Fast table selection: count the limpers and cold calls?

[afreeman]

Conventional wisdom around seems to be that you want to on a table with a VP$IP at 35% or higher.

The problem I have with this is that since online players come and go so fast, you rarely have enough data on most of the players to work with. In fact, I've often been on good tables with that had a VP$IP of 15% or lower, just because all the fish hadn't been rated yet and thus were not reflected in the stats.

Instead, I've been trying to pick tables instead based on the average number of limpers per hand and on the number of incorrect preflop cold calls.

So far, I don't have enough data to really say whether this is better or worse, but it certainly seems as effective as any other approach.

My questions:

What else do you look for?

Besides VP$IP and average pot size (which seems only distantly related to table quality--I still can't figure out how hell Party calculates that), what factors really mean something in your decisions?

[Lurker4]

I usually use Playerview to see both table avg VPIP/PFR and also the stats of the players sitting at my table. I'll leave if the table doesn't look too good. In terms of getting a fast read on a table, if I see more PF limpers/coldcallers than normal in a hand or two, that would probably make it more likely that I'd sit down at that table.