pokerJAH;357780 wroteWould you agree you play 1/2 a lot different once you get use to playing higher levels? Don't think you would play 60% of your hands at 5/10. I think I was at 40% of my hands on Saturday at 1/2. Think my hand win rate was about 60% of those hands (these are stats you can get during your session on the electronic tables). More likely out of boredom and can't take $7 raises seriously.
I play way less hands at 5/10, but because the players are much better. 5/10 is usually the level where you start getting tougher games. If I could, I would play 2/5 or 5/5 as my regular game, but in AB it was almost always just 1/2. Playing with an appropriate bankroll, playing 1/2 and 5/10 should be identical if the players were also identical. Sometimes there will be a single 2/5 or 5/5 (I can't recall, but it is the same game anyhow) going in a room, but it is a less profitable game than 1/2 so I just stay at a good 1/2 table.
I don't think that I started playing more hands because I got used to higher limits, but I started playing way more hands as I became a better and smarter player. I would look at hand patterns and 3bet frequency and see how people reacted to bet sizes, etc. I started using overbets and reading players. I am pretty sure that I could beat 1/2 for a small amount without ever looking at my cards -- I haven't ever tried this, but it would be a fun experiment if I had 6 months to waste.
Remember that 1/2 in AB is probably as/more profitable than most 2/5 games in most areas. 1/2 in California is a joke and I would always play 2/5 or 5/5 here when I could find a decent structure (most games are 300 or 500max which I hate).
I don't play more hands because I am bored (usually), but because I am usually so much better postflop than my opponents that it is a profitable style. It is also important to play in deeper games where your implied odds are appropriate to play more hands.
If I had to sit in a $200 max game with many shorter than 100bb stacks then I would likely play tighter as I would have to call lots of all ins with Q8 due to getting the appropriate odds to call. Not that this doesn't happen sometimes in deeper games, but it is less common. It is always fun to raise your straddle to $40 with 7 limpers just to have the $90 stack shove and then look down and see that you are holding Q4s. It's even more fun when you win. Either way, I show my hand and benefit from the play later in the session.
It sounds terrible that both hands do not get shown at showdown at Woodbine. You are definitely losing valuable info.