Table selection - finding profitable tables

Introduction

In this article

• Profit counts
  
• Finding profitable tables with and without the help of software
• When to change seats or leave the table
  

Table selection is often times neglected or at least not sufficiently appreciated, even by very strong players. This can be seen clearly when you look at the midstakes tables at Partypoker. Often you'll see a table where only TAGs are sitting. This is not a particularly profitable situation for anyone of course and, moreover, the participating players should really know better.

Why is table selection so important?

Good table selection is important because it has a direct impact on the win rate. All big winners play according to one basic rule of thumb: they only play when they have an edge. Poker is not about honour or competing with strong players. Far from it! You should avoid strong opponents. Your main focus should be the profit and this can be made by playing against weak opponents. 

The higher the limit, the more important table selection becomes. At the lowest limits you'll be surrounded by fish. The higher you get, the rarer they become. At the higher limits you've got to choose your tables carefully, so that you can practice your poker skills in an as profitable environment as possible.

Good table selection influences profitability almost as much as your actual poker skills do. Everyone knows the saying: "You might be the tenth best player in the world, but you'll still lose if you're playing at the same table as the nine top players".

Anyone who has been ignoring this aspect will find the presented know-how very helpful, as long as it is strictly followed. Many players have acquired a basic strength in playing poker, and they know the most important poker principles. Their development will naturally be slower from now on, since fine-tuning shows fewer large successes. Table selection does not depend on your poker skills, however, and in case you have ignored it so far, it can bring you much further.

What are you looking for?

From the perspective of the one looking for a table, "good values" refer to bad players of course. The best indication for the presence of a fish is the VPIP (Voluntarily Put Money in the Pot) value. Tables that have a VPIP over 30 are definitely very profitable. This value is the main criterion for choosing a table. There are exceptional cases, however, where you can accept a value well below 30. This applies when you can get position on one or two extremely weak players.

Another important value is the PFR, or Preflop-Raise-Rate. An average TAG has a PFR of 8-11 in a full-ring game. When selecting tables it is preferable to find a much lower value, because it is an indication that many passive players are at the table. A passive environment is not only an indication of weak opponents, it also has a number of concrete advantages. Firstly, you will get a free play in the big blind more often. This means that you can hope to flop something big (two pair or better) even if you're holding trash. The chances of doing this are 1 to 20. Passive pre-flop behaviour will also mean that you can play more drawing hands in late position, with which you'll want to see the flop for a small price when there are good pot odds.  

These figures apply to the full-ring tables. When playing SH tables these values are naturally a little looser. The higher the VPIP and the lower the PFR, the easier it will be to play at the table. The same goes for tables with a well over average PFR. Beginners might have trouble with games like this, however, as you are faced with more difficult decisions.

The average VPIP and PFR values give little information about the different attributes a single player has. The basic question is: Would you rather have a balanced array of opponents, who are slightly inferior, or would you rather play at tables with two (or more) really bad fish but otherwise strong players (who might even be superior)?

Many players prefer the second option for the following reasons:

• Players with approximately 30 VPIP are not necessarily bad post-flop. If they are aggressive, they can make your life pretty miserable.
• Real fish with 50 VPIP or higher are usually bad players on the other hand. If you get lucky, they might not only be loose pre-flop, but also passive (calling stations). They are hence predictable, which will help you minimize your losses against them.
• A fish with 70 VPIP will be in the game in more than two thirds of the cases. That's exactly what you want.
• If you are in position to a mega fish, you can usually do an isolation play. In this case it is even advantageous to have tight aggressive players behind you. They usually respect a raise and so you'll have good chances of finding yourself heads up against an inferior player with better cards and in a better position.

Depending on the limit/time of day/poker site you are playing at, you will not have the choice of finding the "perfect" table, but will simply have to make do with what's on offer. You should never join a table that doesn't look profitable, however, just because there is nothing else available! There is no point in playing without or only with a marginal edge. If that is the case you're better off using your time for reading strategy articles or paying a visit to the Hand Evaluation forum.

