Picking the Profitable Games
When you hear most poker players talk about why they win/loss at poker, they’ll usually start talking about hand selection, aggressiveness, even luck. The factor that often doesn’t get a lot of mention in these discussions yet in many ways plays one of the biggest roles in potential success is the caliber of opponent you’re playing against. So many poker players put little to no thought in the process of finding tables full of players weaker than them in overall skill, which can result in them playing against far tougher opponents then they should be.
Let’s use an extreme example. Say you’re at a table that has at least five legendary pro poker players at it. These players have seen and done it all and you’ll have a incredibly tough time trying to make plays and bluffs against them, almost guaranteeing that you’ll be a losing player for the night unless you catch an extraordinary run of cards. On the other end of that spectrum, now picture that you’re seated at a table where at least five of your opponents are entry-level players that have a basic understanding of the game, yet are unaware of the most advanced theories. You rate to perform far better at this game then you do at the pro table.
But the table doesn’t have to be full of pros for you to want to avoid it, it just has to have a few players too many that play better than you. It’s okay to want to test your abilities at tables like these from time to time, but if you’re main goal is to win money then you’ll want to stick against players at and below your own level. Ideally, you want about half the table or more to be full of players that you can get a really good read on in terms of how they play and what mistakes they may make/what their weaknesses are. From there you can go on to attack these players at the right time, versus having to always be on your toes against opponents that are playing very strongly.
In a live card room setting, don’t be afraid to move around from table to table until you find playing conditions that you are comfortable with. Online, you’ll want to make notes on players you meet and list their skill level accordingly so that you can know right away whether or not you should play against them when you meet up with them again in the future.
By: Chris Iaquinta
