[Lexander]

I am curious what other NL players are seeing.

First, I confine myself purely to $25 NL at Party right now. I have played some of the penny stakes at UB, but that game is so easy to beat it isn't even funny (not very profitable, but it does add up).

I am seeing some interesting things, some of which I find concerning, others which I see as fairly logical. But I am curious if these experiences are the same for other NL players.

#1) A good deal of my winnings have come from people playing bad kickers. A few of my big losses come from playing a bad kicker (one truly bad play in particular sticks in my mind).

#2) Overplaying AA-JJ seems to be a common mistake. In general, I have won a great deal of money by people misplaying these hands. What I am noticing is that if you slowplay them preflop too hard, you only get called by people that have you beat you on the flop if you start attacking. My general strategy in EP is to slowplay the hand and react to a raiser. I do find that if I let a lot of people in post-flop, I have to be careful about anybody catching the hand. I don't slowplay in other positions anymore.

#3) I am struggling to determine how to play hand such as A7s. The kicker issue is huge, and good players will raise me hard to take away pot odds if the flush is a draw. I am 'feeling' my way through these hands. Typically, these hands are a problem against good players and easy money against weak ones.

Are these normal in your game of NL? How much of this is just the weak play at this level and how much reflects some of the fundamental differences in NL?

Honestly, my short term results in this game have been very good. I often end up all-in against opponents when I have the clear advantage, and though I get outdrawn the generally correct amount of time I often end up way ahead. Some of the plays I am not completely sure about that have worked out, and I don't intend to raise the stakes anytime soon.

- Lex