This aspect will be discussed in more detail under "Seat Selection".

Methods of table selection

Table scanning is a very simple and efficient method. Good on those who are able to use it! You open a number of tables, scan them and then are able to immediately see which tables are profitable and where the soft spots are. You will need HoldemManager, PokerTracker (available from our shop) or similar software and a large database. Then simply play and collect data while doing so.

Such analysis programs enable you to select your tables excellently (as long as you have a good database). You open several tables at the desired limit simultaneously and then just wait until the player values are shown. This does not work on all of the poker sites supported by PokerStrategy.com. For most of the providers (PartyPoker, PokerStars, etc.) this ought to be the simplest table selection method, however. 

There are also special table selection programmes that make this even easier, as you don't need to manually open tables, but can just have all the available tables scanned. You are then presented with a list of where the biggest fish are sitting. But here again you must have a big enough, and, if possible, up-to-date database.

Programmes like Fishfinder, etc. enable you to find good tables/positions really easily. But what should you do if you don't have this type of software yet or don't have a big enough database on opponents, because you are still new to the limit or no compatible software exists for the poker site in question? 

Even in these cases you can select tables wisely. With a little attentiveness you can find good tables and bad players very quickly. We will now go into this in more detail.

You can make a rough pre-selection of tables before you've even opened a table. Most poker rooms list the average values of every table in the lobby, which can help you get oriented. The most important of these values are the pot size (average size of the pot) and the table's average VPIP/PFR.

Big pots mean that too many players get to see the flop and/or don't fold early enough. As looseness is an indicator of bad players, you'll potentially find a lot of fish at tables like these. The higher the both of these values are, the more profitable the table is. But proceeding on this basis also has some disadvantages.

• It is not a given that loose-passive players cause a large pot. Sometimes a few very aggressive players, who love to raise, cause the pot to grow. Not everyone likes that.
• In some cases, large pots occur randomly. The past hands might have produced action flops (many high cards), which worked well with some players' hole cards.
• An additional disadvantage is the fact that large average pots tend to attract sharks, who scent a large prey.
• Large pots are therefore in demand. This also causes long waiting lists to appear. When it is finally your turn, the texture of the game and the average pot might have already changed for the worse.
• A high VPIP at a table could also be caused by the game being temporarily ultra-short-handed (2-4 players), as play is looser in these types of games and it is common to find a higher VPIP, even though only TAGs might be sitting at the table.
• The statistics might be out of date and by the time you get yourself a seat, the playing dynamics might have already changed for the worse.

Thus we can draw the conclusion that the values listed on the poker sites are just rough indicators and not an essential criterion for table selection. 

Another way of selecting tables is to simply watch the game at a table for a short while. It will usually become clear after just a few hands whether the table would be proiftable to play at or not.

The first and clearest sign of a good table is the number of players who reach the flop. You should pay attention to the amount of players who are limping pre-flop or how often raises and 3bets are cold called.

The pre-flop limp is usually a clear sign of a fish, especially at the short-handed tables. You should therefore make an effort to sit to the left of this player. If there are few raises and many limps before the flop, the table is definitely profitable to play at.

Others indicators of a good table:

• Players simply post their blinds in the middle of the game and don't wait for the blinds to get to them. 

  This is one of the clearest signs of a bad player. Posting the blind in CO might be common at the FR tables, but in SH games this is a definite no-go. Players who post their blinds in MP2 are always gladly seen.

• There is dead money on the table before the flop (from a sit-out).

  If you click on "Sit-out" and miss the blind while you're sitting out, you are able to post a so-called "dead blind" besides the usual blind when you return, which enables you to get back into the  game without having to wait for your usual blind bet. A good player always waits until he has to post the usual blinds. 

• Players open limp/many limpers.

