Are games harder or am I playing worse.

[AHBrownell]

I've been playing online again lately, and have noticed that my results are not what they used to be. I've been playing low stakes no-limit; .25/.50 NL and .5/1 NL.

Things I've been noticing:

Continuation bets don't work as well.
More reraising preflop
More shortstacking
More floating
More TAG players

----

I've been trying out a pretty loose style in the 6-max games, but I find that players very quickly adapt a "trapping" style and about half the table starts floating / trapping me on every pot I raise.

I was wondering if anybody has figured out particular techniques they use in the current climate online. I've been trying to get tricky, and the more I do it, the more I think ABC poker might be the better style. What do you all think?

[jimmer]

I'm afraid I don't have any answers for you as I'm not playing much recently myself.

However you say;

I've noticed that my results are not what they used to be.

If you've only started playing again recently, do you have a big enough sample of results this time (compared to when you played last time) to make that assumption?

May be your looking at a smaller sample???

[AHBrownell]

That may be part of it. But what I'm seeing for the most part, is much more intelligence on the part of my opponents. They don't make the same types of HUGE mistakes as often anymore. Like AK going crazy with an A high flop or what not. It might just be me, but I'm just not seeing the easy money in most games...

[kingetje]

blame cardrunners

[miaowmiaowchowface]

ya, just play abc, games are most likely a lot tougher but i dont really know

[gumbie]

Stop being a nit.

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

blame cardrunners

+1. Training sites ruined the game.

[LeafsFan1122]

Generally speaking, the games are getting harder as time goes on, but it will always remain beatable. Perhaps take some time to review your hands with peers, and even drop down in stakes if you don't currently feel comfortable with what you're playing.

[lwestatbus]

Here's something I've noticed: I don't see anywhere near the desirable table stats I used to see when looking over tables to join in the lobby. I don't play NL as the original poster does, just full ring FL in the $0.50/$1.00 - $3/$6 range. My target table based on lobby stats is average pot sizes at 6xBB with 25-35% of players seeing the flop (on average).

When I started playing online 5 years ago I could always find tables meeting those criteria to join. Now they are very few and far between. I can log on to Stars, check out the lobby, and find almost NO games meeting my criteria and if there are any they will usually have 5+ players in line. Further, and maybe more telling, there are few tables even close to what I'd like. I'll find the majority of tables with average pots of 2-3 x BB.

This is just a different piece of evidence that things are changing. And I think that my observations are consistent enough to be valid even though I've never recorded them in a way to support proper statistical analysis.

I end up doing a few things. First, I find myself playing a lot of cheap turbo NL SnG tournys to fit my time constraints. I'll join a start-up table on speculation to see how it turns out (but have to watch for those tables that started up around hyper-aggressive start-up lurkers). When I can I still like to play starting around 2:00 PM Eastern time when I'm convinced the Eastern Europeans have had time to get liquored up and take us back to the good old days. Or I won't play.

[mortaleclipse]

blame cardrunners

this probably is it, I noticed my insane aggresive style in the 25NL doesnt have nearly the win result it did 2 years ago.