Poker Table Selection

One of the most reliable ways to increase your winrate is to take the extra effort to find the easiest tables to play at.  Remember, winning at poker isn’t about being the best player in the world; it’s only about being better than the players at your table.  If you take the time to pick good tables at the beginning of every poker session, you’ll experience less stress and increased profits immediately.

Lobby Statistics

It’s pretty easy to find the best tables because every poker site offers a variety of statistics viewable right from the lobby window.  In the games list, you’ll see four statistics in particular that are useful for finding good tables:

1. Average Pot Size

This figure is calculated a little bit differently at every poker site but the basic idea is that it tells you the average pot size at the table over the last several minutes.  This figure can sometimes be skewed upwards by big pots between big stacks but overall it’s a good indicator of how much money is flowing around at the table.  Always look for the highest average pot size first.

2. Players to the Flop

This is probably the single best indicator of how easy the table is.  Players who see too many flops are the easiest ones to win money from so try to find the tables that have the highest players/flop percentage.  The most profitable tables to play at feature a high players/flop percentage AND a high average pot size.

3. Player Notes

Most poker sites will show you if you have note on a player at the table by displaying a little notepad icon next to the player’s name.  You don’t even have to join the table to see this; you can just highlight the table and look at the list of players seated at the table.

If you take good notes on your opponents, this little piece of information will help you find tables where you have an immediate information advantage.  Get in the habit of taking notes all the time because you’d be surprised at how often you see the same players.

4. Hands per Hour

The hands per hour stat isn’t directly linked to the ease of the game but it still helps determine your hourly winrate.  As you know, the more hands you play against weaker players, the more money you will win.  If you find too many good tables to play at, use this stat as the tie-breaker.

Poker Software

Most serious poker players use poker statistics software to help them analyze their game and keep track of their opponents.  Programs such as Holdem Manager and PokerTracker keep detailed statistics on every person you’ve ever a single hand against.  You can use these statistics to identify the weakest players and then search for them at your poker site.

If you play at a poker site that does not allow player searches, there’s a little trick I like to use to make it easier.  Every time you identify a weak player using your software, make a note on that person.  Then when you browse through the tables at your poker site, you’ll see the little notepad icon next to that person’s name.  Some poker sites allow you to use colored icons to identify certain players – if you have that available, use it.  That way you can keep your regular notes separate from your fish-marker notes.

1.  VP$IP

This is similar to the “players to the flop” statistics except it’s player specific and covers the entire history of your opponent.  The players who lose the most money have the highest VP$IP so keep your eyes open for players with high VP$IPs.

2. PFR

This stands for “preflop raise” and it tells you how often that player enters the pot with a raise.  Good aggressive players always have higher PFR percentages than weak, loose players.  The best opponents for you to play against are those that have a high VP$IP and a low PFR.  Those are almost always fishy players.

3. Aggression Factor

The aggression factor is determined using the formula (bet % + raise %) / (Call %).  Basically it tells you how aggressive your opponents are.  Most good players have aggression factors of 2.5 or above.  Weak players have low aggression factors, low PFRs, and high VP$IPs.

4. BB/100

BB/100 is shorthand for “big blinds won per 100 hands.”  This stat tells you the winrate of your opponent and is the single most telling statistic you can use.  All the other stats are great and all, but this one gets straight to the point – it tells you exactly how much money that player wins or loses.  The players with the biggest negative winrates are the ones who spread the most money around the table.  Play against them all you can.

5. Observed Hands

Observed Hands tells you how many hands your tracking software has logged against a specific player.  Statistics are greatly affected by sample size so take everything you see with a grain of salt until you log a good number of hands against your opponent.

U.S. players should check out PokerStars for great table selection and non-U.S. players should try Party Poker. Both poker sites have thousands of tables running at any given time.

Related articles:

Hunting the Fish
Taking Notes