £2/5 I did *exactly* that. Honestly, I probably got away cheap by getting hit on the head with a "learning experience" early. (I recovered pretty quickly after I tightened up.)

I am in London, actually! Usually play £1/2 or 1/3 at the Vic, but decided to go to the Hippodrome for the £2/5 sesh. I really liked the Hippodrome, probably will go back to play the 1/2 game there.

I wonder if this could be put into a BB/hr perspective? Live always has a problem with sample sizing, but from my spreadsheet I seem to be doing around +8BB/hr, and I'd put error bars of +/- 3BB on that. Rake at 1/2 capped at 10 usually results in about -7.5BB/hr, while rake at 2/5 capped at 10 usually results in, what, about -3BB/hr? So if I'm taking a -3BB/hr hit because the players are better but a +4.5BB from a better rake structure, maybe it all evens out in the wash.

I prefer the Empire - I get really weirdly worried about a fire at the Hippo and being so far up.

I'm not sure entirely what you're getting at with the bb/hour stuff, but if you're rolled for the game and want to take a shot, I think you should do it. Getting used to moving bigger amounts of $$ around (and having far bigger losing sessions) does take time and it takes while before most people are comfortable playing 'normally' at the larger stake.

but most important thing is to play where the game is good and look for value, so try not to think of yourself as 'a 2/5 player' or a 5/10 player or w/e because then ego can come into play. play the game where there's the most value

This statement really irks me. It's just not true. Do many of the winning 2/5 players play a very basic strategy that is similar to that of winning 1/2 players. Sure. Do the best 1/2 players have a similar level of skill as the best 2/5 players? Not even close.

What’s cookin’, good lookin’? ...

Rather than a question about a hand, this week’s question has to do with the game limits. Specifically for those of you that have played $1/2 or $2/3 and have moved up to $2/5.

Personally, I have played $1/2 and $2/3 for several years, trying to learn a solid basic foundation, plug my leaks, and managing/building my bankroll. It’s been a roller coaster ride of many setbacks, failures, highs of big winnings and lots more in between. Anyway, I plan to make up to where the big boys play ($2/5). I’ve got many questions/inklings about what to expect.

If you have experience in both of these limits, it would be appreciated if you could answer these questions. Or add any suggestions, stories, or valuable lessons, etc.

Questions:

- What are some significant differences between the two limits?
- What types of players typically play $2/5?
- Best places (in U.S.) to play? Best times?
- What knowledge base (foundations) should a $2/5 player be equipped with to successfully beat the game?
- How much of a bankroll should a full-time player have? What about part time?
- What are the biggest challenges at this limit?
- What are some unexpected things you discovered in $2/5, that a lower limit player is unaware of?

I’m sure I left out so many more questions that I should have asked, but it will do for now.

Thanks for helping this community and me grow in this game.

Couple thoughts:

"What knowledge base (foundations) should a $2/5 player be equipped with to successfully beat the game?"

Have a reasonable understanding of GTO concepts and be able to apply some of the more important and fundamental concepts.

"How much of a bankroll should a full-time player have? What about part time?"

Assuming you have no other source of income, I'd start at 25k and go from there. Really depends on how deep/aggro the games play tho, you could probably get away with 10k at bellagio 2/5 as a full time player because the game is so easy and plays shallow but there's other 2/5 games around the country where 25k would be super vulnerable.

Overall you're overthinking it a bit. 2/5 is not high stakes and is not that big of a jump. In many instances it will play much looser and fishier.

Of course it will differ from region to region and season to season. If it's the highest stakes in the room and only offered on busy weekend evenings with only 1 game going it's going to play differently than somewhere else that has 8-10 tables of it going at any given time and is one of the lowest stakes games spread.

That said generally it will play a little more aggressively with slightly less limping and looser overall.

I'll give the rest of your questions a shot:
- What types of players typically play $2/5?
Anyone who has $500 to lose.

- Best places (in U.S.) to play? Best times?
Florida so I hear and Los Angeles, CA. Friday and Sat evenings.

- What knowledge base (foundations) should a $2/5 player be equipped with to successfully beat the game?
Be able to beat $10NL online.

- How much of a bankroll should a full-time player have?
1000 BIs just in case of downswing and $5million set aside for emergencies.

What about part time?
Same as full time can't be too careful.

- What are the biggest challenges at this limit?
People that don't shower regularly.

- What are some unexpected things you discovered in $2/5, that a lower limit player is unaware of?
The players still don't respect your raises.