Table Selection Advice please?

Hi one part of my game which i havent really paid to much attention to is table selection probably because i dont know really what to be looking for etc so i was just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to select the best table. p.s im playing full ring micro limits on full tilt, Thanks

How many people per flop??? ----- The more the better.

How much is the average pot??? ----- The bigger the better.

Do you know any of the players??

Are they really good/bad?

Find the donkeys!

I aim for the 30%+ players to the flop. I don't pay too much attention to how big the average pot size is but obvs bigger is better. Basically you want to find a loose game and raise big preflop.

When you play a lot at your level you should have color coded players so that when your in the lobby looking for a table you can see if there are spewy maniacs(good) of if its full of nits. Yes there are tables full of nits at 2nl sometimes....

Do you have any poker tracking software?

You want at least 1 maniac at your table but you want him on your right. If he's on your left then it's not worth sitting at that table. Nits in the blinds are good so you can steal blinds when your on the BU or the CO. If these nits leave and a maniac sits down you have to get and find another table.

Thanks for the advice guys. Yeah ive got pokertracker on trial but will be buying it also, i am starting to colour code people with traffic light system depending on Vpip does that sound good? Is there any easy way to get pokertracker to do all this for you? i seen one article but it involved programming skills and i have none of them! Thanks for the advice again

Nits on your left because blind stealing is really important, having the guy on your immediate left being a nit also allows you to open fairly wide from the CO which helps a lot too.
The loose fish on your right, this is where your money will come from and you don't want a bunch of other players between you and the fish getting the money.
If you're playing the micro stakes then just worry about getting nits on your left since just about everyone will be someone you want on your right.

Other than that, pick the tables with the most players to the flop and play tight.

great, really makes sense too, Cheers!

Quick point if you're new to thinking about table selection, think about this - why are these things (high avg players/pot, high avg pot size, nits on left, loose fish on right) good? What am I looking to exploit in my opponents' play? What would make it easiest for me to exploit those tendencies? What things make it harder for me to exploit other players (as an example, I don't particularly like having a laggy 3bet-happy thinking player on my left)?

atlantafalcons0 said:

How many people per flop??? ----- The more the better.

How much is the average pot??? ----- The bigger the better.

Do you know any of the players??

Are they really good/bad?

Find the donkeys!

Click to expand...

Atlanta has it about right here in terms of selecting from the lobby. If you're half serious then I'd recommend purchasing HEM / PT3 as this will keep data from past tables you've played at so that you'll remember the donkeys when you meet them again.

What I'd also add to the comments above is if you find that you're at the wrong table - nits on your right and the annoying LAG on your left for example - then don't be afraid to simply up sticks and move table. There are no rules saying that you have to stick at a table once you've joined it!

I agree. Play tight on a table that has big players to flop %. Or, if you prefer to gamble some, do the reverse and steal every pot you can. Once you dubl up, take off.

Glad I read this thread, was going about that all wrong. cheers

MadMurkin said:

I agree. Play tight on a table that has big players to flop %. Or, if you prefer to gamble some, do the reverse and steal every pot you can. Once you dubl up, take off.

Click to expand...

Is that right? I thought you play more LAG on a table with higher player to flop ratio? That way they more readily call your preflop raise with lesser cards, and fold to the C-bet..

hmm i thought playing tight on LAG tables as you cant put oponents on hands as easily so having the virtual nuts is where you will capture the aggressive people, plus LAG players are more likely to call your c bets?

You should ideally play looser than normal on a loose table (have a wider value range), but tighter than everyone else.

It's really easy to just play a tight range, use big raise sizes and extract massive value.


FWIW, about the worst thing you can do is sit at a table with a decent LAG on your immediate left. There are basically no decent LAGs in the micros, but even loose fish can be a pain.

thepokerkid123 said:

You should ideally play looser than normal on a loose table (have a wider value range), but tighter than everyone else.

It's really easy to just play a tight range, use big raise sizes and extract massive value.


FWIW, about the worst thing you can do is sit at a table with a decent LAG on your immediate left. There are basically no decent LAGs in the micros, but even loose fish can be a pain.

Click to expand...

Alll good.

LAGs or loosfish to the left mainly suck cause you can never get maximum value out of your hands. It harder to put them on a range OOP and you have to be more careful when you get to the river. ie. c/c or b/f.

atlantafalcons0 said:

How many people per flop??? ----- The more the better.

How much is the average pot??? ----- The bigger the better.

Do you know any of the players??

Are they really good/bad?

Find the donkeys!

Click to expand...

That's the biggest issue, knowing if they're good or bad. Also what kind of player are they, TAG, LAG, Maniac... anyhow thanks for that information. It makes a lot of sense.

When I am looking for a good omaha table, I mostly look at average pot. I really don't care how many people see the flop or anything else or if I know the players or not. The main thing for me is making money and the more money other people are putting into the pot, the better my chances are.

To make things better. If you have been playing a lot of cash games while having hem and pt3 track everyone you've played with before, you can use this site.
http://tablescanturbo.com/download/

It's free and legal because it uses your hand history for information, not third-party information.

great thread.

I look atplayer/hands and avg.pot as well but more importantly I look at stack sizes and try to keep away from tables with more than 1 shorty. If it looks good I join the waitlist or sit down if theres 5.

In the first 2-3 orbits I determine if my table postion will be profitable or not.

1) 2 people to my left. The tighter the better. I dont want any loose aggressive people making my life miserable.

2) Identify the "Mark". Im looking to have position on loose passives. The more tourists on my right the better.



If I dont get what I want, I look for a better spot. I play the micros so theres always a bunch of tables running. Ill give it 18 or so hands and then decide whether it will be +ev to play there.




+...?. Good thread.

ALSO... Hey PokerLovesMe.

First, thanks for that link!

Second, do you get alot of use out of it? How would you rate it?

I just DL'ed it and am about to give it a try. Obviously the bigger your database the more effective but I think I have a pretty decent DB for my limits.

But anything else you care to elaborate on about use or anything? Is it pretty straightforward?


Sorry for the 100 questions. But THANKS again!

I'm not much of a cash game player but as you know, if I have data on them and their vpip, aggression factor, etc are high, then I tell myself that I found a possible fish who I can prey on and try to get money off of because I tell myself "I must've played him before whether it's cash game or sngs. But if this table's avg pot and people per pot is high while I do have data on someone in this table, then it's in my best interest to choose this table over other tables."

Program is straightforward and legal. It's definitely worth having for cash game players and for players who plan to play cash seriously because I know that table selection is more important than tourneys.