The table you are on determines how much money you make playing poker. At times, you might need to change tables to make decent money. This is not based on superstition. While your luck in poker is never dependent on the seat or table, you sit at, and your profits could be. Read on to find out how.
What Renders a Poker Table Profitable?
There are several factors that will determine whether a poker table is profitable or not, among them being:
- Loud tables tend to be more profitable than silent tables. A loud poker table means that players are having a good time. When players are having a good time, they are more likely to spend more money – thanks to alcohol.
- Take account of the players at the table. If recognized good poker players surround a table, it would be wiser to sit at a table surrounded by amateurs. As a smart player, you want to play at a table where you can make money.
If all the players at a table are pros, your chances of making decent money are lower than if you are a pro seated at a table full of amateur players.
Make sure there is money on the table. If you intend to play a $200 max buy-in and everyone else at the table is wagering $40 stacks, that’s not your table. There isn’t enough money in play in such a scenario, and you would be playing against short stacks. This increases the probability of you being shoved on, and that subsequently raises variance.
Finding the Best Seat at a Poker Table
Wondering how to play Live Hold’em? Below are three of the significant factors you should consider when picking a live poker table seat:
- Comfort: You must make sure that you have picked a comfortable seat or position. If you are not comfortable, you cannot perform at your best. If there is a player who looks like he hasn’t left the poker room to take a shower in a week, he probably hasn’t. Stay away from this person.
- Line of Sight: If you are visually impaired, make sure you are in a seat where you can see the entire board correctly. Some seating positions can limit your view. Taking seat 1 on an oval table, for instance, might limit your sight of seats 9 and 10. The best poker table seats are 3, 4,7, and 8.
- Left of the Biggest Stack: You should also consider the players at your table. As a general thumb rule, you should sit on the left of the biggest stack. If you are playing against people you know and one is known to be a loose and aggressive player, you should sit to his left. It would be best if you also sat on the left of any better player than yourself.
With an absolute maniac on your right, the game can get very easy. All you have to do is wait until the right-hand pick him off. Once you have the nuts, trap him for his chips.
With a nut hand on your left, you will be forced to act before him, and the game will be pretty much the same. The only difference would be that the hands you would limp with at a standard table, you now have fewer chances to play them.
It doesn’t make sense limping with poker hands you are not willing to call into a rise with if the person on your left rises every hand.
Picking a Good Table in Online Live Poker
Online poker has gotten more challenging over the past decade. You cannot join any table and expect to do just fine. If you want to make decent money playing online poker, you should sharpen your game selection skills.
To win big in poker, you do not have to be the best player at the table. As long as you are better than most of your competition, your chances of winning are high.
Flops/Limping/Fish
When you are a pro at game selection, you will only play those games that you stand to win. An average player who is excellent at game selection is more profitable than a good player with zero game selection skills.
When you sign in, make it a habit to check the lobby. To find a good table, sort your lobby results by viewed-flop percentage. When more people view the flop, there are multiple-pots, which translates to more limping and subsequently more fish.
The percentage marking a good poker table varies from one online casino to the other and from limit to limit. The higher the percentage, the better the table.
Hands Per Hour
You cannot rely on the viewed-flop percentage alone. Some tables will have a high percentage because they have been playing shorthanded. You can tell whether a table has been playing shorthanded by looking at the hands per hour. The more hands there are per hour, the higher the chances that the table just filled up.
The best six-handed poker game should not be getting over a hundred hands per hour. A table with a 50 percent viewed-flop and 150 hands per hour is one that just filled up and has no good chance.
Colour-Code Weak Players
Leading online casinos will allow you to add color-coded notes. You can practice tagging the fish you come across in specific colors. This way, you can tell tables with recognized fish whenever you look at the lobby.
Colour coding is not for fish alone. You can code competitive regulars, short stackers, and bad regulars as well. With such an analysis, you can quickly tell bad tables and good tables by looking at the lobby.
Starting Your Own Tables
What other way to get good tables than creating some yourself? Sit at an empty table and just wait. The chances are that short-stacked fish will join you. The fish will attract more players, and the games will start in no time and don’t worry about bots. They are not as common as people make out.
Alternatively, you can join a regular sitting alone. With two regulars seated at a table, the third play, in most cases, will be a fish. This is an excellent strategy for semi-competent players.
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