Ultimate Guide to Finding Juicy Online Tables
Poker is a game where you have to compete against other players and be better then them in order to make money. It’s possible you get your chips in the middle with the best of it and get unlucky, but in the long run, if you are making fewer mistakes then your opponents, you will make money, and a lot of it if you are consistently playing better then your opponents.
So, the question you need to ask yourself is, how is it possible to find tables with weaker players then yourself? That is really what it comes down to if you are playing poker to make money and not just for entertainment purposes. It would be a huge mistake to sit down at a table full of players which are of equal skill level or even worse, better players then you. The only time you could win in those situations is if you got lucky, which you shouldn’t rely on, or if you are dealt AA vs KK and you get all your chips in pre-flop. It can seem like an easy game when you are dealt aces vs kings, but if your hand holds up and you win your opponents stack, it was unavoidable for your opponent to fold kings, and you only won because it was lucky to get AA vs KK, not because you are necessarily a better player then them.
Now that you understand that you want to play against weak players (aka FISH) lets discuss in more detail how you go about doing this. There are a number of methods you can use to find the juice online tables. The good thing about playing at low stakes tables is that its not difficult finding tables where there are fish.
First of all, you will notice that the majority of online poker rooms will provide table stats. You want to use these stats to your advantage. They provide them for a reason, so you can make a more informed decision when it comes to table selection. When scanning the different tables, the main stats you want to observe include the pot size AND players/flop. On their own, these stats don’t paint the full picture, but they give you a pretty good idea of the looseness of the table. The best case scenario is to play on a table with a high players/flop ratio and a bigger then average pot size. These stats suggest a loose table with fishy players because there is a lot of calling pre-flop with a lot of players seeing a flop with any two cards, and a lot of betting post flop, which increases the average pot size. All you would have to do is tighten up your game, and when you make a hand, bet for value on all three streets, and stack your opponent(s) when they overplay middle or top pair, because they just can’t get away from their hands when they hit something. Ideally there will be two or more loose players at the table. The worse case scenario is there is one fish if you were playing on a 6-max table, but at low stakes you should have no problem finding tables with more then one fish.
Once you have identified a juice table, don’t assume that loose table stats suggests every player is a fish and playing any two cards. This is a fundamental mistake players who get familiar with table selecting make. You need to understand that it can be one or only a few players who are inflating the table stats, so its your job when you first sit down at the table to identify who the fish are, and then punish them.
This is where Holdem Manager and other poker tracking software tools can help out. Hand history databases like HEM can be immensely useful because you can identify who the weak players are based on history you have with specific players and how much money they have won or lost. If a player is consistently losing money, you can obviously assume they are not a very good player. There are many players who play poker to have some fun and don’t take the game seriously. They are basically donating to the game and you want to exploit them. If you use Holdem Manager, you will notice there is a Players Window tab. This is one of the most underrated features of HEM. You can quickly spot the players you have played against who have lost a significant amount of money (not just against you but every player) and see if they are currently playing. Are you beginning to see just how powerful this information can be? So instead of just using table stats to your advantage, and then have to figure out exactly who the fish are, you know exactly who the fish are without even playing a hand. This additional information is immensely valuable because if the table allows for it, you can sit down at the table and get position on the bad players. As you would know, position is a powerful weapon in Texas Hold’em, so not only are you sitting down at a juicy table, but you have the best seat on the table, and this is a license to print money.
If there are no players you have previously played against sitting down at a table, in addition to using table stats there is one really other good indicator which is always usually pretty accurate, without even having to play a hand. The stack size of your opponents is another piece of information at your disposal. Good players are not playing with scared money and understand that deep stacked poker is more profitable because you can play additional hands then normally would be possible. So, if you see a player is not playing with a full buy-in, so they have less then 100bb, then you can assume they are probably not very good and you should go to war against them.
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