Picking the right table..

[Rogue Coder]

Hello,
I just stated the challenge and I have to say BRAVO on the course so far. I thought I was Tight and Aggressive, but after going through just the first exercise I found I was a lot looser than I had thought. I really like the style so far.

The main reason for this post is that I found a pretty interesting line that when I crossed it I started to loose the money I had made with the course. When I started the challenge I started with a table that was running at 32-34% plrs/flop. I made my money in fairly short order and went on to the next exercise. This time I found a table that had a 58-60% plrs/flop, and I lost my money in fairly short order.

I wasn't playing any differently, but it seemed that everytime I did have a hand and raised or played it well, all of the people on the hand preflop would call the raise and hit 2 pair, or something crazy. I even had one guy call 4 times the big blind with 7/2 offsuit and hit a seven on the flop, call by 4 times the big blind bet and catch a 7 on the turn. I had flopped top pair great kicker, but unfortunately lost to the cards and a very loose person.

I did how ever go back to a table that was just above 30% plrs/flop and made my money back.

Just thought I would share the experience.

Rogue Coder.

[PhatElvis]

Hey RC,

In the long run, you will make more money at these fish tanks but be prepared to tread carefully. They can be a real minefield. Stick to ABC poker and be ready to lay down TPTK on a ragged board with a lot of limpers and facing a large raise. One of the first things I look for at any new table is to observe what kind of raises my opponents are willing to call preflop and adjust accordingly. If I'm getting multiway pots developing with my standard 3 or 4 BB preflop raise, then I'm bumping up my raise to whatever it takes to get their attention and to narrow down the field. The potential payoffs at soft tables will more than make up for the odd badbeat.

PhatElvis

[The Professor]

That fish table you are descibing sounds awesome! I would probably stay on that table all night if people were calling raises with 7 2 offsuit

At the end of the day in poker it all comes down to odds - if you are playing with the odds in your favour and the players that you are playing are not then you will come out the winner over the long term.

yes you can have bad periods where people hit cards against the odds, but they are exactly the kind of players you want to keep playing against.

If you played that same hand again 10 times then you would probably win 9 times against the 7-2 unfortunately you just hit the one time that the 7-2 sucked out on you.

Just be a little more careful against players who will chase anything and try to play lots of smaller pots when you have good cards, that way your not committing too much to the pot in the case of a bad beat and out of say 20 pots in a night you should get paid on 10 -15 of them against these sort of fish.

Also keep it simple - play good cards - forget about bluffs and moves because these sorts of players won't get it and they won't work - play good cards against their average cards and you will be a winner.

[Rogue Coder]

That is what I was exactly thinking is that I would be shooting fish in a barrel. I agree that in the long run you would win, but the problem is when you run out of stack. When that happens do you reload and go at it again or do you just take a break and find another place at another time.

I like the idea about adjusting the raise, but with this table they were calling everything. I even saw a guy call a $2 all in raise with K9 off over an pair of JJ and suck out. I tell you it was unreal.

I will make it a point to try it again soon at that high of a percentage. But the question that I would like answered is during the exercises (in the challenge) when you lose your stack what should you do? Reload or Try again later somewhere else?

Rogue Coder

[kobayashi78]

i always pick the table where the average pot size is as high as possible - hope this is right?!

[Joe8u2]

Originally Posted by Rogue Coder

That is what I was exactly thinking is that I would be shooting fish in a barrel. I agree that in the long run you would win, but the problem is when you run out of stack. When that happens do you reload and go at it again or do you just take a break and find another place at another time.

I like the idea about adjusting the raise, but with this table they were calling everything. I even saw a guy call a $2 all in raise with K9 off over an pair of JJ and suck out. I tell you it was unreal.

I will make it a point to try it again soon at that high of a percentage. But the question that I would like answered is during the exercises (in the challenge) when you lose your stack what should you do? Reload or Try again later somewhere else?

Rogue Coder

Why wasn;t RC 2nd question never answered?

This post is from 10/2006

That was a good question..

Joe

[The Professor]

It comes down to a similar answer to that which I have just posted in your other thread Joe.

Sometimes a table is too aggressive and until you have more experience with a tight-aggressive strategy there is a chance that the over aggressive table can force you into playing a more riskier strategy than we are aiming for.

Like I said in an earlier post in this thread my strategy on a table such as this would be to continue to play the same disciplined starting hands, I would forget about anything fancy like bluffs and moves, and I would aim to play small(ish) pots to limit the risk against these unpredictable players.

If I started to find that I wasn't being allowed to play small pots and every hand just turned into a donk fest, then I would be looking for another table where I could control the risk a little better.

As for the question about reloading - yes I would reload on the same table if I felt confident that I could make money off the players there as long as I was in control of the risk like I described above - otherwise I would be reloading on another table.