  Another good sign of a fish pool. Open limps are practically always a good indicator for weaker players, especially in later positions. Many limpers at a table are an indicator for a more loose-passive game with many calling stations, who are your favourite opponents. Overlimps after a number of players are no longer automatically a sign of a bad player, however. At tables like these good players might be limping as well.

• There are often cold calls after a raise.

  As is taught in the SH strategy section for beginners, you should always raise or fold after a raise. There are also situations when cold calling might make sense here, such as when the blinds/players after you are very loose and bad and you are holding a good multiway hand. But in the majority of cases a cold call after a raise is more likely an indicator of a bad player.

• Players in SB often call a steal raise from CO or BU.

  The aforementioned logic applies here too. Cold calling in SB after a (steal) raise is almost always the wrong thing to do and is usually a sign of a weaker player.

• Chat insults/heated discussions: One or more players might be on tilt. 

  You'll often see players insulting their opponents after a bad beat or agitatedly telling them what they did wrong. This may mean that one or more players can't control their emotions and so make themselves easy prey. Beginners should take care, however. The atmosphere at tables like these can be very agitated and aggressive, which is a situation that can be profitable for a more experienced player, but might have very bad consequences for beginners. If you have a hard time dealing with aggressive opponents and you're not using to playing SH, you should tread carefully and change tables if necessary.

• Players with too small a stack at the table  

  Players who join a table with a stack that isn't full (and are not making use of the short stack strategy) or never buy chips when they're running low are usually weak players. Of course good players might also forget to reload in the heat of the game. The probability that these kinds of players will remain at the table with a short stack for a long period is relatively low, however.  

You should add extremely bad players to your buddy list in order to be able to find them later. At the lower levels it isn't absolutely necessary to create a buddy list, as there are usually enough tables with very bad players. It becomes handy from the midstakes onwards, when you've managed to find a big fish and want to play against him as often as possible, and might even want to keep track of him at the higher limits. Don't overdo it, however. Just add the really big fish, as there are still enough players at the higher limits and you'd otherwise end up with an unmanageable list. You might for example choose a rough guiding value and only add players who have VPIP over 50% and have a look to see what tables have these types of fish before the start of every session.

There are also problems with the buddy list, however. There are some players you won't see again, since they stop playing because of their large losses. They might come again, but not very regularly. Some change their limit, or you might even change it yourself and leave the fish behind. But even if the players in question are online and are playing at the right limit, there is a potential problem. Many of them won't allow you to search for them (I wonder why?) and activate. "Hide me from search" under the menu "Options". There is a zero behind their name. You need a large amount of buddies in order to use this tool successfully.   

Be flexible!

If you are willing to compromise, you will be more successful at table selection. Many players, especially beginners and advanced players in the early stages, feel most comfortable in full-ring games. You have time to wait for solid hands there. In order to get to a table of 10, however, you need nine players and one empty seat.

This rarely happens. You could of course write your name on the waiting list, but this is nothing for the impatient. The main problem is that it limits your freedom of choosing a seat. You have to accept whichever position is open.  

Congrats to you if you are willing to take a seat at a table with two, three, four, or even five empty seats. You will get an empty spot right away and you will be able to pick the best position on the fish. Tables with seven or eight players (including yourself) are very similar to the full-ring game. They have a tendency to fill up quickly. Tables of six are borderline, and tables of five or less are definitely short-handed.

If you're able to play both full-ring and short-handed, you clearly have an advantage at table selection. As opposed to tables of six, half empty tables of 10 provide an advantage to the experienced short-handed player. Your opponents usually don't count as experienced short-handed specialists, since they used to sit at a table of 10 (except for those who came to a half-filled table later). Many of the other players just remained at the table because they are behind and don't want to leave the table as the loser. These break even hunters are often times on tilt and therefore potential prey.

Seat selection

Your relative position to the different types of players matters. "Position" is extremely important in Hold'em. It is so important that a rule was created: "In Hold'em money always goes from the right to the left!"

