Quote Originally Posted by jyms
Quote Originally Posted by bigspenda73
Quote Originally Posted by XTR1000
Guys, don´t bother "balancing" your ranges anywhere below 200NL and even there you should only do it vs a person who can read your hand (those are few!)
this is one of the reasons ppl get owned when they try to move up in midstakes. I really dislike advice like this, there are many reasons to balance your range in a lot of spots. There are, however, spots where you don't have to have a balanced range at all. Identifying which spots need balance and which don't can help, but you cannot say don't bother balancing, that's just wrong.
Spenda, I do agree but I think things go the other way as well. People focus so much on some of these "concepts" for lack of a better word and start trying to do too much vs micro donks. Understanding is fine, but we really need to be honest with our assessment of the players at the table. There is a reason why there are so many people that seemingly should be able to beat micros and are stuck for months or years at $5NL and $10NL and I don't doubt it's because of things like thinking about "ranges" and "balancing" without a sound knowledge of the more important things at their stakes, like position, pot control and value betting. Even things like fold equity and implied odds seem to escape most of the people posting here judging by the HH questions and reads we are given.
I agree with Jyms, but to a point with Spenda. I'm one of those who "got stuck" at 10nl, and I will say that a steady trend toward playing my cards face up was helpful in beating the micros. Virtually no version of "fancy play syndrome" is ever helpful below 50nl, imo. And it's rarely helpful at 50nl.

But Spenda is also right - at 50nl there are lots of guys who can spot the set hunter lines. Limp/call pre, for example, is a huge tipoff that isn't going to stack many folks at 50nl like it does so often at 10nl. Considerations of balance (or basic disguise) can be useful, yet a deep discussion of the entire subject could be harmful to one's profits.