To move up the stakes in poker, you need to keep several components in mind. First, you must control your emotions and be prepared for tough moves. Secondly, earning is impossible without constant learning and working on mistakes.
Another factor is playing with weak opponents against whom you can use your advantage. This one of the many ways you can increase your edge in poker games In this article, we will explain what selection is in poker and discuss how to find the most suitable tables.
What is Table Selection in Poker?
The measure of success in poker is quite simple – the size of profit over the long term. One of the factors that fundamentally affects your profit is selection. At the table, you win money due to your advantage over weaker opponents, so it is advantageous for you to enter the game against such players. This is called table selection poker strategy.
It is no secret that this is one of the fundamental aspects for making a profit. Table selection is more suitable for cash games, but it also exists for tournaments – here you need to pay attention not to your opponents, but to the structure and choose the most profitable one.
How to Find the Best Poker Game
The search for the best tables is a two-step process. It starts before you sit down and continues while you’re at the table.
Before choosing a table: When you first open the lobby of your poker room and navigate to the cash games, you need to know what to look for. In PokerStars (and many other rooms), you have the ability to view some filters in the lobby. One of the important ones is VPIP, which shows you how many hands on average are being played by the participants. Look for tables with higher VPIPs, lower average stack sizes, and more players seeing flops (Plrs/Flop) if the stats are available. On Stars, you can different metrics by right-clicking on the row of filters.
After choosing a table:
Once you have your seat, you can still refine your table selection further. The process is ongoing since players will come and go. What was once a great table full of loose, short-stacked players may slowly turn to a full ring of regs.
Look for these traits in the players at your table:
- Less than full stacks: Sometimes, opponents play with a stack of less than 100 big blinds. In 90% of cases, this is an indicator of a beginner. If the opponent sat down at the NL25 table with $17, you can be sure that he is an amateur who will quickly lose the remaining stack.
- Paying the big blind ahead of time. Any professional will tell you that this is a habit that only recreational players have because they want to start playing immediately.
- Playing at only one table. While this factor is not always suitable for tournament selection, in cash games this indicator suggests you are looking at an amateur.
Types of Weak Poker Players to Look For
The hand selection poker players use, plus their strategies, will show the type of opponent they are. Here are some common types of weak players to look out for during your table selection.
Calling Stations. These are opponents who do not know the word "fold". Such players enter the hand with trash cards, call with fourth pair, and will definitely see your bet on the river.
This type of opponent is the best option for earning. Note that here too it is necessary to adjust correctly. Forget about bluffs – calling stations do not care about runouts on the last street – they will simply press the "call" button. But in this case, all your strong hands will be paid in full.
Another advantage of such players is their passive play style. Even with an obvious value raise, they will simply call your bet. This way, you will lose much less because of the hand selection poker players sometimes use. A distinctive feature of calling stations is a high VPIP and preflop limp play.
Nits. The absolute opposite of calling stations. Nitty opponents enter hands extremely rarely. It is easy to identify them – weak VPIP and PFR (preflop raise). However, if a nit shows aggression, it means they really have a strong hand, since bluffs are practically absent in their strategy.
Maniacs. The most unpredictable type of opponent. Don't confuse them with simply loose-aggressive players. The LAG style is very popular now, and such tactics are often used by skilled poker players. Maniacs show aggression without calculation. They are driven solely by a sense of excitement.
Such players do not pay attention to the appropriateness of a bluff, raise, or push. Do not be afraid to call – you just need to figure out what your opponent is thinking. Maniacs will be aggressive with both strong and trash hands, so you can expand your range. At showdown, you will often have the better hand. However, do not forget that there may be other skilled poker players at the table. They understand how profitable it is to stay one-on-one with a maniac – so they will do the same.
Knowing more about how to select the best tables, you can approach one of the trusted poker rooms and browse tables.
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