Online Poker Table Selection

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Table Shark Customers Say: 'This selection software makes it so easy to choose the right table, big mistake that I play poker without table shark before.' Lana K., Germany 'Since I started using this awesome tool I have nearly doubled my profits in online poker.' Marco B., Canada. Online Poker Table Selection In terms of your playing strategy, finding the right table to play at can make the difference between winning and losing your game. By extension, always sitting in the.

Guide to finding the softest tables to improve your win rate

If you want to improve your win rate at poker, there are thousands of resources that you’ll be able to find online – including forums, poker training sites, YouTube channels, poker information websites or more. However while all of these will spend a long time focusing on your strategy while at the tables, you’ll not find so much information in regards to selecting the right tables – and this actually represents one of the biggest factors in your win rate.

In this article I look at table selection across both sit n go’s and cash games. Starting with the sit n go’s I explain exactly how table selection can affect your win rate, and give some advice on how you’ll find softer games. I then move on to cash games and detail some of the specific methods you’ll be able to use when choosing a cash table.

Sit n Go Table Selection

  1. Poker Table Selection: How to Choose the Most Profitable Table. Almost as important as selecting the most suitable online poker room, is the selection of the best poker table to play at. Once again the profitability of each table can vary massively, so is it just luck whether or not you pick the most profitable?
  2. Importance of Proper Table Selection Most online rooms allow players to use an alias while competing, making it difficult to figure out whether a certain table is made up of weak players or highly-experienced pros. Proper table selection is crucial if you want to be successful in poker, especially if you’re still a beginner.
  3. Online Poker Table Selection In terms of your playing strategy, finding the right table to play at can make the difference between winning and losing your game. By extension, always sitting in the.

There is one over-riding factor when choosing a table when playing poker – you want to play against bad players! In poker there is no need to be a hero by trying to beat the best. The aim of poker is to make money, and you’ll make money by playing against bad players, so this should always be your aim.

In sit n go’s there are two ways you can actually achieve this successfully.

The first way is to choose a site which has the weakest player base. Many people will immediately head to PokerStars, this due to the ease of multi-tabling and the amount of traffic at the site, but this also means that many good players play at the site, loading up a number of tables at a time, meaning that the games are crowded with these regular players. Why not play at a site where the games are nowhere near as tough? One way to ensure this is by playing at a site which has a sportsbook alongside the poker site – this will lead to many recreational players heading to the poker site after having a win at the horses, greyhounds, football or any other sports.

Of course, if you do play at a dedicated poker site, there are ways to find softer games. Get to know who the regular players are and avoid them. Some sites will have a number of tables registering at a time, so take a look for those players who are registered in all of them – these are the regulars you want to avoid. Many of these players can be avoided, because when they have their set number of tables going, they won’t be registering again for a while, so look for those spots when the regulars are not in town.

Consider, if you find yourself at a table of nine players where six or more of the other players are solid regulars, there is probably no profit to be had at all. Finding a table with just 2/3 regulars with the rest made up of average players or solid losers, will see your profit margin increase greatly.

Here is a challenge, put some tables from PokerStars and 888 Poker side-by-side (the same buy-in level) and see for yourself how much looser / crazier the 888 games are - it will be a 'face-palm' moment, and your bankroll will benefit. See those soft 888 games at www.888poker.com now.

Poker Cash Games Table Selection

When playing cash poker, you’ll still want to play at a site with a weaker player base, so head to those linked with a sportsbook. However there are some other methods you can use in choosing a good table.

The first method you can use is to look at two stats that are usually shown in the lobby of cash games – these being the average pot size and the Players/Flop. In both cases, the larger these numbers are, the looser the games will be and in general you’ll want to be heading for these tables. Using this method won’t work so well at a larger poker site, as there will be many players all trying to join the same tables – making them difficult to come by on occasions.

The other method you can use is by colour coding your opponents. Every time you meet an opponent at a table, give them a colour code based on how they play (the majority of sites offer this option). You can make this is simple or as complicated as you want, but you’ll want to quickly identify who the good and bad players are. Having done this over and over, you’ll quickly be able to spot the tables that are crowded with the good players and also pick out those fish quickly and easily. This will give you an edge over the players who are simply using the numbers to table select, especially if a fish has just sat down.

Smaller Poker Networks, particularly those which are primarily sports betting sites which also offer poker games are the ones to look for. Once again, the key factor is that you avoid the pros and play where the recreational players do.

Table Selection in Online Poker Overview

Table selection is huge when playing online poker – if you’re meeting good players all the time, you’ll never make progress, as you’ll never have that edge. Look for those bad players who will give you money more often than not, and your win-rate will look much more impressive.

Quick Note for US Readers

The same principles of course apply, though the offshore sites are smaller than the international giants. If you are a recreational player looking for soft games, then Bovada is my easy number one pick. They are 'anti-grinder' (prevent multi-tabling and many of the grinder tools), which keeps their tables super-soft. This has grown to be the biggest US poker site as a result. Check out www.bovada.lv - and see the easy games for youself!

