From the limited time I have spent playing 10-25nl (video purposes) I would say on many sites there is little to no difference such as:

- Sky
- TonyBet
- 888

However this will be different across sites and quite possibly on Stars. One person I know who does play a lot in these games who can maybe help is @fergrberger .

Anyways in general I would say you

- Need to grind harder
- Need to spend more time spotting your leaks.
- Be making way more notes on your opponents and analysing their leaks.
- Be way more confident in your decisions
- Once you have the fundamentals locked think outside of the box.

Hi @TheQuietRiot,

As Jon mentioned I play a ton in these games up to 25NL so I may be able to give you a digout. I would suggest that the vast majority of people make the mistake of over-estimating their opponents in a lot of spots and not going for max value, or for value anywhere close to thinly enough.

I have a friend that plays an insanely large volume at 10NL but he is quite a break even player overall. He is in my regular home game and recently when we were playing he busted out from the tournie early and jumped on his laptop to fire up some cash tables. I dropped over to see how he was getting on between a hand and he was involved in a spot where he was in position with KQ on a KKQxx board with three hearts. The pot was $1.68 on the river and his opponent had donked into him for pot. He was pondering his raise size and decided on ~3/4 dollars.

I asked:

1) Why the hell is the pot so small when you're at the river?
2) Why are you not jamming all in?

His answer to 1 was that he slow played the flop which is somewhat justifiable and his answer to two was "Because I don't want to miss out on getting value, he can fold a flush if I jamming". These two answers sums up his style for mre pretty well, he misses tons of value from weaker players in these spots. Without seeing how the action had gone in the hand I said to him to jam, villain is not donk potting here with a moderate strength hand, he likely has either a flush, full house or a bluff. I convinced him to jam and the guy snap called with a middling flush.

My point to this is to be aggressive and always look to extract the maximum in any given situation. This is an exagerated example but it also applies in other, much thinner spots. People will pay you off frequently with pretty surprising hands.

This is a hand I posted that came up during a coaching video I recorded which I think illustrated this principal pretty well - https://www.pokervip.com/forum/poker-strategy/nl10z-jj-2

This strikes me as the kind of hand where the vast majority of the pool population at 10NL check back river, and possibly even check the turn also. I was put in an awkward spot on the river when I got raised unexpectedly but I called and villain showed up with AK for a bluff. By betting river I received ~half a buy in extra than most people would have by going for thin value.

Fergal

Thanks Jon! Apologies for the v.late reply, I've just come back from a month in Bourgas, Bulgaria!

Ready to get back in action and get grinding again.

What is in your view the best way to spot leaks in my game? There is a report function in PT4 that has a "leak" tracker, although I'm not so sure how useful this is as it doesn't give any reasoning as why the percentages or "targets" for each action are as they are.

Fergal, thankyou for the detailed reply! Once again I apologise for the lateness I've just spent a month in the baking sun in Bulgaria.

I'm a big fan of your 10NL Zoom videos that you've uploaded. Must be on my second play through of your series, taking notes from your as I go and trying to incorporate your line of thinking into my own play. You have exactly the kind of demeanor I want to emulate on the table, calm, collected with not a hint of tilt or spewiness.

I think I unfortunately fall within the vast majority you identify in that I often overestimate my opponents holdings and this is certainly affecting my value bets. Plenty of times I've checked the river and upon looking at their holdings could have extracted another bet or sometimes probably even their entire stack. I think in my personal case this stems from a lack of confidence in using combos and range effectively, which is something I have prioritized.

Fergal, would you consider yourself a professional player? If so how long have you been doing so and what has been your main breadwinner?

No worries, hope you had a good time on holidays!

No, I am not a professional player in the since that I work full time outside of poker and that is my primary source of income. I do however make a decent bit of side income from poker. I've been playing poker for over decade now and up until around 1-1.5 years ago I was a distinctly average/borderline below average player. I discovered Twitch poker around that time and within a month of watching a few top players my game evolved to a much higher level, the main difference being a marked increase in preflop aggression, identifying ways to maximise value on different board textures (for example, when to induce bluffs vs when to bet for value ourselves and what kind of sizes I should choose) and also going for thinner value in a lot of spots.

Glad you're enjoying the videos, I have some 20NL Betfair vids as well as some 10NL Coral vids out also if you want to check them out! They are all available in the micro video section of this site.

First thing you should do when trying to achieve something is to set a goal. The goal should be measurable, achievable, specific, relevant and time bound.

I think you have done well in time bound and relevant. Its hard to know what "cracked NL25" is. Is that having a 3bb/100 over a 100k hands sample? Then I would say that your goal is not achievable since you don't have the time. If "cracked NL25" means taking some shots on that stake you might get there.

Getting the goal right is more important than most people think.

You are sying in your first post that you're already want to go up in stakes.
The most important part when trying to rise trough stakes is not to loose your bankroll
Having solid bankroll management is key.

If you started on NL5 with 30 BI in bankroll which is on the low side, but fine if you have a full time job and are not depending on that money, you would now have $230 after your winnings.
Then you need at least one more month like this to reach $300 which I think is the minimum you need to take a shot at the next stake.

If it doesn't start well on NL10 and you go below $200 in bankroll I think you should move down and grind NL5 again.

Use this 30BI strategy until you reach NL25

You will need to handle variance well and understand that this can take some time.
Here I'm showing you an example of a player that has a 5bb/100 (solid winrate) and grinds 20 000 hands per month.

5.00 bb/100

Standard deviation - 120.00 bb/100
Hands - 20000
Expected winnings - 1000.00 bb
Standard deviation after 20000 hands 1697 BB 8.49 BB/100
70% confidence interval [-697 BB, 2697 BB] [-3.49 BB/100, 13.49 BB/100]
95% confidence interval [-2394 BB, 4394 BB] [-11.97 BB/100, 21.97 BB/100]
Probability of loss after 20000 hands -27.7845%


As you can see we are expected to win 10BI per month. There is a 28% chance of loosing in any particular month.

Try to honest with yourself and what your bb/100 is. If you are over expecting your bb/100 and run bad or not winning as much as you think you should, you will feel bad and your motivation will probably drop. Also, having good knowledge about what your expected winnings can minmize risk for tilt and you feeling unsatisfied.

Tilt can lead to you loosing your bankroll. If you don't feel that it goes as well as expected and you are missing your goals that can lead to riskier play trying to cover up ground and/or you quitting on the big goal since it feels unachievable.

To summarize what I'm trying to say. Moving up limits takes time. Set realistic and longterm goals and work towards them everyday. Minimize risk and try to reach your full potential every time you grind.

Getting rich fast takes time