Table selection/etiquette

I always spend a little time scanning live tables before I pick one to sit at..I know the guys @ borgata enough that they usually don't give me trouble if I pick a table. I did again the other night, and found a great table (2/5). Two of the guys were friends so had to be a little wary, but they were awful enough that it didn't really matter. I got an early double up and stacked off one of the fish...sitting at a comfy $1200 stack.

Within the first hour of me being there tho, 4 fish went busto. In came 3 solid fn regs (from the 5/10 tbls)..and probably the best player (most +ev as far as I know) at the casino decides to join the table..takes the seat to my left.

Fantastic. Table just became awful lol.

I intended on playing a good 8hr+ session...

Do I just up n leave/req a transfer immediately?

Or tough it out on a table where I have little to no edge?

I don't mind testing and trying to improve or beat good players...but I only play once a wk or 2, like to make the trips profitable if I can..


Is it considered wrong at all to bail out in these circumstances?

Poker_play said:

Is it considered wrong at all to bail out in these circumstances?

Click to expand...

Nope... It is considered wise though.

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If you don't want to be blatant about it, you can let the button go around a couple times. But you gotta remember you aren't there to make friends, you are there for yourself. And if you think it is in your best interest to find another table, I'd find another table

Agree 100% ^^^^

You're there to make money, if that becomes harder why stay?

Why did the '+EV' guy sit down if the table was as strong as you say? Surely he'd look for the bigger edge on a different table.

Just leave.

Get up, go have a bite to eat or whatever, and check back in a while to see if a better table / seat has become available. Why table select before sitting down and then ignore the quality of the table / opponents just because you're now seated?

Etiquette-wise you can just leave whenever the **** you want, and honestly you shouldn't think twice if you want to leave. If there are fish you want to try to not piss them off but what are the good regs gonna do if you piss them off? Not sit at your tables in the future? Oh no! (yes sarcastic)

On the other hand if you are not scared money and value improving and moving up, this may be a good spot to try to play against better players. Even if it's neutral to slightly -ev in the short term, it may pay off a lot in the long term. Not only should you think about how to play against them, but even in hands you're not in pay particular attention to the reg you feel is the best. See what his strategy is against each player at the table and how that strat differs from yours. Think about why he's doing what he's doing, what his assumptions must be, and whether you agree with it or not. Instead of thinking "wow he's really aggro", think about which spots in particular he's aggro. Is he barreling more than most people? What kind of hands is he doing it with? Thin for value or a lot of bluffs? Or both?

Anyway like I said short term the rest of the posts here are right but there is something to be said for improving and improving your long-term ev and just enjoyment of the game. And a day when you're up and not stuck is better than when you're stuck and are probably going to play better. Just play a bit tighter than you normally would and try to observe a lot.

u made money u felt like ur were not going to have a edge anymore
GTFO

Improving by playing better players is hardly worth it. I mean you will have decent players at your table at some point and it's fun/challenging to outplay them, but having 4 regs and the best player in the room on your left is a major problem and can't be +EV.

The Borgata seems like a place where table selection is really important because there is a mix of tourists and a ton of semi-pro regs.

That's why I said he should play on the tight side and focus more on how the good players approach situations than trying to outplay the good players.

Is this what you were whinging to me about on Skype the other day?

Guys I think the problem is he wants to stay because he can be more of a lag banana with a 2.5BI stack

but seriously, why would you not bum hunt fish? I know you're comfy on 2/5, but still, think of every fish gettin stacked that you now have no opportunity to be a part of

Thanks for replies, all right. I generally table select at the beginning, but never switched tables/bumhunt mid session cause that seems extreme, and I'm usually +EV on 2/5 tables anyway once I'm comfy and can be a lagtard (lol choop)..I don't wanna get up! Live tables rarely change this drastically..on the contrary they get softer as ppl get tired and stax get bigger usually.

Baudib- so right about the borgata, semi pros.

Youregoodmate , not sure why he'd pick that table but the +EV guy has to be a millionaire/pro...is there all the time..and probably has no problem being on a table full of 'good 2/5 players lol. I'm in a slightly diff situation, so table isn't as appealing.

Cash games at Caesars are better.

Definitely get up if you feel like you are in a non profitable situation.

Caesars has softest ac cash games u reckon?

I've never really looked past borgata, partly due to non poker reasons that have me end up there.

Think they're soft enough that its +ev to switch and let go of my blackcard? Do they consistently have 2/5 to 5/10 running?

You might want to check around and find out for yourself. I don't know what the Black Card perks are but they must be pretty good?

I've only been to Caesars a couple times, but from that and what people have told me, they're really soft. I don't know how the bigger games run, but the 1/2 and 2/5 games were the softest I've ever seen.