10k hands of 5NL completed

I squeezed in 10k hands of 5NL playing deepstacked since the weekend. It went pretty well I think, my hourly winnings were a little bit higher than at 2NL. My BB/100 dropped to about 1/2 as much which is to be expected, but the blinds were 2.5 times bigger so that made up for more than the difference:



You can see where I made the switch at 10k hands, and at 11k I was trying to adjust a little bit, so that accounts for a bit of a downsing. So here's some tips for making the move from 2NL to 5NL.

MOVING FROM 2NL TO 5NL

1. There isn't a lot of difference between these levels. Just make sure your bankroll is big enough for it. If you're not comfortable playing deepstacked, there's nothing wrong with buying in for 100BB or $5. I suggest playing 100BB buyin if you have ~$100 and deepstacked if you have ~$200.

2. One of the major differences that I noticed is that there are not nearly as many people limping into the pot as at 2NL. At 2NL it is not uncommon to get 6 or 7 limpers. At 5NL you'll be looking at 3-4 limpers most of the time and not quite as many people calling preflop raises.

3. 3 bets at this level are still pretty much JJ+ and the occasional AK. If you have a fairly tight image at the table, try a squeeze play where you reraise in LP or in the blinds to steal with hands like 89s or 66 which can still flop a monster. This also will get you a free turn card almost always as your opponents will check to you and if you want to try to take it away on the flop, your fold equity increases drastically. When your opponents call a 3 bet they are pretty much in fit or fold mode - watch out for check-calls though, these are often overpairs.

4. My aggression factor decreased a bit as I had a better feeling for what my opponents held and I was allowing them to make a lot of bluffs on whiffed draws. For example, I hold AKo, raise preflop, and the flop is Kh7h2s and I bet out of position and villain calls. Turn is Tc and I bet again, villain calls again. River is 5s. All of the draws have missed and 2pair is unlikely, so now I go into check call mode. The reason for this is that if I bet, I am only going to fold out hands that I beat and hands that beat me are going to either call or raise such as a set. If I allow my opponent the chance to bluff a missed flush draw, I get the maximum value out of the hand. I only call villain's bet, I do not raise, for the same reason that I do not lead out in the first place. This is how to get maximum value out of an opponent that you think is drawing.