Finding a Good Casino Game

Casinos and card rooms are filled with sheep and sharks. Sitting down at the right table makes all the difference between getting cleaned out and going home a big winner. If you seek out the table with the best players, you might prove that you're a good player too, but you won't maximize your winnings. If you sit down at a table with the worst players, on average you can expect to take home a nice payday.

So how do you find the sheep?

The size of the blinds is certainly your first guide. Smaller blinds attract weaker players. Still, if the bets are smaller, potential winnings are smaller as well. The trick is to find the biggest game where you are significantly more skilled than the average at the table.

If you play in the same place often, you already have an advantage. Keep a notebook to track the players you play against. Really, I'm serious. This is one of the better investments you can make. Write down which players are calling stations, which play deceptively (check-raising, bluffing), which play aggressively, etc. Note who can be bluffed off of a pot and who will call to the river even with average cards. When you see a table with several non-deceptive calling stations it's time to sit down.

Some players come to the table to win, others just want to have fun. If you see a player (or better yet a group of players) who are drinking and laughing it up, that's a great sign that you found a good table. If they are playing as loose as they act, sit down and bring an extra rack to carry home their chips.

Some players just can't get enough, and will play all day and late into the night. Many of the best games can be found when the competition is beaten down from countless hours of play. If you're a night owl, consider showing up at the casino very late fresh and rested. Look for signs that players are weary and see if their play is as tired as they are.

When you find your sheep, remember to keep playing your A-Game. Don't be lulled into playing a loose game just because everyone else is. Wait for a really premium hand, and then play it hard.

A table full of sheep will certainly attract a few sharks (you're not the only one!) Unless you have great cards, it's probably wise to stay out of their way if they really go after a hand. After all, they are doing the same thing you are - waiting for a great hand and playing it hard.

PS - If you're playing at one table and see a better one, you can ask the dealer or the floor person to arrange a table change for you. They will seat you at your desired table as soon as there is an opening. If there's a board waiting for your game, the person on that wait list will get your old seat.

Finding a Good Online Game

Your profits don't depend on your skill... the depend on the DIFFERENCE between your skill and your opponent's skill. If you are a great player playing against world-class players, you will lose money. If you are a bad player playing against terrible players, you will make money.

The secret of making money in poker is finding "good" games - games where the average skill level is lower than yours. The bigger the difference, the more money you will make.

In a card room, it can be hard to figure out where the best game is (but see my next blog post for tips). Online, you have great tools at your disposal.

Most online poker websites let you observe a table. Further, they will show you the hand history of that table, whether or not you played in the game. At Full Tilt, I like to open up 4-5 tables at the stakes I want to play and just let them run. I can answer email, get a cup of coffee, or whatever for about 15 minutes while the tables are played. Then, I come back and look at the hands that played while I was away. Usually you'll get about 20 hands per game. Flip through the hand history, looking at:

• The cards people saw the flop with. Do they have the same high starting requirements you have? Pay attention to whether they were in the blinds. If they were big blind and played 5-2, that might not be a bad thing (you could look at the chat window in the hand history to see if they stayed in with a raised pot, but it's usually not worth that much effort).
• Watch how they played after the flop. If they won with 5's full of 2's, was the flop 5-5-2 (obviously good to stay in with 5-2) or A-K-2 (pretty stupid to stay in with 5-2)

With a tiny amount of up-front effort, you can find that really profitable game that can add a bunch to your bankroll.

The Bad End of Good Cards

Hands like a straight, flush or full house are rare. That's why they are high-ranking hands.

For a given flop, though, it can happen that more than one player makes similar big hands. Unfortunately if you don't pay attention, it's easy to get the "idiot" end of one of those hands.

Let's say you are in the blinds and play 76. The flop comes 89T. Great, you have just flopped a straight! But wait a minute... If anyone has QJ, they suddenly have a better straight than you do. You have the "idiot" end because it looks promising but is bound to fail.

It's not that unlikely that someone is playing QJ. After all, good players tend to play higher-ranking cards. Let's say you bet out your straight and just get called. Chances are decent that you have the best hand at the moment. Now the turn comes Q, for a board of:

89TQ

Hold the phone, now ANYONE holding a J has you beat. If another player starts to bet heavily, chances are pretty good you are beat.

Flushes made with low cards are vulneralbe in a similar way. Let's say you play medium suited connectors:

7h 8h

The flop comes down

3h 9h Qh

Great! You made your flush. If any other player holds two hearts, one of which has to be the Th, Kh, or Ah, you are beat. That's not too likely.

Now the turn comes

5h

Now it only takes one heart biggern than your 8h to beat you. Look out for this kind of situation where you have made your flush, only to lose it when another flush card comes. A great way to protect against someone drawing to a higher flush is to make a fairly large bet.

Finally, it can happen that your full house loses to a higher full house.

Let's say you hold

QQ

with a flop of

AAQ

Wow, you flopped Queens full of Aces, great hand!. There are exactly two hands that have you beat at this point, AA and AQ. AA makes 4 of a kind, while AQ makes Aces full of Queens (beating your Queens full of Aces). There is only a 1-in-110 chance that a given opponent has one of these two hands, but if he starts to raise and reraise you, seriously consider the possibility. It has happened to me, and it was expensive.

Be Happy!

People play poker in all sorts of frames of mind. Some are very concentrated, some are playing for fun, some are playing above their means, some are partying or even drunk, some seem angry about the cards or perhaps something from the world outside the poker room.

My frame of mind is different in each game as well.

There's one thing I noticed studying my good games and my bad games: When I sit down at the table in a HAPPY mood, I'm much more likely to do well.

There are very good reasons for that:

- If you're in a bad mood, a run of poor cards is much more likey to put you on tilt.
- If you are worried because the stakes in this game are high, the good players will quickly realize it. They will push you around. You will fail to push small edges, you will not maximize good opportunities, and you will fold to aggressive betting much too often.
- If you are happy, you will seem confident to your opponents. You will have an easier time managing them.

Play poker when you are well-rested and in a good mood. Avoid games when you are tired, stressed, or upset. This simple rule will greatly increase your enjoyment of the game, and add to your bottom line as well.