Fish List Maintenance & Table Selection

[Warik]

Of course, good table selection is just as (if not more) important than the other fundamental skills we must develop to be successful at SH play.

And... of course... unless you have a freakin computer in your head, it's hard to keep track of all of your fish and know whether you want to be at Fishy A's table vs. Fishy B's & C's table.

Up until now I've just been playing my games and adding people to my list whose VPIP is on the high side and whose overall aggression levels are on the low side (and I add the blatant maniacs as well)... but playing 4 games at a time for hours each day makes this list insanely long.

When it's time to pick a table the next day I have so many fish that I don't know which table to go to... and a lot of these people, yeah, they are fish, but are they ALL fishy enough to become part of my table selection procedure?

I guess what I'm asking is:

1. How do you determine who gets a spot on your fish list? (stat-wise)

2. How do you decide which fishy's table you want to go to over the other fishies? Do you look at their stats in PT while you do this? Even when changing tables?

3. Do you ever take anybody OFF your fishy list? I've got people on here from $3/$6 and $5/$10 who I keep clicking on when searching for tables and see they uselessly playing on $5/$10 tables. Maybe I should look at when I last played with them in PT and take those who off who haven't been seen in 2 weeks?

thx. discuss.

[TheMetetron]

I don't use a fish list.

I open poker-edge, open a table, find the VP$IP above 40 with position on a good fish or two and I'm ready to go.

[Warik]

[ QUOTE ]
I open poker-edge

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want to get banned.

Also... can't you really not get position on a fish because of the waiting lists? Doesn't it really end up being the luck of the draw? Or do you start off on tables with 3-4 players and let them fill up? I haven't tried that... maybe I should.

[ZZZ]

I don't do much in the way of table selection. Just randomly sit at a few tables, and if one seems bad after a few rounds, I usually get up and find a new one.

My BB/100 might go up a few tenths if I had a better plan. But I want to get better and move up in limits and I figure playing tough tables occasionally will help there. Also, enough mistakes are made by decent players that I feel my A game should be +EV at pretty much any table at my current limit.

ZZZ

[helpmeout]

I add people with High VPIP and high WTSD stats or just extremely bad players. 65+ vpip 45+ wtsd usually or 60/50

You want to have people who standout not just people you find at any table.

When you move up limits delete your list and start again.

Here's how I select tables:

1. Sit down at a table.

2. Type sup bro into the chat box.

3. If more than two people respond, I leave.

[Victor]

i never reply to sup bro or any of those q's. if someone addresses me i wont hold back any info tho.

the thing is its pretty easy to recognize 2ers from their vpip/pfr.

[Victor]

i use practically no table selection. sometimes (rarely) i actually think to myself that a table is bad. then i just adjust and stay. someone will leave and a fish will show up.

i do list the super donators but rarely are they available.

[gildwulf]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's how I select tables:

1. Sit down at a table.

2. Type sup bro into the chat box.

3. If more than two people respond, I leave.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is pretty much why saying sup bro and responding is +EV. If you mark someone as 2+2er, you are more likely to avoid a table they are at in the future (unless it's really juicy). If you are the person responding, this means less 2+2ers sitting down with you. Everyone wins.

I always start with a sup bro.

[Victor]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Here's how I select tables:

1. Sit down at a table.

2. Type sup bro into the chat box.

3. If more than two people respond, I leave.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is pretty much why saying sup bro and responding is +EV. If you mark someone as 2+2er, you are more likely to avoid a table they are at in the future (unless it's really juicy). If you are the person responding, this means less 2+2ers sitting down with you. Everyone wins.

I always start with a sup bro.

[/ QUOTE ]

most 2ers are ok to have at my table as long as there is 1 fish.

[gildwulf]

Yea, at 3/6 I get uneasy if there are more than 2 people with VPIPs in 20-30 range combined with PFR from 10-20 range (2+2 style)...but I am extremely picky with table selection.

[TheMetetron]

sup bro at a 10/20 6max would be stupid of me. It would be a big invitation for "take shots at me by check/raising the turn and leading the river every time".

[gildwulf]

Fair enough

[DCWGaming]

I make a new database every month, and maybe 1 week into the month, i'll update my buddy list.

I dont take anybody off unless someone is playing a completely better game than they were before. My buddy list is also a pretty hard list to make. Someone will almost have to try to give away money before they make that list.

I used to try to sort out my pokertracker and add everyone with >100 hands and 60vpip to the list...the list got real huge real quick. Seems to work much better when the list is more exclusive.

[ghcnoob]

I'm impressed with the people who can win at tougher games without selectivity. I am definitely not one of them. I pretty much look first for PT rated fish--for vpip 45+ with minute aggression and pfr. Or at higher then 60 vpip just about anybody. People do learn and I remove people from the list when they get more selective or aggressive. 10-20 has good games, but sometimes the weakest fish are surrounded by sharks and those tables are marginally profitable

[Warik]

Thanks for all of your input guys. My fish list has gotten overcrowded and out of date... I will apply some of this new found knowledge and surely win a great deal more $ tomorrow.

Thanks again. =)

[The Glove]

I'll be sure to 'sup bro' you the next time I sit at your table.

[Wynton]

I've always been somewhat mystefied by those who talk about table selection. I never understood if that meant keeping a careful fish list or a large database with PT.

In any event, at 5/10 now, I really don't see much of a need for it since the players are so bad. I pick tables totally randomly myself.

[Warik]

Here is a good point to consider: At what level of TAG presence does a game become unattractive despite all the fish?

For example, a fellow 2+2'er and I used to play one or two tables together when we were playing the same limits (usually to chase some really good fish... we had a guy who was 75% VPIP and another who was a complete and utter maniac). I found that he and I RARELY got into a pot together when we both had a hand worth a showdown. We've played hundreds of hands together and without softplaying each other I hadn't noticed a significant amount of either of our monies going to one or the other.

That being said, would finding 2-3 TAGs sitting in your fish's game make you want to leave, considering that you and those TAGs may not be involved in a lot of hands together, and you may be able to use your knowledge of their good games to your advantage when you need to isolate a fish or bluff them off a pot?

[bds]

I do use a buddy list and used to update it manually each day based on VPIP from PT (only measurement it was easy to sort by). Then, I will let Playerview put the stats up on a number of tables and pick based on the stats and on how much money someone has. For example, if a table has a fish with only a small amount of money, I don't chose to sit there.

There is a wonderful script another poker player wrote and posted here that makes it much easier to search for players with VPIP over a number of your choice and then put them into the party buddy list - you don't have to type them in; the program does that. Program is found here:

Auto Import Buddies into Party (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=software&Number=3032089&fp art=1&PHPSESSID=)

[pfkaok]

[ QUOTE ]
i use practically no table selection. sometimes (rarely) i actually think to myself that a table is bad. then i just adjust and stay. someone will leave and a fish will show up.

[/ QUOTE ]

So you would stay at a table with 3-4 guys with 25-30 vpips and 15-20 Pfrs?

at 10/20, usually i wo'nt stay if there's 3 2p2ish stat guys, unless the other 2 are notably bad. with 2 i'll sometimes stay, but usually like to know that there's at least 1 fish, and will keep an eye to get up if things get worse.

[tolbiny]

Don't tell him i said this - but victor is good0 very good in fact- at adjusting to solid players.
but dont listen to me, i'm just jeaolous.