Table Select

Owned by Pavel Rad (Unlicensed)
Feb 01, 2021
2 min read

Table select is a key factor that affects your profit. The winnings in poker are formed at the expense of the losses of other players. If an average player is playing against you, then you will win against him, but significantly less than against a weak player (fish).

Simply by choosing weaker opponents (selecting them), you can increase your winnings several times. You shouldn’t ignore this possibility.

Another especially important element of the game to understand is the rake or commission of the game organizers, which is taken from almost every hand. The average rake is 8bb / 100. This means that as soon as you get into the game, you already have а negative winrate due to the rake.

In order to “beat” the rake and achieve positive results, you need to win enough money, which will cover the rake and ensure your winnings.
The more powerful players at the table, the more difficult it is to “beat the rake”. The better you "select", the higher your winrate, which means you will be less susceptible to streaks (variance), as a result your results will be more predictable and stable.

Recommendations for finding weak players:

  • try to find obviously weak players (VPIP 60+);

  • the weaker players at the table (VPIP 40+), the higher your winrate will be;

  • fish often play with incomplete stacks (less than 100bb);

  • fish do not top up to a certain fixed stack size (for example, when the stack is less than 80bb);

  • fish limp a lot (call bb, and do not enter the hand with an open-raise of 2-3bb);

  • fish cold-call a lot during preflop, trying to see the maximum number of flops with all kinds of hands;

  • fish change the opening sizing depending on the strength of the hand (for example, a fish can open 2bb, and with premium hands open 3.5-4bb);

  • fish give up badly to three-bets (again, they try to watch the maximum number of flops);

  • try to take a position at the table to the left of the fish (imagine that there are two identical tables with the same weak player. If you are sitting to the left of the fish, your win rate will be higher than if you are sitting to the right of him).