October 10, 2011

Table Selection Tips for Poker Props

When it comes to table selection, it's not a secret that poker props are somewhat limited by the poker propping rules of the sites they play at. Still, in this day and age, with the online poker tables becoming tougher and tougher to beat all the time, one cannot expect to just jump into any game and be able to dominate. Examples are everywhere: a few days ago, a Russian player known under the moniker I7AXA finished second in PokerStars' Sunday Million. He took down a prize of about $148k, which he then decided to take to the high stakes HU SNG tables, to play against some of the best players in the world. Bad move. A few hundred hands later, and with $140k less in his account, he probably came to regret his decision. The bottom line: just because you're a poker prop, and you enjoy generous rakeback, don't assume that you're able to dominate everywhere.

Poker props are limited by the prop rules in what they can achieve table-selection wise. They cannot join tables that are already full, and often, they're not even allowed to take the last available seat at a table.

Here are a few pointers to online table selection anyway. Before you take a seat at a table, take a look at the statistics displayed in the lobby. Those stats are there for a reason, and you should take full advantage of them. Tables with high flops-viewed percentages are where there's an abundance of multi-way pots. What do multi-way pots mean? A lot of limping of course, which translates as fish waiting to be abused by a skilled player. A word to the wise regarding making decisions based on flops-viewed percentages alone: this stat can sometimes be misleading. Some tables feature artificially high flops viewed percentages on account that they've been short-handed for a while.

That's where the hands played per hour stat comes into the picture: the more hands there are per hour, the more likely it is that you're dealing with a short-handed table.

Most online poker sites offer players the possibility to make notes on their opponents. Marking fish or even color-coding them makes a lot of sense if you're a long-term player at a given site.

Don't forget to take notes on the good regulars, the bad regulars and the short stackers as well. For poker props, it's good strategy to just go to an empty table and wait. Short-stacked fish will soon jump into the game attracting a few regulars with them, and soon there's a juicy table going.

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