 Good
table selection is
important if you want to
maximize your profits
from each poker session
you play. It should be
obvious that if you want
to make money from your
poker, you should play
against opponents that
are not as good as
yourself. So if the
players and table A are
playing better than the
players on table B, a
wise poker player would
choose table B every
time. In B&M Casinos
you would usually have
very little or no choice
about which table you sit
at, so table selection is
a little trickier when
playing live poker.
However, when playing
online you have the
opportunity to choose
from a long list of
tables, and you should
use this freedom of
choice to your advantage.
Lobby
Figures
Due to the
outburst in popularity in
Internet poker over the
years, there has been
little shortage of tables
for you to choose from
online. So how can you
determine which tables
may be more profitable
than others? Firstly,
most poker rooms online
will give you figures in
the lobby based on how
the table is playing. The
figures that we should be
most interested in are
the average pot sizes and
average number of players
per flop.
Average
Pot Size - This
figure should give us an
indication of how much
action the players at the
table are giving. The
higher this figure is,
the greater the amount of
money we can expect to
win when we make a good
hand. Therefore as a wise
poker player, we should
look for these tables
with high Average Pot
Size figures.
Average
Number of Players Per
Flop - This figure
tells us how loose the
players at the table are
playing. If this figure
is high, then we can
assume that the players
have low starting hand
requirements and are
probable poor poker
players. On the other
hand if the figure is
low, we can assume that
the players are tight,
and will only see flops
with a good starting
hand.
The
Average Number of Players
Per Flop figure should
influence our table
selection depending on
our own style of play. If
you are a tight player it
may be more beneficial
for you to choose the
tables with a higher
number of players per
flop and pick up the
occasional big pots,
whereas if you are a
loose player you may find
it beneficial to play at
the tables with low
numbers of players per
flop to pick up many of
the small uncontested
pots.
Be
sure to take into account
the number of players at
each table in relation to
the number of players per
flop, as the shorthanded
tables will have a lower
number of players per
flop than the full
tables.
Example:
As
you can see on the
diagram, the table with
the highest average pot
is ‘Cassiopea’, and
the table with the
highest number of players
per flop is ‘Athor
IV’. However, the best
table to sit at out of
the two would be ‘Cassiopea’,
because ‘Athor IV’
has a low average pot
size despite having the
higher number of players
per flop.
Time
Of Play
A second factor,
which can influence the
profitability of the
tables, is the time at
which you are play poker.
Many Internet players
will play poker for the
entertainment factor, and
will not be playing
solely for the money.
This means that if we
time our play in
conjunction with the time
the casual players
participate, then we can
avoid more of the sharks
and sit down with the
fish.
The
average working timetable
for a person that plays
online poker is likely to
be 9AM to 5PM on
weekdays. Therefore if we
want to maximize our
chances of playing with
these recreational
players then we should
sit down at the tables
after 6PM on weekdays,
and at any time during
the weekends. In addition
people will often play
poker after having a
drink, which will alter
their play for the worse.
The time at which the
drunken players are
likely to be sitting down
at the tables is during
the evenings.
Obviously
these theories best apply
to the countries with the
highest volume of
internet players, so if
you live in the UK you
may want to play poker
during the times that
correlate with the times
mentioned above for the
USA.
Player
Search
Many poker rooms
offer you the ability to
search for specific
players. These means that
you should use this
feature to your advantage
and take a note of every
bad player you come
across, and search for
him or her before you sit
down at the tables. This
way you can guarantee
yourself to be playing
against at least one bad
player, instead of taking
a chance on a table of
unknowns.
Evaluation
Many players will not
actively choose the
tables that may give them
the greatest
opportunities to make the
most money out of their
poker sessions. If you
are going to sit down at
a poker table for a
decent period of time
with your money, it is in
your best interest to sit
down at the tables that
will give you the
greatest return on your
investment in the long
run. The advice given
above on good table
selection is simple to
employ, so it is worth
spending a minute or two
looking for a good table,
especially if you intend
to sit at the one table
for a long period of
time.
However,
if the table has changed
significantly due to
original players leaving
and new players arriving,
it may be a good idea to
leave the table if you
feel it is no longer
profitable. There are
literally thousands of
other tables out there,
and you are under no
obligation to stay if the
particular table no
longer suits your style
of play.
Tight Poker also has a very good article discussing table selection.
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