If you have the luxury of choice, table selection in live poker games is essential if you want to increase your win rate either as a professional or an enthusiastic amateur.
Great table selection in poker is akin to watching a football game from the sidelines before joining the team that’s winning 10-0, fighting someone half your size, or entering the donkey derby on the back of a stallion sired from Red Rum.
So how do you select the most profitable table?
Here are a few tips.
Player Attributes
We know how excited you get when the ripple of riffling chips first enters your eardrums, but we’re suggesting you keep your powder dry for a short while before taking your seat.
If your locale has multiple tables, spend time watching the action from behind the rail. Pay particular attention to the emotional disposition of players. Frustration, anger and rage are surefire signs of an impending loss of the stuff that hits the proverbial fan. Over-exuberance (coupled with a few too many drinks) is a sign of a Loosey Goosey. Boredom, stillness and stoicism are signs of the rock.
Age can also play an important role.
Stereotypically, a table full of old-timers signifies a calmer storm than a younger man hellbent on playing every hand from the midst of a Kansas grade tornado.
The Fish
How many fish do you need for a game to be profitable?
One.
Just one.
And if you’re in a game, and you can’t find one, then it’s you.
If your goldfish bowl is dry, or you are the one being battered next to your chips, you need to leave immediately.
It seems a simple proposition, but many players get caught in the silk webbery of the sunk cost fallacy.
We’ve all been there.
It doesn’t make logical sense.
But it happens.
We find ourselves stuck in a game that’s full of card sharps and we stay put, refusing to leave until we’re back in the Johnny Cash.
Don’t fall for that one.
Seat Selection
When you spot the fish, your number one goal is to find a seat as close to his right as you can. Close the action on the fish, and you will print money.
But beware of your desire for approval.
When you ask the dealer for a seat selection chip and use it when someone leaves the table, you’re signifying a status move. Slide that baby towards the dealer, and you’re telling everyone at the table that you believe you have an edge.
The games’ winners will make that play.
The games’ winners don’t care what people think of them. But so many do.
Maybe when you were younger, your parents didn’t pay you enough attention, and it made you feel like you weren’t good enough. In reaction, you grew up desiring approval from others. You played the outside-in game and became a world champion at it.
In this case, the part of you frozen in trauma may think twice about changing seats for fear that the rest of the table will look down upon you.
And.
If that’s you, perhaps you would be better off playing for the football team that’s winning 10-0, fighting someone half your size, or stomping all over those donkeys on your way to winning the derby.