by Al Sousa (site owner)
If you are the 10th best poker player in the world and you sit
at a table with the 1st through 9th best poker players in the world,
you will find it difficult to make money.
Table selection is very important if you want to be successful
at your game. You want to play others that are worse than you are
and allow them to make mistakes so you can profit. Picking the wrong
table can lower your hourly rate tremendously if you clash with
other good players. Playing players equal to you only means you
all break even and the casino wins. There are some players
that make a solid winrate not because they are the best, but that they are the best at their table. Exploit the weak
tables, avoid the tough tables if your goal is to make money.
Live Poker Games at Casinos: Take your time when
choosing a table. I would suggest taking a look around at the stakes
you want to play. Watch those tables for 20 minutes to see which
are loose, tight, aggressive, and passive. Place your name on the
list after you find the best tables and wait. If you feel like playing
while you wait for your game I suggest playing a lower stakes game
that you can easily beat. Live players are often not as skilled as online players.
Stay at a table as long as its good. If you see too many tough
opponents sitting down get up and request another table. Your goal
is to make money and enjoy yourself, not knock horns with an equally
tough opponent.
Online Poker Games: Once again take your time
choosing tables. The time you lose here will be made up by greater
profit later. Since many sites allow you to open multiple tables
at once you can see all the action and the
players. If you have any tracking software, like Poker
Tracker, it makes the job easier. Be selective picking up tables
with lots of weak players. That's where the money is. If a table
gets too tough... move, there are always easier tables.
Who do you want at your table?: Money at a table rotates in a counterclockwise direction. How much you win from the person on your right, or lose from the person on your left is dependent on their style of play and their skill.
Looseness and skill affects how much money you win or lose from that player. Aggressiveness affects the swing of money won or lost.
My suggestion
when choosing a table is to have as many poor skilled players at the table
as good players at the very least. Most of the time you and the
other good players will avoid each other and focus on the weaker players. In no limit also avoid a very strong and aggressive short stacker on your left and I recommend not staying at a table with more than two short stackers.
On your right you want weak loose players to make the most money.
Loose passive players are the best in this situation as they only
raise with the nuts, they are predictable, will pay off with a wide range of hands, don't bluff, and rarely raise. Their limping allows you to
limp or isolate them with a raise and position with many hands. Avoid tough loose aggressive players on your left.
You can also select tables where it is 1/3 weak, 1/3 average, and
1/3 good players. You can beat 2/3rds of the field easy. The weak
players are too loose and too passive. The average players are predictable
in their position and hand selections tighter but also easier to read. The tight
players won't play many hands.
I always prefer a table full of weak players. Many players claim
that they draw out on you, you can't protect your hand, and you
can't bluff them. What they don't understand is that if you are
at one of these tables you have to change your strategy. It is actually
more fun, in my opinion, when everyone limps and no one raises.
It means you play more hands and score larger pots. While the variance
is higher the profit is more. Usually you will win huge pots with
your drawing hands since you can play them in almost any position
vs a table full of loose passive opponents.
Online those tables are harder to find than in live.
Always keep in mind your mental state. Don't play tired, angry,
sleepy, or hungry. Another thing I tell other players is that if
a table is beating you, leave no matter how bad the players are.
Maybe its some twisted form of karma, maybe you're playing poorly
because you are being out drawn over and over, maybe you're playing
annoyed, maybe certain players have figured you out and have an
edge, maybe your image is shot. Leave and start fresh or take a
break at the very least. And yes even fish can catch on to your "bad luck" and attempt to exploit it.
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