Beginners Poker - Table Choice

You've chosen an online poker room or two from our recommendations, you've deposited some money ensuring you take advantage of a juicy sign up bonus, what next? Well, if you're planning to play at the cash tables it pays to do a bit of research before you sit down. Table selction is an mportant skill to learn as it indicates what type of players you'll be up against before you get dealt your first cards. At the higher limits, table selction becomes of paramount importance, since all the players will generally be of a very high standard.

As a beginner, you really don't want to be sitting at a poker table where all the other players dominate you in terms of skill and bankroll. Not only will you lose your money, but you'll probably never want to play poker ever again. You should never sit down at a cash table with more than 5% of your bankroll at any one time. If your bankroll is £200, then you shouldn't sit down with any more than £10. The only way to improve is to play with people of a similar ability and bankroll, not only will you learn a thing or two cheaply, but you'll probably relax and enjoy the experience a lot more. (More information on Poker Bankroll Management.

A great advantage of playing online poker is that you can easily find tables with optimal playing conditions far easily than in real life. Not only can you watch several games for as long as you like, but the lobby will provide you with vital table statistics which indicate how a certain table is playing. Here's how to interpret them:

Average Pot

This is the most typical of all stats. The higher the Average Pot at a poker table, the looser the players tend to be. If the Average Pot is high, more players are calling and raising bets whether they've got the best hand (nuts) or not. If the Average Pot is low, you've got a tight, conservative bunch (rock garden), great for low-risk training but not so good for those big, adrenaline-fueled wins.

Hands per Hour

Another popular stat is Hands/Hours (Hands per Hour). The more hands dealt per hour, the quicker the flow of the game. This could mean either the players are quick sharp thinkers, or rather impulsive players. On the other hand it could mean that the table consists of a lot of tight conservative players who fold pre-flop a lot. Another key point to think about is that if the number of hands per hour is low, it means more people are seeing all of the cards which could mean an overly loose table. To see what type of game a table is, use this stat in conjunction with the Average Pot and spend at least a round watching the game.

Flop Percentages

This tells you how many players stay in past the first round of betting. Therefore, if this number (whether it's a percentage or a ratio) is high, you've got a lot of loose players at the table, therefore you should play tighter. If the flop % is low you've got a poker table full of tighter players who know when to play or fold.

Bankroll

Once armed with this knowledge there only remains one choice to make, what amount you're going to play with? Another way of looking at this is how much can you afford to lose? If the answer is, "Not a lot", you want to stay away from the high stakes poker tables. You're better off building your skills and bankroll patiently at a low limit (or even micro-limit) ring game and taking small pots whenever you get the chance, folding the rest of the time. Or you could find a buy-in that fits your budget (say, a $20 + 2 tournament, a fair price for an evening's entertainment) and take your best shot at an eye-popping prize pool. If you lose, you'll at least go to bed at night satisfied from an exciting experience that didn't cost you the shirt on your back.

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