Picking an Online Poker Table
OK, you’ve decided on a poker site. Your decision-making is not finished. Now good table selection becomes vital if you want to maximize your profits from each poker session you play.
Let’s say you’re playing $5 – $10 no limit Texas Holdem and you have a choice of 20 tables you can join, which should you pick?
Well, if you can play against opponents who are inferior or inexperienced to you, then that should be your No. 1 choice. The site will usually provide you with information such as the number of players at the table, the average pot size and everyone’s chip count. Also, you may be able to find out how long a player has been sitting at a table. The figures that you should be most interested in are the average pot sizes and average number of players per flop.
The average pot size given will provide how much action the players at the table are giving. The higher this figure is, the greater the amount of money you can expect to win when you have a good hand.
Poker sites also should provide the average number of players per flop. That will tell you how loose the players at the table are playing. If this figure is high, then the players probably have low starting hand requirements and are probably poor players. On the other hand, if the figure is low, it’s fair to assume the players are tight and you will only see flops with a good starting hand. Really, the average number of players per flop figure depends on your intended strategy. Are you looking to join an aggressive table so you can sit tight and try to double up against a risk-taker with a big stack, or do you want to find a tight table were you can bluff and push people around?
If you are a tight player it may be more beneficial for you to choose the tables with a higher number of players per flop and pick up the occasional big pots.
Another feature that can be profitable is to do a player search if it’s on a site you frequent often. This way, you can take note of very good or very bad players and act accordingly as to whether to choose that table. Most sites do have regulars, so this could pay off in the long run.
Playing online poker is like most anything else you want to make money at: The more homework you do, the better off you likely will be.