When contemplating who to have to your right, you therefore ask yourself who will earn you most money. The answer is simple: the bad players. You therefore want the worst players to your right. You can't always tell who the bad players are, but there is an indicator: looseness.

You want:

• Loose-passive opponents to your right
• Loose-aggressive opponents to your right
• Tight-passive opponents to your left 
• Tight-aggressive opponents to your left (you would rather have these players to your right, but someone's got to sit to your left, and it's better when this is a TAG rather than a LAG)

So you want all loose players to your right, and all tight players to your left. It is still nice to have position on people who are in the hand more often than other players. It will provide more advantageous "in position" situations.

In Hold'em most money can be made from calling stations, because they are the worst players. Admittedly, a calling station, who also likes to cold call raises with bad hands now and then and who does not pressure you even with good hands, and is so not taking advantage of his position, is also nice to have to your left. 

But still, if you raise with AK or another high pocket pair, you want the loose-passive player to already be in the game with J9o. Not even a calling station cold calls with every trash. Once he is in the hand, however, he usually stays till the river as long as he hits a little piece of the board (he often also starts with a baby pair to make a call down).

You hence get the full benefit for a good hand. The chances of winning are bigger if you manage to isolate the calling station with a raise.

A LPA usually has a low PFR value. This has two implications:

• If he raises, you have to be cautious. He is then usually holding a premium hand.
• Since he is usually just limping with hands like AQ-AT, you can raise your AQ aggressively instead of having to fold.

One great advantage of having position on this type of player is that by playing passively he'll be giving your the opportunity to play your hand optimally, i.e. to bet for value on the turn or take a free card or see the showdown for free unimproved on the river. 

The LAG is aggressive and hard to predict. It is very important to be in position against him. In case of serious fights, you can get more bets out of your winners and lose less money from your losers.

When out of position, the loose-aggressive player has a harder time bluffing effectively. He cannot do semi-bluff raises. You can isolate a very loose LAG, who has a high PFR value (maniac) with restrained hands already.  

The LAG will often try to steal your blinds. You should find out his stealing standard early on in order to fight back accordingly. If you do that early in the session, you might gain respect and avoid him stealing on light hands. 

Okay, you'd prefer having all players to your right, but that's not possible. That's why the rock should be to your left. True, we can't win a lot of money from him in the position, but winning money from him isn't easy to start with. When he's left of us he will at least not do any harm since he doesn't necessarily protect good hands but only calls. He therefore doesn't extract enough value from his winners. In case he raises, however, we usually have an easy fold, since he probably has more than just a top pair. 

If you are first in in late position and raise with shaky hands (ace little), he will hardly ever 3bet you with AT or AJ. You will usually be able to buy the button from him both pre-flop and post-flop. If you try to steal his blinds, he will only protect them with the strongest hands, which is insufficient.

When playing against TAGs, both sides can be taken. Due to the lack of space, they have to sit to the left, however (there aren't enough rocks!).

Let's discuss the disadvantages of the constellation when he is sitting to the right: Due to his raise-or-fold policy he will raise many hands, which aren't perfect (KQ, KJs, AT), when first in in middle position. You'll still have to fold against them with an AJ or an AQ, however, because you can't exclude a premium hand. You therefore don't get to play much, which is frustrating. The TAG is after the fish, just like you. If he's sitting to your right, he will often raise before you, and will take away the fish. In multiway pots, the TAG will often times kick you out of a better hand by protecting or using semi-bluff raises.

Now let's look at the actual topic: The TAG is to your left. Since he will recognize you as a solid player, he'll usually respect your raises and won't get in the way when you take on a fish. You'll always get the opportunity to check-raise on the flop with a strong hand heads-up. If he's very aggressive and consistently follows through, you can even check-raise him on the turn if necessary, depending on the board. You'll be able to steal his blinds from time to time.   

