Online Game Selection
written by BeatTheFish.com
...Fishy
says, "Why stick around if you're getting beaten? For something
completely different, please join my campaign to change the official
name of bad online players to 'donkey'. "
Proper game selection is essential to
your poker game. It is almost as important as how you play once you
do sit down at a table. When you’re visiting a physical cardroom,
you usually can’t be too picky in terms of game selection. Most
casinos will only have one or two tables available at any given
limit, so your options are slim if you want to stay in the game.
Online, however, there are so many games available at any given
limit that it is foolish to stay in a game that doesn’t best suit
you or your playing style.
There are many clues that you can use to select a game before you
even sit down. Most online poker room lobbies will contain some
basic information about each table, usually including percentage of
players who see the flop, average size of the pot, and hands played
at that table per hour. You can deduce some basic information based
on those statistics. A higher flop percentage (40-50+%) means that
more players are willing to take their chances on the flop,
indicating a looser game. On the other hand, a lower flop percentage
(25-40%) indicates a tighter game. You’ll get better pot odds with
hands involving more players, but a tighter game usually works
better for your premium hands.
Also, combine the flop percentage with the average size of the pot.
Most typical no-limit cash game pot sizes will be about 30-40 times
the big blind. If you see a 5/10c NL game that has a flop percentage
of 30% and an average pot of $10, you’ll know that not too many
players see the flop, and when they do it’s for a big raise. On the
other hand, if you see a 5/10c NL game that has a 55% flop
percentage and an average $4 pot, you’ll know that a lot of players
will see a cheap pot. In this type of game, you can play more
drawing hands because you’re probably only going to have to pay the
minimum, and you’ll be getting great pot odds with 5 or 6 callers in
every hand. If you know that you like to play a lot of draws, this
can be an ideal table type for you.
Once you do sit down at the table, make sure that you’re not playing
with a bunch of sharks at the table. You’ll want to have a higher
skill level than most of the players at your table, or else you’re
just a sitting duck. You’ll find the skill level generally increases
as you move up in table limits. If you’re constantly getting beat at
a certain table, you should get up and find a new one. There are
usually plenty of other games going on, and it might pay off to "get
up" and explore your other options. Sometimes, that’s all it takes
to getting back on the winning path. If you’re really upset after a
bad beat, this might give you the necessary time to cool off and
make a fresh start at the next table. If you can’t completely shake
going on tilt, you’re probably better off calling it a night and
coming back the next day when you’re in a better mindset
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Online Poker
Strategy
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