I currently play 25NL at stars and am considering skipping 50NL altogether and going right to 100NL...properly rolled of course. There seems to be way better tables to select from and more action in general. I was looking at the lobby and the new tables being formed at 100nl just looked so much better. I have experience at both levels but am a slight loser at 50nl. In limited experience at 100nl I am a big winner, as well as a winner at 10nl and 25nl. After a couple weeks of taking shots at 50nl, I just find it filled with more regs than at 50nl. And starting new tables, which is how I join almost all of my tables, happens more at 100nl. Is my perception way off, or can I skip 50nl if I feel comfortable and would I be missing out if I did?

id probably skip 100 also and go straight to 200. IME thats where the real bad players are.

What kind of hand sample are we talking?

no money to be made at 50, try 100 or 200

or 400 or 600. Whichever I have at least 10 buy ins for

sick thinly veiled barg bro

for 100 about 10k, 50nl - 30k, 25nl - 100k

hey, if you've got the roll, go for it. It's your money. If I were you, I would consider it "shot taking", and have a plan for moving down based on clear conditions, though.

get that post count up.

didn't mean to sound like a c**k, was just saying that in my extremely limited exp at 100nl I thought that, if properly rolled, it wouldn't hurt to skip a level. Thanks for your feedback though.

I won't hurt if your ego is such that it allows you to move back down if things don't go well, either because of variance or the fact that there are better players than you thought.

Will you be able to move down if needed?

yeah that shouldn't be a problem. Obv I'd be missing out on more fpps, but I expect my wr to go down if I went to 50nl.

First just table select better.
Second, not all regs are good. It's easy to I.D. a reg player, so start digging into his stats and looking for the obv weaknesses. High steal high fold to 3. High c-bet flop low c-bet turn. Look for other things like his raise flop % so you have an idea about what flops you're going to be stacking on when he raises. Etc. Etc.

Also, while you're shot taking, I suggest to begin by mixing in a couple tables of higher limits and having a stoploss. Hopefully, you won't hit your stoploss early on^_____^, but I still think its good to have. 3-bi is generally a good one.

More importantly though, avoid playing pots with some of the regs with marginal hands. Give their 3-bets respect and don't make hero calls until you're sure that they can be up to some serious goofyness. Just because they are playing at a higher limit doesn't automatically mean they are massively aggro/tricky, you're really going to have to read their hud pop ups over and over until you get an idea of what they are up to.

In any case, all of this is going to be easier at 50nl. The players aren't hugely different between 50 and 100, but the jump from 25nl is a significant one. Getting wacked a few times at 100nl will be more costly and will likely induce a little bit more tilt.

Don't fear the regs, exploit them where you can and otherwise stay away (that is don't look for marginal spots, know their tendencies for playing vs you in the blinds) and id/take notes/stack your fish.

Edit: you can do whatever the heck you want though. i'm all for moving up in stakes quickly, but avoiding the scarry regs at 50nl is just silly... nothing to fear

What exactly do you want to hear from us? Play whatever level you're profitable at.

Is 100 easier than 50? No. Should you be able to beat fifty if you want to play 100? yes.

Are you good enough to play higher? Maybe. but only you know that.

so what is the point here? move up, play proper bank roll managment, if it isn't working out, move down. this isn't rocket science

The difference between 50 and 100 is not so stark that you're going to be missing some magic nugget of information by skipping it. It's all gradients, dude.

50nl is def easier than 100nl. a bi at 100nl is also 4x one at 25nl. so there is that psychological effect too.

your sample sizes for 50nl and 100nl are also lol small. especially the 100nl one.

100NL is def harder, suggest winning at 50nl over 100,000 hands at 5/100 bb or so, thats what my coach suggested before moved up. I got a chance to work out some leaks before it cost me. 50 nl has more regs with huds etc than 25 nl and it just increases as you go up obviously. If you cant beat 50NL your not going to beat 100NL over long term imo.

I agree moving up as quick as possible but I think winrate is more important than how much roll you have overall (obv have to have proper roll).

I did something similar and it worked out.

However, in my mind I knew I was taking a shot and I was ready to move down. I still dont really think of myself as a small stakes player. So if your answer to Ronfars question is yes, then set a stop loss and give it a go.

yo i have played hundreds of thousands of hands at poker stars at both nl50 and nl100. i can tell you with great certainty that nl50 is a softer game. i been at some nl50 stars tables within the last couple weeks and at nl100 tables as recently as today. just my opinion.