I played higher than normal at 25NL & 50NL for ~3000 hands - not a pleasant experience
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 92
The higher levels are much looser so I wrongly assumed that my opponents were all LAGs, playing primarily for fold-equity.
But I was totally shocked how often they had high-value hands (near-nuts or nuts instead of LAG buffs which I was expecting).
My opinion is these mid-level players are playing strictly 'fit--or-fold', instead of bluffing. Am I correct?
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,649
not sure if it's still the case, but nl50 used to be the tightest limit online - it is because there's quite a bit more serious players at that stake (you can make a decent living at nl50 in most countries in the world), but they are not very skilled, and playing decently while extremely tight is much easier
also, your expectations as to what winning aggresive strategy is might be a little off - even a very loose/aggro player will still have it most of the time if he's a winning player
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 127
It's sad we live in a world where nl25 is considered "mid-level". Now I'm depressed.
Sounds like you adjusted way too much. A rule of thumb that's always served me well is to give villain credit for a hand when no history or reads exist. There's nothing wrong with playing safe ABC exploitative poker until you get your feet wet.
Nothing to be ashamed of though as the vast majority of players (myself included) have gone through the same thing.
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 2,290
Even if villains are bluffing perfectly they should still have value hands twice as much as bluffs when they do a lot sized river barrel
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 501
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 1,562
Funny you say that. I creeped up in to 25nl not long ago on ACR. None of my bluffs got through, even blocker hands that I thought were good bluffs. Every time I called it was never a bluff either.
I 4bet with something like A4cc from UTG vs the BB. The flop came KcJcJx then shipped when BB checked and got called by 66. Instacalled.
This was early on too. It’s not like I had some LAG image. It felt like I was playing 2nl. May have just been that table but it was rec city.
