The winning players at 50nl is so much tougher than the good players at 25nl and the tables are so much more aggressive. At 25nl, I can raise 89 suited UTG and get many to fold their hands or at the minimum fold to my flop cbet. At 50nl, people started to 3 bet me light forcing me to fold 89 or play a mediocre hand OOP. People starts to float alot, raise my flop cbet and having a good grasp of their pot equity.
And I realised that double barreling doesn't work in 50nl as well. I would say at least 80% of the players there uses HUD and almost every regulars there are HUD user. They can see that I have a high flop cbet and turn cbet frequency and know how to deal with it. Urghh.... to put it simply, I simply cannot exploit 50nl players as easily as I could at 25nl.
So what now? I am about breaking even in 50nl currently, and looking at some of my hand histories, I realised that my play was too straightforward. For example, every time I have TPTK on the board, I would bet and bet. This simply can't work in 50nl now, especially vs sharks. I need to mix up my play and metagame is so much more important now.
I will have to admit that I am not the best regulars at 50nl for the time being. I can't outwit and outplay alot of good rgulars at 50nl. I can't play 18/16 like what some of the sharks there did. However, I can start by playing hands that will give me a mathematical advantage vs them for a start. I will go back to the fundamental of good solid poker and slowly improve my game such that I can compete with the best of the best at 50nl.
Anyway, an interesting hand vs a mega whale today. How on earth did this fish not being able to fold his QQ when it is so obvious that I have him beat all the way?
Poker Stars, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 9 Players
BTN: $85.31 (170.6 bb)
Hero (SB): $61.55 (123.1 bb)
BB: $35.03 (70.1 bb)
UTG+1: $60.01 (120 bb)
UTG+2: $66.30 (132.6 bb)
MP1: $20.94 (41.9 bb)
MP2: $57.32 (114.6 bb)
MP3: $61.24 (122.5 bb)
CO: $124.21 (248.4 bb)
Preflop: Hero is SB with A
K
UTG+1 raises to $1.50, 2 folds, MP2 calls $1.50, 3 folds, Hero raises to $5.50, BB folds, UTG+1 calls $4, MP2 folds
Flop: ($13) 2
A
2 (2 players)Hero bets $10, UTG+1 calls $10
Turn: ($33) A
(2 players)Hero bets $16, UTG+1 calls $16
River: ($65) 5
(2 players)Hero bets $30, UTG+1 calls $28.51
Results: $122.02 pot ($2.50 rake)
Final Board: 2
A 2 A 5 Hero showed A
K and won $119.52 ($59.51 net)UTG+1 showed Q
Q and lost (-$60.01 net)Haha... let me try to put myself into his shoes and explain why he can't fold his QQ:
Preflop
- Damn, I got squeezed. But hey, I got QQ, it is worth a call. Lets' look at the flop and see how.
Flop:
- Urghh... there is an ace of the board. But hey, that is just 1 overcard on the board. Maybe he is squeezing me with a wide range. Maybe if I hit my queen on the turn, I got good implied odds. Maybe... urghhh. Anything. I just can't fold my QQ.
Turn:
- Hmm. Another ace. Maybe he doesn't have an ace at all. Maybe he is bluffing me! Haha... I don't care. I just can't fold my QQ in case he was bluffing!
River:
- OMG. He is putting me all in. Maybe I am really beat. But with so much money in the pot, and hey, I still have QQ. I can't fold. So I call....
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