What are the differences between $100NL and $50NL/$25NL?

[DWarrior]

I recently moved up stakes from $50NL and now play $100NL on Prima (.5/1). The first thing I noticed is that there are a lot less trully horrible players. On $50NL, it's not that hard to get a set paid off by top pair, but in $100NL, I've had to adjust my play a bit. Also, I see a lot more familiar faces. I play 3 tables and I normally see 3-4 people I've played with, and that's only after a couple of weeks of very limited play (couple of hours a day).

My real question is: is $100NL that much different from $50NL? I've had two guys show me their bluffs, which is a bit annoyng, but I realize that people are going to bluff me out of pots now and then. It'd be counter-productive to be the "unbluffable" at the table. I also try to keep my bluff-raises to a bare minimum. When I first switched, I did too much bluff-raising and usually just ran into a hand. I stopped bluff-raising altogether after that, until I saw a couple of opportunities.

It also seems like semi-bluffing a straight draw on a 2-flush board has good implied odds. I played my hand like I would a regular draw (bet flop, then check turn), and when the river completed my straight, I guess he tried inducing a bluff, and I got paid off nicely.

I'm also a fan of picking up pots on rag boards. On $25NL party, that was really my bread-and-butter. I could bet out on any flop and expect to take it, but it got a bit trickier on $50NL, and is trickier yet at $100NL. People will "chase" with overcards. I still try to do it as much as possible, so that I can bet out my good hands without having the fear of anyone having reads on me, but I think the play is break-even or just barely +EV.

There are still some idiots, I've had a guy in BB raise me all-in with 93s after I raised UTG with KK, but I've noticed my friend posts $25NL hand histories regularly with plays that I barely see once an hour (people going to the river with a paired ace and no kicker)

I also noticed that I seriously need to work on my hand reading skills. I was planning to dedicate 30 minutes a day to just sitting with two tables open and trying to put the players on hands. In the beginning, I had real trouble identifying sets, because at lower limits, the money you lose to sets is more than made up by the terrible players. In here, people will play any pair just hoping to flop a set, which is really annoying.

It could also be bad luck, because 1/2 of my aces that saw a flop got setted.

[fanmail]

I think you pointed out some of the main differences. I don't know about prima, but on some other sites, there is still some mediocre play all the way up. Although I have noticed a decent sized jump in skill from 200 to 400 and from 400 to 1000.

However, I don't think 200, 100, or 50 are much different. There are plenty of horrible players at all of those levels, but yeah, there will be some good players as you move up no doubt.

Just try to get yourself into pots with good hands against the crappy players. And try to avoid getting into too many hands against the better players if possible. As you play higher limits, position, aggression, and stack size all have a greater impact on your play.