Has anyone here beaten NL25 and moved up to NL50 in the last 3 months?

[Ironic]

Hello all. I am relatively new to poker and know I have much to learn, I try to learn from what people say on this forum and read books to improve my play. Initially for the first 30k hands I have had good success and managed to grind my initial $20 deposit to over $500 dollars.

I started at NL2 on PS and now reside at NL25. However for the last 20K hands I have struggled to break even. In fact for the first time in my short lived poker "career" I am actually losing money. I have posted an EV graph and luck graph in BBV (and got mostly abuse lol) http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...;gonew=1#UNREAD

Basically I would like to hear from people who have beaten NL25 in the last two to three months, I would like to read through their past posts and see what they were saying so I can improve.

I really love the game of poker, it has become a great hobby of mine and it's just a shame I've stopped winning at it. I've reviewed all my big pots over the last couple of weeks and in almost all of them I feel I should have won so I feel unlucky but really given all the comments I have received when I say I might be unlucky the truth is I must be skewing the perspective of what is really happening.

Bottom line, I need to improve, I know the basics I don't chase with bad odds I dont bluff and I play tight and aggressive when I hit big normally. So there must be something wrong with my preflop strategy? vpip 15% too tight?

[Chargers In 07]

15% is fine, what is your raise %?

[Ironic]

7% (actually 6.7%)

[bottomset]

breakeven stretches can last a lot longer than 20k hands

[Specialwon]

Oakrdrzfan and I both moved up from NL25 to NL50 a few weeks ago. Both of us hit a massive downswing recently, you may find you were just unlucky.

20k hands is really not that much of a sample. For some players here, it's less than a week's work.

I usually play about 16/11 when playing well fwiw, I think Oak is somewhat tighter than me.

You should be bonuswhoring if you aren't already, at NL50 you can make 3-500 bucks a month that way whilst you sort your game out.

I'd recommend joining the session reviews on this forum. PM me if you want to exchange a few hands, I'm always interested in looking at other players' stuff.

[Steelerman]

Hey Ironic, I've been playing NL25 for a long time and have finally grinded up to where I'm going to start playing NL50 exclusively.

I went through a stretch like you're going through about a month ago and almost gave up playing. Luckily some great posters on here gave me some encouragement and I decided not to quit.

Specifically, what I did was play shorter sessions for about 2 weeks and review EVERY single hand that I played afterwards. When you're running bad, it's so easy to just blame all of your losses on bad luck. Yes, a large part of them can be because of bad luck, but when you really take an honest look at how you're playing you see that suboptimal play also played just as big of a role. Maybe you didn't 3-bet in an obvious spot against a maniac because you've been running into monsters lately. Maybe you missed a nice value bet on the river just because the 3rd diamond fell (even though you know he wasn't on a flush draw) because you've been drawn out on alot lately. Review your play and be completely honest with yourself.

I also put together a spreadsheet in Excel and broke it down by the 7 positions (UTG-Button). What hands I usually open raise with, limp behind with, raise limpers with, 3-bet with, etc. I talked to other players and posters about these ranges, etc. and I studied and tweaked the chart constantly and started thinking about why I play certain hands and if there were more hands and situations that I could take advantage of and play profitably. Now I'm not saying to play a robotic style but if you develop a solid, TAG gameplan and then adjust it based on the type of table you're playing at, you will be way ahead of the game at NL25. Just play your smart, solid game all the time and never let emotions or fear of losing alter how you play. Just plug away relentlessly.

Finally, I completely changed my attitude about the game. I think about every single hand I play as if it is the only hand ever. The fact that your KK has run into AA twice today has NO EFFECT on whether it's going to happen the next time you get KK. Remember that the numbers will work out over the long run exactly as they should. If you constantly make and call bets in +EV situations, the money will come. Believe it and play accordingly. Don't even sweat losing days. Just think of your play as one long game.

Sorry this is so long and rambling but just wanted to give you some encouragement since others did for me. In summary, I finally got fed up with the roller coaster. I decided to get ridiculously serious about my game and examine virtually every pot I played. I've still got a long way to go but I know I'm on the right track and my approach to the game is just so much better from a mental standpoint. Stick with it!

[coordi]

I've had lots of sick breakeven stretches and just got off a huge downswing. Still I should be rolled for NL100 if I didnt have to cash out, this is starting from 15$ and working from 2NL. Just stick with it man, youll get over the hump eventually.

[ship_it_trebek]

I moved up from NL25 to NL50 about 6 weeks ago. I've already beaten NL25 before but needed cash so I've had to grind it again twice. 20K seems like a lot but it really isn't.

Don't try and alter your play to a certain PT value, they can be guidelines for if you should play tighter, looser etc. But not all table conditions and opponents require that you play a strict PT value for VPIP/PFR. Bonuses definitely help if you are playing consistent enough to unlock them at lower limits.

I actually found the opposite of special and oakr once I moved up to NL50 and I'm riding a nice hot streak right now. Break-even stretches can be frustrating but you have to remember to play to win. During a break-even or losing session, it's common for players, including myself, to play not to lose, rather to win. I see more monsters under the bed than I should and give people more credit. You should be looking at your hands after every session. If you pool 20k hands now and look at the ones you lost, hands where you may have lost value, made an imprudent fold before a showdown, and other hands that may not have lost as much money as bigger coolers or beats, are important to patch up any leaks.

I'm up for looking at your stuff too if you need further help.

[KurtSF]

I made the move in February on FTP.

Post positional stats preflop. That's the easy part.

[CazicT]

I just moved up to 50 from 25 a couple of weeks ago too. I would suggest you get a session review or two, i'd be happy to do one if you like.

15% VPIP is certainly reasonable, I was a sliver below 20, but I think I played a bit too loose actually. Really can't tell why you're losing based just on numbers though, need to review sessions. As others have said, it certainly could just be a smallish sample size, though it's enough to be concerned.

One thing that really turned things around for me was going through my DB and analyzing all the shown down hands from villians and watching how they were playing. It opened my eyes so much to just how badly they played and
made me realize that I need to not outhink somone who isn't really thinking about what I have.

Also did you you see pokey's post on analyzing PT stats? It's great, I think it's in the FAQ sticky.