Table Selection

[MercTec]

After my recent 100BB downswing /images/graemlins/confused.gif, I reevaluated my method of table selection. Most of the time I used to not care and just sort the games by pot size and hop into the biggest avg pot size game I could find at my level. Then after firing up gametime plus while playing there I would sometimes see the avg vpip of the table at like 15-25% Too low!

So then I decided to open up 4 of the juciest (by pot size, including full tables) games and let them run for about a half hour datamining. Then I chose someone at the table and used their name to overlay a gamtime + window. I found a few 28-35% tables and added myself to the waiting lists. After I got on I had a good session and recouped about 45BB.
The whole process took about an hour. There has got to be a better way.

How does everyone choose their tables?

[parachute]

I'm a little leery of the "get on the waiting list for the highest pot size games" strategy. Those waiting lists are always long (naturally), and I assume that the difference between the length of those waiting lists and the regular waiting lists is mostly made up of good players who are trying to get into the game. So by the time I get into the game, it'll probably have already been invaded by good players, and if it hasn't been already, it probably will be soon.

My current strategy (at 1/2) is
<ul type="square">
Look for buddies if possible
Join some random tables but sit out a cycle
Fire up Poker Tracker and see what the VP$IP for the table looks like. This will probably have only a few hands for most of the players, but you can still get an okay idea of the texture of the table.
Stay in or jump out and try another.
[/list]
I rate tables by VP$IP:
<ul type="square">
&lt;20: get the hell out of there
20-25: consider leaving
25-30: okay
31-35: good
36-40: excellent
&gt;40: heaven
[/list]
If the VP$IP is bad but there are a couple of empty seats, I'll generally stick around for a little while to see if they are repopulated by fish. I also feel that if the table is tight, the good players will be inclined to leave, so if I stick around, maybe I can ride out the wave of good players and catch the new ones fresh.

I'm also more inclined to stick around at a mediocre table if it has 7 very tight players and 2 incredibly loose ones, as opposed to 9 tight players. I figure I can pick my fights better in the first case.

[emonrad87]

I just open up a random full table and join the "first available" wait list. If the game is god awful after an orbit, i leave. If not, i stick around till the table dies. Seems to me that there is sooo much turnaround in players at the tables that its not worth the effort of finding a great table, cuz it'll die too fast. Plus, i'm 4 tabling (soon to increase) so it would be nearly impossible to do this for four + tables.

[shadow29]

I open the top 4, join the waitlist, data mine while waiting, and play for an orbit, if its good I stay. Check the pot size, vpip, and pfr every two orbits or so. I'm not afraid to change tables.

There are so many soft games on party- why play a tough one?

GT+ helps mucho.

[David04]

Look at random tables, see if I recognize any huge fish on the player lists, if not I try to join a game with "fish related names"(anything related to rounders, and stuff like "AcesUp1783" or "BigSlickDude") these are usually not so great players. Like most others said, monitor the GT+ stats and try to make sure the table doesn't tighten up too much.(Although this isn't much of a problem at micro-limits....haha)