Table Selection

thepokerkid123

thepokerkid123

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The standard advice is to look for the loose crazy tables. The problem I have is that I’m much better off on tables where people fold. Generally any informed player does better on a loose table because they play TAG... well, they play like nits, but we’ll call them TAGs, anyway, tight play needs to get paid so it makes money on loose tables.

My problem is that I just can’t get into the tight mindset. When I’m playing tight I’m still running LAG stats. This shows a weakness in my play and I’m working on learning to play a good tight game, but my winrate is better playing loose. I need people to fold to my button, or at least fold to a lot of 3bets, I need my cbets to work, I need to be able to barrel good cards, I need to be able to float. I can get by without all of that, but my winrate without those conditions cannot be as good.

Still, I have no idea how to table select. I get eaten alive on tables with high amounts of players seeing flops, either I just suck at it or I’m the unluckiest man on the planet, I’m not sure which.
If I filter for tighter tables, I find regs. Instead I just pick tables at random and leave if there aren’t enough TAGfish (ok, so regs at 10nl are mostly TAGfish but some are better than others).

Any way I can improve on this?
Other than actually learning to play poker properly, of course. :)
 
slycbnew

slycbnew

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It's rare to find a completely laggy table or a completely nitty table - if I can find one, my favorite is actually to have two nits on my left and two lags or agg fish on my right, for the reasons you state - I get to steal blinds left and right, and the lags can't stand alot of 3betting oop without spewing (floating a lag is a different matter of course :D ).

I generally still look for highest VPIP and highest avg pot, but I tend to dump tables where I have nits on my right and lags on my left. Low VPIP tables are generally, like you say, loaded w regs - so stealing/floating isn't a problem, but the nitty regs are generally less likely to pay off imo.
 
thepokerkid123

thepokerkid123

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Yeah, I definately always aim for nits on my left. If the first two players on my left aren't tight I'm not going to be at the table for more than an orbit or two.

LAGs on my right are a smaller concern though. Well, good lags on my right are perfect because they're easy money but I'm yet to come up against a good LAG online (because of the stakes I'm playing), only the type you've got to play for value against and I hate playing for value because I've got to sit there waiting for hands (and get outdrawn sometimes when I do get a hand).

I honestly don't mind the players on my right being tight, that just means it gets folded to my button more often and that I get to raise more hands from more positions (hands that I can open raise but not often call or 3bet, like KT, QJ, etc) and tight players whether they're good or bad tend to fold to 3bets quite often or just play nitty enough that I don't mind getting out of their way.

Technically, mathematically, calling my 3bets OOP or playing against me when I decide to flat behind should be -EV for most reasonable ranges, but when people do raise pre-flop and come along for the ride there are either huge leaks in my game that I can't find, or I've been taking ridiculous variance (probably leaks, I know). Which is why I like them folding. :)

The point is I make most of my money on tight tables and struggle on loose tables, I just haven't found a good way of finding the tables most profitable for me.
 
Kasanova King

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I'm a tag so I look for 6 max tables where the average player per flop ratio is around 40% or more....very juicy and usually profitable. I just need to know going in that most likely I will get bad beated a few times but by the end of my session, I should be up.

If you're a true LAG I would assume a low ppf ratio would best benefit you. Also, if your a lag, look for low average pot sizes - that would mean that it's also a very passive table, most likely making stealing pre flop much easier and c betting post flop more successful.
 
B

BM0529

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I don't play online much at all but when I'm at the casino since the same 50-100 guys/gals are usually there I almost always try to play at the table which has about 50% tight players/50% loose players...a 4/5 split or 3/6 split either way is fine with me. The floor staff gives me crap about how I request a transfer every time I'm there but the bottom line is when your prime playing time is 11am-6pm on weekdays you tend to run into the issue of winding up at a table that is simply playing too tight. A table with 8 wild players is just not likely to work unless you are hot...if you are in the middle of a major hot streak then by all means sit at one of these tables but most of the time you'll just have wild swings at this table or get killed because odds justify one of the 8 maniacs is going to be catching at any given time.
 
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