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Texas Holdem / Poker Strategy Author
Tony is a high limit specialist, rising in limits initially in Limit Hold'em, and now playing Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo full time. He currently writes on general theory, and is the host of his own forum in the ITH forums. To ask Tony a question, simply visit the Ask Pilchard forum and express your mind! |
| Decisions, Decisions, Decisions Part II |
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In last month’s article I looked at some of the important decisions you should be making before a single card is dealt. This month I am going to look at some less obvious decisions, some important and some possibly not so, to see how they might impact on your win rate.
Just to recap, in last month’s article I looked at the following: 1. Which site should I log in at? 2. What game should I play? 3. What format should I play? 4. How many opponents should I play against? 5. What betting structure should I play? 6. What limit should I play? 7. How many tables should I play? Now I am going to look at some more decisions: 8. Which table(s) should I choose? Obviously, this is only a consideration in regard to ring games because under a tournament structure you have your table randomly allocated. However, if you are going to play a ring game then table selection can have a major impact on your expectation. Let’s imagine that after asking the above questions (1-7) you are going to play 2 full (10 player) 3/6$ Hold’em tables. However, there are 30 tables available at the site you are logged in at. Which tables should you choose? Most beginners make the mistake of ticking the “first available” table box as they desire to start playing as quickly as possible. This is clearly a mistake as the aim is to try and find a table where your opponents are making as many mistakes as possible. A high average pot is a good indicator of this but you should be aware that when there is a high average pot there will often be one player getting the table worked up because he is playing every hand aggressively. Two things often happen: 1) the queue is so long for the table that by the time you join the table the maniac has bust out and you are left at a table of people who practice what they think is "game selection" (so normally above average players) 2) even if the maniac is still there you have one seat you can take and it is pot luck whether it gives you good position over him so that you can play the hands you would like to play (see decision 9 for more discussion on this). Other good indicators of a profitable table are if you see a player who is on your buddy list (i.e. you have played with him before and have noted he is a poor player) or if a number of players are extremely short stacked. Ideally, once you have found a good table you would like to observe for a circuit or two but realistically, given the amount of time it can take for a good table to break up (especially if there are one or two extremely short stacked), you should probably start as soon as it is your turn to post the big blind. 9. Where should I sit? When it comes to seat selection, the ideal situation is to have loose players acting before you and tight players acting after you. In this scenario, you will know when you have the opportunity to play the more speculative hands because you will often have many limpers before it is your turn to act. Furthermore, with tight players behind you, on the odd occasion it is folded to you the opportunity is there to raise and steal the blinds. Even if I intend to play at a full table I will always try and pick a table which only has 6 or 7 players currently seated so that I have a wider choice of seat selection (and most of the time the table will fill up around me). Once at the table, assuming I know none of my opponents; I will sit to the left of as many of the weaker looking players (short stacks) as possible. If it becomes clear that there is a more profitable seat at the table I will think nothing of leaving the table and rejoining in the more profitable seat. 10. What day / time of day should I play? Unfortunately, this is a decision which for most is outside of their control because of other factors (jobs, family, sleep and so on) but if you had total freedom to play whenever you wanted, when would be the most profitable time to play? From experience, I would say that the play is weaker at weekends than during the week. This is because you get more recreational players who can only play at the weekend. In regard to the time you should be playing, it is clear that most sites are busiest during U.S evening time. This gives you a wider selection of players to play against and more opportunity to practice game selection. 11. How much should I buy in for? In NL (no limit), assuming you are a winning player, you will always want at least the maximum buy-in in front of you. When I am playing NL, I always rebuy back to the full buy in as soon as I dip under this amount . In limit, of course, how much you can win is not dictated by your stack but instead, by the betting limit. Most players will automatically click the standard buy-in (usually about 25 big bets). The key is to make sure you always have enough to cover a potential cap on each street because you never know if the next hand is going to be the one where you are going to hit a huge hand. 12. What name should I choose? Is this an important decision? Apart from looking back on your name in three years time and wishing you had chosen something more glamorous, could it possibly have an influence (no matter how small) on your winnings? It would be hard to prove one way or the other, although it is fair to say that you can usually get some kind of feel about the personality of an opponent by the name he has chosen. 13. Should I participate in any chat? Observing the chat box is a really good way of getting a handle on how your opponents think (or are thinking at that moment). That is why I would never complain about profanities or turn off someone’s chat. Comments like “I can’t believe you raised with nothing” or “2 outer again” when in the first instance you had a huge draw against a big field and in the second you actually had 11 outs, gives you information which may be useful in future hands. I hope that the last two articles have provided you with some interesting thoughts on the decisions you should be making before you play a hand. Remember though, this game is not static and that throughout your session you should be re-evaluating the decisions constantly to ensure that you are always playing under the most profitable conditions. Next month, I am going to look at the 5 hands that helped form me as a player. Until then, keep focusing on your decisions to ensure you stay one step ahead of your opponents. To discuss this article, other decisions to be made at the table, or to leave comments for the author, please visit the ITH Forums. |
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