Tags:
Advanced, Hold' em, Intermediate, Poker Clinic
The first point to make about table selection is to only play as many tables as you can while still understanding what is going on at each one (and obviously as long as there is still someone to exploit). The second point is to get into the habit of seat selection. Your seat in relation to the good/bad players and bigger/smaller stacks at the table is absolutely crucial to your expected return – no more auto-seating!
Basic priorities
Ideally you want to sit down with short stacks on your left. With a big pot-to-stack ratio you don’t really mind if you’re out of position, since these pots tend to play in a straightforward manner. You also want tight players on your left in order to steal their blinds and postflop pots easily. When facing any deep-stacked player, whether good or bad, you want them to be on your right so that you’re in position when you end up playing big pots.
Your number one priority is to be on the immediate left of the biggest fish on the table. That’s the player you want to get involved with as much as possible and to be in position almost every time (all except when he’s on the button). You should have at least one fish on your table and if you’re smart/lucky, you’re sitting in that hot seat to his immediate left. What now? Since he is the reason you’re making money (and the reason you’re sitting on this specific table on this specific seat) you should be playing as many pots against him as possible. Focus on him, isolate him, do whatever you can to play pots with him, but be aware you should make some decisions based on his stack size.
For example, if the fish is 175BB deep and you’re 175BB deep, but you’re facing a big decision for a potential >100BB pot against someone else, you should take the low variance line, in order to stay deep versus the fish.
Hands charts are for idiots
Nobody ever forced you to play a hand. Just because you read somewhere that you have to defend with A-Jo against a middle position raiser, it doesn’t mean you have to call with it if Phil Ivey opens from the cutoff. If you think you’ll have a hard time playing such a spot, thus hurting your win-rate, just let it go – you’ll save money.
That said, don’t throw away potential money-making hands against your targets. Say the 175BB big fish opens, you cover him and look down at 4c-8c on the button. The ‘book’ tells you to fold 4-8s on the button against any UTG raiser. I tell you the book is stupid in this case because many factors are more important than your actual holding. Your opponent’s deepness, your opponent’s incapacity to play out of position and thus your opponent’s propensity to make big mistakes all turn your hand into a very profitable one.
Learning curve
Of course, all of the above only applies if your only goal at the poker table is to make money (which it will be most of the time). However, from time to time, and most importantly at the beginning of your poker career, you will want to find tougher games for improvement purposes. In this case it’s fine to play with the regulars, sit down on good players’ right and stay even when the fish busts. You might not be making much theoretical money on such tables, but the experience and learning you’ll get will make you a better player faster than anything else.
Read Part 1...
Martin Fournier 'Giggy' Giguere is a highly succesful online poker player and part of the Bluefire poker team - you can use your PKR Points to subscribe to this hugely popular poker training site.