Of course it is not always possible to get yourself the best position. If there are three or four bad players at the table, this need not be a problem, however. In that case you should try to sit as close to the bad players as possible, even if it's to the right of them. Although you then won't be able to isolate them pre-flop and will have to play against them out of position post-flop, you will get into more steal situations with them, where there'll be plenty of opportunity for them to make mistakes and so increase your profit. If you're sitting at a good table you should also accept having a TAG to your right when there are lots of fish in the game otherwise. The point is to never underestimate position and to choose the best seat if possible. But you can't be too choosy. You can always change position during the game if you wish to.

If you have a good opportunity to change seats, don't let it pass you by. The following conditions apply here: 

• A seat has become available.
• There are no players on the waiting list who have priority over you.
• The new seat somewhat improves your relative position on the weak players.

This is the manoeuvre to use:

• You make a note of the table number or mark the table in the table list with the cursor.
• You wait for the hand to finish. As soon as the money is handed out to the winner, you leave your seat.
• You wait until the cards are dealt for the next hand (evaluation).
• Double-click the bar that represents the table in the table list.
• Now you can take the hopefully still-available seat.

All this effort is necessary, as you'd otherwise keep ending up in the same seat if you left the game in the middle of the hand and returned straight away. You should stand up at the last moment to keep your seat occupied for as long as possible to avoid the danger of finding both your old and new seat occupied when you return. This only applies to PartyPoker, however. Some sites (PokerStars for example) allow you to change seats at any point during the hand, as long as you're not involved in the hand. 

If changing your position is clearly very advantageous to your expected value, you can also change seats in late position and so sacrifice a number of free plays! 

When to leave a table

If one of the tables you are playing is pretty good, but not sensational, you should always be on the lookout for other tables. Since you fold a lot as a tight player, you should spend some energy on finding tables that are even softer. If you can use the scanning method or use the buddy list, you can do this without much effort.

Which table should you give up? The one with the strongest opponents. Making a profit on such a table is not a reason to stay. The "lucky streak" is a phenomenon which describes the past. It does not predict the future. At the same time a table isn't bad just because we lost on it. If there are a lot of fish, you have a strongly positive expected value, and you should stay.

Many players think exactly the opposite. They stay at a table with strong players because they are behind. They don't want to leave as a loser, and try to break even. They are taking the matter personally, and that's a mistake. It's OK to be behind. It happens to everyone if the cards want it to. You must not see it as a personal failure. The result at one table isn't important. What matters is the account balance over the long run. If you leave a table as the loser, the account balance doesn't change. As a winning player you should be able to live with that. 

There are also reasons to leave a table even though no better one is in sight. The fish, which are the reasons you are sitting in your spot, have a disadvantage. They are not stable since they tend to go broke sooner or later. If the reasons for your presence diminish, you should also leave. You can then take your time to find a profitable game. Most routine players switched to multitabling. If you are playing at four tables, you can easily leave two dry tables, without being bored to death. You can then use the free valences to search for new tables. 

There are surely a lot of reasons why you shouldn't change tables frequently. It brings turbulence. Some people are overwhelmed by the search for new tables, and hence distracted. You might also ask yourself whether it is worth giving up all the reads you collected at the current table in order to go to a table with two or three % more VPIP. You should also take in the table image. If you are regarded as the winning player, because you are clearly making a profit, you can use that to pressure others and to do pre-flop raises and semi-bluffs. You can't take this respect with you to a different table.

Conclusion

The reality is: Many mediocre players make a decent profit playing poker, even though they don't have that much talent. They just select their games carefully. On the other hand, there are many talented and creative players who go broke again and again, because they ignore the basic principles of table selection. They play games that are beyond their ability and compete against the toughest opponents. This means they miss out on the profitable situations that every big winner lives off. A winner is a person who really wants to win. All his thinking and action revolves around this. Winners only play when they see an advantage for themselves. 

Never play without an edge!