table selection

[poker1O1]

for those of you that use table selection, how do you go about doing it? Is the only stat you look at average pot size or are there other things?

[StarlightCoast]

Players/flop % I personally do much much better at a tight table. I win far more money on a tight table over a loose one so that's the first thing I look for, however even the tightest table I can find, if the average pot is more than 5 or 6 big bets, I pass on it. I want tight/passive as I want to be the aggressor and not someone else.

[mute]

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Players/flop % I personally do much much better at a tight table. I win far more money on a tight table over a loose one so that's the first thing I look for, however even the tightest table I can find, if the average pot is more than 5 or 6 big bets, I pass on it. I want tight/passive as I want to be the aggressor and not someone else.

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Thanks for staying clear of my tables. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

If you're not joking, then you are definitely missing out. You can still be the aggressor against loose players. The only difference is they will pay you off (even on the big streets) instead of just letting you pick up the blinds. You will play fewer hands, but you will make a lot more money.

[antifish225]

Must be joking (I think) - I sit at a table for 2 laps, wait till my PA stats come up and leave any table with an Average VPIP below 35 (or at peak times below 40) - there are way to many loose games to have to play in a tight one online

[joop]

How many times does this question have to be asked? Seriously... use the search facility.

[RED_RAIN]

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Must be joking (I think) - I sit at a table for 2 laps, wait till my PA stats come up and leave any table with an Average VPIP below 35 (or at peak times below 40) - there are way to many loose games to have to play in a tight one online

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I guess you play low limit and/or 6-max. I play 10 handed and stay at tables that are above 20% with a bad player or two.

[StarlightCoast]

I am not joking and I am also not saying that it works the same for all players, but for myself it works out this way. Here is an example oh and by the way, yes I am a low limit player.

Awhile back when I was playing .50/$1 Limit I decided to see which was more profitable for me. I had figured tighter was paying better but wanted to recheck it. I took the last 60 sessions I had played, which covered thousands of hands albeit less than 10k hands which I know is standard. Anyway it so happened Poker Tracker showed me I had played exactly half those sessions on tables that had 30% or more seeing the flop and the other half with less than 30 % seeing the flop.

My profit at the sessions where 30% or more saw the flop was 5 big bets. My profit on the tables where LESS than 30% saw the flop was 95 big bets. Since the sessions were exactly 50% one way and 50% the other this told me a lot about what style suits me best. I am aggressive preflop and postflop and bluffs were often successful. Many preflop raises went unchallenged and I found I could basically push people around. I had always heard that loose tables was where the money was to be made so imagiine my shock when I found just the opposite for me was becoming reality.

Poker Edge has the following stats on me. I have been playing on Poker Stars since May 2005. before that I used to play exclusively at Pokerroom

starlitecst [Stars]
Big Bets Won / 100 hands 5.17
VP$IP 21.69
PreFlop Raise% 9.18
PostFlop Aggression 1.95
Cold Call% 3.23
Blind Steal Attempt% 32.94
Fold Small Blind to Steal% 83.33
Fold Big Blind to Steal% 64.71
Went to Showdown if Flop Seen% 27.01
Showdown Win% 56.44

Overall 5.17bb/100 hands won. I must be doing something right. Then I found the following article by Lou Krieger and I have pasted the link and pasted the section of the article I found the most intriguing. I think applies to the theory of tight vs Loose tables.

http://www.thebankrollbuilder.com/Po...ve%20games.htm

If you can't live with with this degree of instability, or if your bankroll won't sustain extreme fluctuations, the very best tip I can offer is to play in games that are not as loose, and not as aggressive. If you are a winning player, you'll eventually make just as much money. Although it will take more time to accomplish, less of your bankroll will be placed in jeopardy in stable games. And when you're playing on a short bankroll, the most important thing you can do is keep yourself in action. That means protecting your bankroll at all costs.

Well that's my story. Maybe I could do better than 5bb/100 hands at looser tables, but I think that's a pretty good number as it is and with less fluxuation at the tighter tables than the looser ones, I think I'll keep things going as they are.

[RED_RAIN]

I agree with a lot of what you have said.

If you don't want your bankroll to go up and down so much, play at tighter tables and you can grind it out. Will you make as much in the same number of hands in a loose game, no way. Will you go to bed easier each night, probably. Will your BB/100 be as high as loose table, nope. It's all what you are looking for.

Now if we were to ask who's the better player, the person who can beat a tight table over many hands or a loose table, I would guess the loose as the loose tabler could adapt to the tight as the tight would probably have a better chance of getting run over by a loose table. I also think the loose is more versatile to move to SH and 10 handed versus the tight tabler would have problems at SH.

I do wonder how you say your bluffs go well at .5/1, IMO, when I played there, I think for 35k-40k hands, bluffs weren't where the money was, value betting correctly and raising correctly postflop seemed to be it and how to play your draws in multi-way pots.

You say you got 10k hands and then looking at 50% samples of 5k each. That is pretty small. I could show you 10k hands where I ran at 7.5 BB/100 and 10k hands where I ran at 2.5 BB/100, but in the end it was at 4.5 BB/100. All your numbers look good (except going to showdown seems low and your win at showdown seems a bit low too for .5/1).

So you say a tighter table is better for you, well I guess you'll have fun at the higher limits, as I almost never see one that is above 30% muchless 35% 10 handed with a good amount of hands on all players.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

I agree with you. I get flamed often when I say that I prefer to play against players who fold instead of call. But it suits my natural aggressive style better. If I sit at a table full of rocks I can just pick up money all the time without the big swings of the loose games. The extra folding equity in betting or raising is valuable if you use it correctly.

[Pog0]

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I personally do much much better at a tight table.

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Blind Steal Attempt% 32.94

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If you're playing at tight tables, how come your blind steal attempt is so low?