Ever play at tables you know you should avoid?

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Last night I sat a 5/10 table that had all the markings of a good game - big pots, long waiting list and at least two LAG's. I guess I was not the only one to notice, because after about 10 minutes TheIronChef sits down. From what I hear, Chef is an absolute top drawer player who some here think is the best Stud player at Party.

My only experience playing against her was a short session a day or two earlier. After a couple of more changes, it was clear that most of the players were very solid, except for one obvious fish, and maybe one other player who was a bit too loose.

The smart thing to do would be to find another table right? It was clear that it was going to be a real grind to make any money at that table. Anyway, I decided to stay because I thought maybe I could learn something.

Do you guys avoid these kind of tables at all costs? I ended up playing about two hours and I found the experience to be really enjoyable, not for the profitability, but for the challenge of being up against such good players. The chat was a lot of fun too - well into the evening there was a discussion that this was a particularly tough table. Chef and another player had a long list of players that we could have used at the table. None of you guys were on that list [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

The fish lost quite a bit of money, and the rest of us kind of traded cash between each other for most of the time. I was fortunate enough to end up ahead, but well below a decent BB/hr rate.

I was wondering if many of you guys make the decision sometimes to stay at a table that is not likely going to be very profitable, so that you can take on the tougher players and see what happens and to observe good players close up? I won't be doing this very often in any event, because I suspect the bank roll would take a beating.