More Great Online Poker Guides and Articles:

  • Easiest Online Poker Bonuses (includes US / non-US Options)

Game selection is one of the easiest ways to increase your
overall win rate in online poker. Even though players will work
tirelessly towards improving their skill sets in order to make a
few more dollars per hour, there are many who don’t even give a
thought to the potential found in proper game selection. If you
are totally unfamiliar with the term, game selection is the
process of shopping around for the best games possible.

When you are seated at a table and see that a handful of others are
running, you should always be scouting the lineups in each game
to see if there’s more potential easy money available than what
you are currently working with. This is game selection in a
nutshell, and the following sections outline tips and tricks
that will go a long way towards your success in finding the best
games running at any given time.

How to Spot Good Games

The first thing that you’ll need to learn how to do in
order to most effectively game select is to figure out which
players are good, which are average, and which are bad. Needless
to say, you should be looking for those tables with the highest
density of bad and average players and the fewest winning
players. If you are new to online poker, or even if you’re
experienced and don’t use any type of poker tracking software,
this can be a challenge.

The easiest way to get familiar with players and their
strengths and weaknesses is to have a
HUD (heads up display) running at all times when you are
playing. A HUD will give you a quick snapshot of a player’s
tendencies over the sample size for which you have played with
them. If you haven’t been involved in many hands with any
particular player, the best thing that you can do is to assign
them with an average skill level at best. More likely than not,
you have already sat with the stronger players on your poker
site of choice at one point or another, provided of course that
you are a regular and put in a significant number of hands.

Online Poker Table Selection Results

If you don’t use a HUD and/or do not want to use any type of
software, there’s still another easy way of remembering which
players fit into which skill level demographic. Virtually every
online poker site allows players to take notes on their
opponents. Because of this, you’ll be able to jot down
everything you pick up on a player as time goes by. The only
negative aspect of using this approach to tracking players is
that it will take a lot more time, effort, and persistence. If
you only take notes on rare occasions, you won’t have nearly
as much information as you should.

Along these same lines, you’ll also need to make sure that your notes are as precise and
useful as they can possibly be. One of the bad habits of online
poker players is taking short and/or out of context notes.
Writing down one hand history in a player’s notes isn’t going
to be very beneficial somewhere down the line. At the very
least, include the general skill level of a player in their
notes. If nothing else, notes will tell you whether or not you
want a particular player at your table.

Online

When to Change Games

There’s always a chance to find a better game. Even if you
are sitting at a table full of the worst players you have ever
seen, it’s always possible that another game will start that’s
occupied by even worse players. This is the beauty in
online poker. There’s always a game breaking, a game
starting, and a game changing. If you play a lot of hands, you’ll start to notice that the stronger players hop around very
frequently. Anyone who takes online poker seriously will be
looking for ways to exploit their opponents whenever possible,
and game selection is one of the easiest ways to do this. In the
end, there’s never a bad time to change games. Don’t get
comfortable with where you are at, be vigilant, and always keep
an eye out for the easy money.

Changing Seats

Online Poker Table Selection Games

Sometimes you won’t notice a new table that would be
profitable, but instead will find a better seat within the table
that you are already playing at. Seat hopping is the act of
simply changing places in the same game, and it can really make
your life a whole lot easier. The main goal of seat hopping is
to get position on certain players.

Free Online Poker Table

For example, if there’s an
exceptionally strong opponent in your game, it would make a lot
of sense to switch to an empty seat on that player’s left should
you be presented with the opportunity. Likewise, having position
on a very weak player can also make it easier to play in pots
both pre and post-flop. There is a small segment of players who
will get upset when they notice someone constantly changing
seats, but rest assured knowing that there’s nothing wrong with
improving your position at any table, no matter how much someone
might harass you.

Online Poker Table Selection Rules

Bum Hunting

Bum hunting is the negative connotation attached to game
selection in heads up matches. A bum hunter is a player who is
said to play against weak opponents and weak opponents only. On
one hand, it’s only logical to play only opponents that you are
better than, but on the other hand you’ll be admitting that
you aren’t a very strong player. Bum hunting isn’t so much a
matter of profit as it is a matter of reputation. For most
players, it won’t matter whether you adhere to this
online poker strategy or not, and it’s even advisable.

Online Poker Table Selection Rules

The only players who are given a hard time for bum hunting
are high stakes players. They will create a bad reputation among
their peers and will be prone to jeers from railbirds. Unless
you are playing in nosebleed games, however, bum hunting is just
another way to increase your bottom line without any
repercusions.

Online Poker Table Selection Chart

Game and table selection is also very important when playing
in a live casino. If you play live poker, we suggest giving our
live poker game selection article a read. It may help you
increase your winnings next time you’re in a casino.