Everyone agrees game selection is vitally important, but how do you actually practise it? It can be difficult to know how a table is playing before you join the action, but there are certain things to look for to help you choose between tables to ensure you always have an edge.
History
The first thing to look for is players you’ve played with before. Not only is it far easier to play against players once you know their tendencies, but it is also the simplest way to discern whether there are good or weak players at a given table. Obviously it’s critical to make notes on players as you play and use a simple system to flag whether they’re players to avoid or ones to seek out (the PKR icons tab is an easy and fast mechanism). Make sure you’ve scoured the tables at your limit for known fish – players you’ve played with before who are just giving their money away. These guys often don’t play for long and it’s your duty as a winning player to get in there and get your fair share of the spoils.
Lobby filtering
Use the ‘AVG. POT’ stat in the lobby to identify more profitable tables. This figure gives you a rough guide as to how loose a table is playing. The higher the figure the looser it is and the more likely it is you should be willing to play it. This is not an absolute rule but if there are big pots banging around there’s potentially a lot of money to be made and quickly. Make sure you take the time to work out the dynamic and see who is responsible for the inflated pots – big calling stations, hyper-aggressive LAGs or both – before you start swinging too much!
Multi-grinders
Beware of players who are sitting at multiple tables with stacks of the maximum buy-in or higher. There’s a high chance a player like this is a regular winning player and won’t be fun to play against. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule – plenty of losing players can have a good night on several tables – but it’s a good clue. One of these players at a table isn’t too much of a problem if there are also some tasty soft spots, but three or four of them probably makes the game a bad proposition.
Stack sizes
Pay attention to stack sizes on the tables you’re considering jumping into. Shorter than maximum buy-in stacks usually means casual or poor players. This can be good for your expected value but beware that short-stacked players can narrow the skill gap between you and them. They can also be a huge pain to play against and reduce your win-rate if they shove effectively.
Read Part III