I'm a good player, been playing a few years and usually play 25c/50c cash tables NL, internet. However I'm sick of making reads, making plays etc. only for some guy to turn over two ridiculous cards I could never put him on and take the pot with a silly 2 pair or something similar when he should never have been in the hand in the first place. Basically I am wondering at this level should I stay away from making plays, bluffs etc. and just stick to good basic poker and avoid getting drawn into hands as it is too difficult to read players at this level?

Yep, you got it.

However, this does not mean you shouldn't be making reads. There is still plenty you can learn from paying attention to people. (such as whether or not they are someone who is going to be playing ATC). In general, micro stakes players' biggest leak is that they call way too much. The way to exploit this is to value bet hard. It is not going to be a profitable play to bluff someone if they are going to be calling anyway.

There are opportunities for making bluffs at 50NL but it is possible to be a reasonably big winner there without ever bluffing beyond continuation bets. If you are struggling to recognise when these spots are, just play solid tight straight forward poker.

Just assume everyone has a broken fold button, a giant call button, and a very tiny raise button.

Wrong wrong wrong!

Whenever you get beat by someone hitting 2nd pair on the river, there's a thing you made wrong - you did not make him fold before the river. And yes, calling stations do fold if you make them to.

Forget all the fancy plays. Whenever you're dealt a hand, think to yourself "do i want to risk all my stack on it?" if no - fold. If yes - bet, raise, 3-bet, do whatever it takes to either get all your money in, or to make the villain fold. You won't experience any more bad beats from that moment on (well, at least no more than you will bad beat the villains yourself).

It works for my last 1,5K hands perfectly. Just make ONE decision - "allin, or fold". Then follow it. Sure, there may happen things that make you reconsider (like the guy minraising your 3bet PF while you hold JJ, you may want to drop your "allin plan" then, etc.), but these should happen less than 10% of the time.

So remember, 1st decision preflop. 2nd on flop. And follow it. If you decide the hand is worth allin then bet/raise/3bet for about 2/3 PSB until you're allin. If not, then just fold.

Also, if ever not sure what to do post flop, or where you stand - just check/raise the villain. He plays his cards open then.

And remember - if the idiot hit his low set or second pair on the river - you played it wrong to not make the idiot either fold or go allin before that river.

ABC poker is the name of the game.

Valuetown that way >>>

Even at .25/.50 limits, there are decent players. And these players realize what implied odds are. So they may be playing a wide range of hands when stacks are deep.

If their cards are odd to you, you need to look at their postflop position, how deep the effective stacks are going into the flop, how many players are in the pot, etc.

I hate to say it, but you may be a player who gives implied odds by overvaluing your hand and not recognizing how wide a range some players in late position in multiway pots with deep stacks can get involved for a profit.

Also, you need to look at the line taken when you have a good hand and several opponents have speculative hands. Can you fold AA or KK on a 987 two flush board?

Be honest and check your hand results more carefully.

This is just flat out wrong. If you are ahead on the turn, you WANT him to make an incorrect call, not fold. Stop worrying about winning pots and worry about winning money by maximizing/pushing your equity.

Still, if you're just getting something like 1/6 of your stack in by the turn and sticking the other 5/6 in on the river after you've been outdrawn, this is simply a huge leak and you need to re-evaluate your river decision-making.

If this is NOT the case, then you're simply whining that there are bad players surrounding you. Really? This is what you want. If it isn't, take out a loan and go play 5/10, I'm sure you'll be able to read them better :/

play nitty, VALUE BET HARD imo