Waiting for big blind

So I'm assuming that you all wait for the big blind before you start playing. How about waiting until you're UTG before leaving a table?

I have noticed that a few of the ratholing shortstackers wait until they are UTG before quitting. (That last sentence was inserted purely for the benefit of Stu Ungar).

All standard practice for you guys, I suppose - but how much difference does it make to overall winrate?

Waiting for the BB makes a big difference. As for waiting until UTG to leave it doesn't really make difference at all. I don't leave when in LP, outside of that I'll stand up pretty much any time although I'll confess I do generally wait till I'm UTG to leave.

Let's try to quantify it.

@ 200nl, 6-max:
* For every 6 hands you are dealt, you pay $3 (1.5bb) in blinds.
* 1 dealt hand = $0.50 (.25bb)
* Missing 1000 hands = $500 (250bb)

Scaling down to 2nl that means missing out on half a cent per hand or $5 of value for every 1000 missed hands.

This doesn't take into account relative values of positions though... like a hand on the button is probably worth 3x more the value of a hand in middle or early position.

I think that depending on how much volume you put in on a single table and how many hands you are missing and in which positions, leaving early and playing lots of short table sessions can have a noticeable effect long term.

You won't lose a full bb on average so it's probably going to cost you something like 3 or 4 BIs per 100k hands. Really depends on how often you're changing tables though.

I always sit out till I am in BB. For reasons stated. I almost always wait till I am UTG to leave as well if I can. When I wind a session down I just hit the "sit out next BB" button. Earlier today I was winding down a session, and UTG I got QQ and stacked a SS who pushed on my raise with 57s. (He was like 89/45, really lol) So if I had not waited I would have missed that. Had no hands come I would have lost a few minutes.

Altho when he hit a 5 and 2 of his suit on the flop I was a bit "lol, dont do this" BUT I held..:-)

That ole man river...

To be honest I don't think that it helps overall win rate at all. Its one hand out of how many in the session? that should be a nonfactor. They just dont want to put down another big blind before leaving.

Most ppl base their winnings off of bb/100. I think it's pretty common practice to just wait for bb to hit you before you start playing.

Maybe you play differently to me. I'm not playing just one or two tables for long periods of time. I jump from table to table, always seeking the best VPIP, players/flop ratio and average pot size. So to me I think it makes a significant difference.

I dunno, I used to wait til UTG as last hand just to get the most rakeback or vip points I could. I figured my actual winrate was similar to if I was at a different table so the waiting was more influenced by those than winrate, since it wouldn't change all that much. I used to open my new table, go ahead and start and basically sit out the first table.

If you think posting before the BB is a nonfactor, you're crazy. The essence of poker is fighting for what's in the middle and posting more in the middle with a random hand is a surefire way to lose money.

Sometimes I post w/o waiting cuz I don't give a f__k.
Also, cuz I think I pick up a bit of added ev by hoping it's noticed by some regs. who'll potentially make a note of it (mental note or otherwise). Big % of the time I'll raise it up too.. adding on '1bb' for the idiot limper who posted w/o waiting (errr... I mean 'me', lol).

Haven't been able to come up with a mathematical equation to REALLY prove whether or not this has been +ev for me or not... although it has gotten me alot of action when I showdown that first hand > 53o. It's defo +fv though (f-fun)