A few weeks ago I moved up to $50 NL on Stars. I had no problem doing well at $25 NL and was consistently profitable. Now I can't tell if I'm playing bad, not getting cards, or if there just aren't as many people willing to get in with the second best hand. It doesn't appear to that much higher of a level of play as I'm noticing people playing hands horribly and going to the river with top pair/poor kicker, but I'm just not doing well at all.

I've run into a lot of coolers and suck outs when I'm betting enough to ruin people's odds, but nothing is working. Is the difference in play between $25 NL and $50 NL on Stars really that much different? Your thoughts.

I wouldn't have thought the difference would be particularly large. What sample size do you have at $50NL? If it's less than at least 10k hands, don't worry about it.

Yeah, I guess my sample is around 10k or less. That's a pretty short timeframe. I actually started out and did well, making about 6 or 7 buy-ins in the first week, then lost them all over the next few. I did have some bad calls in there. Not being able to let go hands like AA/KK on dry flops when it was apparent somebody had a set. Or calling big river bets with flushes on paired boards.

So at least half of those lost buy-ins were due to horrible calls by me, but the rest is probably negative variance. I just hope it turns around sometime soon...but don't we all.

$50NL on Stars if very beatable, but this is the very lowest level where you will run into some "pros" , the next level up at $100NL is where a lot more supernova level players hang out on +10 tables.

I used to play that level and soon you will be able to pick out and get to know the regulars as you will have thousands of hands against them in you PT database.

This is one of the reasons I mainly play on Tilt. Datamining and getting that extra info is very helpful.

Well you posted one hand already where you folded the Q high flush for really no reason at all. When you run into a lot of coolers you start to get gun shy and hold back. So take a break or move down in stakes where you don't mind getting stacked.

very very beatable. im coaching/staking a friend and he is at 12.48ptBB/100 at nl50 thus far

edit: this is 6max, with a multitable ratio of just under 2 though. so YMMV

It's easily beatable. We've played about 200 hands together btw, and I know it's a small sample but you were running at 13/3.5/4. I'd say raise more preflop, especially in position, and c-bet less. You seem to be overly aggressive. You can crush 50 NL on Stars playing a very straight-forward game. Try to be less tricky and learn to give up more pots with marginal hands.

Btw, I was the guy you sucked out vs when you flopped JJJ and slowplayed it and we got all-in when I turned my straight. No hard feelings though! At least it was someone from FCP

Yeah, sorry about that. Sorta.

I've already figured out that I've been bleeding a few too many chips by c-betting so much. I was used to that working a little better at $25 NL.

As far as trystero's comment about folding a Q high flush, yeah, bad mistake by me. But one hand isn't going to determine whether or not a person will be successful at that game or limit they're playing. Have you ever made a poor decision while on tilt? A little background to that hand. In the last 3 sessions I've had 4 flopped flushes and each time I was beaten by a better flush. On top of that my last 7 flushes have been beaten by a better flush, once it was a boat on the river. My lowest was a 9 high flush for those that I flopped. The others were either Q or J high. So when someone fires off an all-in bet, the first thing through your mind is going to be, "here we go again". And I reacted on that instead of giving myself a few more seconds to think the hand through and call. Like I said, big mistake on my part.

The games have also gotten tougher over the last little while. With the whole online gambling thing.

50 NL is very beatable. He said you were overly aggressive. Have you tried 6 max?

I haven't at $50 NL. Perhaps I'll give it a shot.

why do you guys play @ stars? you're losing soooo much $$ from not getting rakeback or bonus $$. you probably would have made at least $100 from your 10k hands at 50 nl fdrom rakeback.

except not really. the Goldstar VIP FPP earning rate is equal to 16% rakeback, and thats if you average the dollar worth of all the items in the store. if you spend your points wisely, its even better.

add in that stars games are easier to beat than FullTilt/UltimateBet and that the software and support is wwaaaayy better... and i think stars is much more profitable than any other site. the games are always going and even a small boost in winrate is >>>>> 10% more in rakeback.

idk if stars is really easier to beat than FTP.

I'd say they are both pretty close in that regard.

- Jordan

There are several sites out there that are significantly better than Stars AND FTP, where you can get 60%+ rakeback/bonus/point value, and people suck at all of the sites.

There aren't to many that are open to American's though

AP is still close to the best out there.

Crypto may be slightly better, but that's the only site that I can say has significantly tougher games (in LHE anyways), the LHE play on AP has become SOOOOO bad, I can't even imagine how bad the NL play has become. AP used to be known for having the toughest games, and I guess people still think that, but man is it soft now.

UB just changed their bonus and rakeback structure, it's terrible now

I've played 300 hands on Stars, cleared 47 FPP or 9.60 because it's an old bonus I never cleared. UB was never that good playing $25 NL with bonus + rakeback even under the old structure.

AP people.

I was dumb and signed up to a lot of sites before I knew about rakeback. I don't think I've ever played a hand there but I do have an account.

In the new days without neteller, there's absolutely nothing stopping people from having more than one account. It's not like they can check if you're using the same neteller account... just get a new email address.

if you didnt sign up through an affiliate you might be able to get a rakeback affiliate to hook you up.

sweet, I'll look into it. I didn't use an affiliate. I thought the main problem might be having the same address or name in 2 accounts, but I guess I can go into the old one and change some stuff.

I honestly don't think AP cares. I know so many people with more than one account there. For the most part, they never use the old one, but some do.