Hi,

This is my first post on 2+2. Sorry for the english, this is not my mother tongue.

Just to fix the situation, I played NL10 on PS and had good win rate last monthes (12 ptbb/100 hands on 10k hands). Not a large sample I know but I have the impression to be OK at this level and to play without any stress, to be patient and to know which decision to take in almost every situation.

I moved few weeks ago to NL25 and I'm a little bit disappointed.
I think I currently loose my game and I doubt a lot (not good of course when you play poker). For me, these 2 levels are really different.
I played 10k hands at NL25 (full stack) and I currently lost 5 BI. Not a drama but I clearly feel that there is something wrong.

I read a lot of posts on 2+2 but never posted one. Then, 2 hands where I would like to have your comments.

I would say this hand seems to me pretty standard but, as I told you, I have really no reference and I'm completely in the dark. Tell me if I'm completely wrong...

In the first one, only 30 hands against villain. He is 12/0/1.

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP1: $26.65
Hero (MP2): $22.50
CO: $27.80
BTN: $21.65
SB: $21.35
BB: $14.15
UTG: $29.25
UTG+1: $24.65
UTG+2: $4.65

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP2 with Q Q
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.25, 1 fold, BTN calls $1.25, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $1

Flop: ($4.10) 4 K 2 (3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $3, BTN raises to $7, UTG+1 folds, Hero folds

Final Pot: $10.10
BTN wins $9.65
(Rake: $0.45)


The other one...

Villain is 38/12/1,7.
Perhaps a fold after the river raise but I can't really fold 3.5:1.
He could also think I was chasing the flushdraw and, with no hearts at turn + river, I thought he was perhaps value betted 2 pairs, AQ for example.

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG: $30.20
Hero (UTG+1): $20.85
MP: $47.75
CO: $32.20
BTN: $24.90
SB: $9.70
BB: $4.65

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG+1 with 3 3
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.50, MP calls $0.50, 2 folds, SB calls $0.40, 1 fold

Flop: ($1.75) 3 A 9 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.20, MP calls $1.20, SB folds

Turn: ($4.15) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $3, MP calls $3

River: ($10.15) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $3.50, MP raises to $10, Hero calls $6.50

Thanks a lot for your comments.

Welcome!

Hand 1 looks fine.
Hand 2 - Make it 4bb preflop. Otherwise pretty standard.


Good luck, NL25 was/is pretty hard for me also, coming from NL10.

Hand 2: Either limp or raise. (Raise !)

Hand 1: Fine

Hand 2: First of all reload so you're playing with a full stack. Raise to $1 pre flop. I make it at least $5 on the river, just so that it looks less like a blocking bet with a weak hand. Otherwise it was played fine. The board looks scary for 2 pair, and he should know that nothing worse is really going to be able to call his raise if he did hit it. So I wouldn't worry too much about him raising here with AQ.

Welcome. Your English is quite good.

Hand 1 is fine.

Hand 2, I'd check the river instead of making a small bet. The it says you don't have a flush and allows the villain to make a run at you. I know checking does, too, but you can get TP to make a bet on the river and you have a hand that can call a reasonable bet.

I agree with Autist on the transition to 25nl. It took me about 4 weeks to make the adjustments. The biggest thing is that people are far less likely to stack off with weak hands like TP.

Welcome to the forum and at 25NL

Hand 1: Fine...

Hand 2: Apart from the preflop raise (I make it 3BB+1/limper, why do you raise 2BB here and 4BB+1/limper in the first hand?) I probably go for the check on the river as well. Missed draws will not call a bet and this looks like he hit his flush on the flop. If not he might take a stab at the pot...

Thanks for this analysis. that sounds good to me. I was afraid to be too agressive on turn but it seems to be OK to everybody

Exactly. I would qualify NL10 to be weak-tight. Easy to make money with good hands against TP. CBET on the flop are also OK, it's more difficult at NL25 (they stick...). Then, the question is 2nd barrel or not. I let go a lot of hands by this way and I did'nt yet find good solutions. The problem is, in this case, I never know if I'm ahead or behind!!

I don't do that a lot but sometimes, it seems to me a good alternative. For example, when the table is a little bit too agressive (always raising when somebody limp in early position but not a lot of 3-bets), it allows me to enter in early position for a quite cheap price and to keep the initiative if necessary.

I don't know if it's a wining strategy or not...

First one is standard, although you could bet a bit less given the relatively dry board texture. It's not a big deal though, and you obviously have to fold as your hand is pretty weak. In the second one, as everyone else said you should raise to 4x bb, and also you could bet more on every street that way you're not faced with a tough river decision, and can get it in comfortably. If he flopped a flush it's a cooler.