By
CardRunners.com
This article was written by Andrew Wiggins, who is an instructor at the training site, CardRunners.com.
Not long ago I wrote about how playing multiple tables at once was one of the great advantages of online poker. I noted that it was a mistake to not take advantage of that opportunity. Today, I am going to touch upon another great aspect of online poker that cannot be taken advantage of in live play to the extent it can in online play. That aspect is table selection.
Lately I have been starting to focus on my table selection, and I have noticed a big difference in my results. The fact of the matter is that with so many sites out there and so many games running on each site, it only makes sense to practice picking the right games. In addition, there are websites out there and tools such as PokerTracker that allow one to judge the caliber of players at any given table.
I believe that you should either keep most of your money in Neteller or spread it across several sites. Not only is this a good safety precaution; this will also make it easier to find good games. I believe that if you keep money on three or four of the major sites, you will have plenty of options as far as games go. If you play low limits, you may not need to keep money on more than two sites, due to the vast amount of games that are running at once.
I would suggest choosing two major sites, such as Party Poker and PokerStars, if you are going to limit yourself to two sites. By increasing your options, you will never be forced to play in a bad game. When I only kept money in Ultimate Bet, I would often find myself with the choice to either not play at all or play in a tough game. I would often choose to play in a tough game, and that was a mistake.
In order to choose good games, you must know the caliber of the players at each table you are considering. Several websites out there track players’ statistics. However, in my experience, I have found these sites to contain incomplete or misleading data. I think the best way to gather information on your opponents is to use PokerTracker. You should always track the games that you play in, and if possible, data mine when you are not playing. This will allow you to gain valuable and accurate information on your opponents.
It is easy to open up PokerTracker and look up opponents as you are choosing a game. You will want to look for players with a low or negative bb/100 number. Furthermore, you can pick tables that suit your style of play. If you hate playing with very loose-aggressive players, you can simply avoid tables that have players with a high VPIP. Another good thing to do is to keep notes on your opponents while you are playing. This will also aid in the decision making process. In addition, something you should always keep in mind is whether or not the players at a given table are regulars. I believe that avoiding solid regulars is a very important thing to do.
It will certainly take extra time to find good games to play in. However, I believe that any time lost spent looking for good games will be made up in the difference in profits. By blindly sitting at any open table, you give up an edge that is easily attained. It is much easier to take money from fish than solid regulars. If you pay attention to the games you are sitting in, you can successfully avoid the regulars and find games that are full of fish.