Micro Stakes Holdem

So everybody knows that table selection is one of the most important secrets to poker success. We’ve heard all the stories:

- So-and-so isn’t very good at the mechanics of the game but he’s a consistent winner because he’s got fantastic table selection.

- Whats-his-name burned out like a shooting star not because he didn’t have the chops but because he never recognized when he was outclassed at the table. He could easily hold his own against the average players at his level, but he consistently went after the best, and he got busted for it.

- If you’re the tenth-best player in the world and you’re sitting at a table with players #1 through #9, you should leave, because sitting there is -EV for you.

And so forth.

So table selection is super, super, super important. We hear it so often that it has become a part of our “poker mantra.” Since we realize that if we improve our table selection our winrate will go up, we’ve gotten to the point where we actually consider table selection a skill for a good 2+2er, just like selective aggression or proper value betting.

But how the hell do we actually *do* it?

The nice thing about table selection is that the basics are so darned EASY. Once you know what you’re looking for it becomes second-nature to be able to spot a “good” table versus a “bad” table. Everybody will have their own version of what a “good” table means, but the most basic guideline is this:

Good table selection means filling the seats with players that are most easily exploited by your style of play.

Did you notice that I didn’t say anything about who those players are? That’s because “easily exploited” is in the eye of the beholder. Much of poker has a rock-paper-scissors feel to it; at the risk of overly abusing the metaphor, a table full of “scissors” would be the perfect table for a “rock” but a HORRIBLE table for a “paper,” whereas a table full of “rocks” would be fantastic for a “paper” but neutral EV for another rock, etc. Let’s get started by trying to figure out who we can exploit.

Who the hell are you?

What is your playing style? Depending on how you play, there will be natural fits in the poker world: players you devour and players you fear. Let’s explore the most common types of 2+2 uNL players:

1. I am weak-tight.

The most common type of uNLer is the weak-tight player. I don’t mean that as an insult; it’s actually a very effective winning strategy at uNL, which is why it is so common to see. The weak-tight player looks something like this:

- Tight preflop. Your VPIP is probably under 25%. You don’t like to play unless you’re actually holding a hand. You like to know that, before the cards even hit the board, you’re winning.

- Aggressive preflop. Your PFR is probably half of your VPIP or more. If a hand is worth playing, you feel that it’s worth fighting for. First in you damned near NEVER limp, unless circumstances are truly unusual.

- You don’t often get to a showdown. It’s not too common that you actually reach a showdown; for that to happen you’d have to have a great hand and your opponent would also have to have a great hand. Your fear of monsters under the bed means that you fold very often postflop; also, your aggression when you have a good hand means that your opponents usually fold when YOU have a good hand postflop. As a result, showdowns just don’t come by very often.

How should a weak-tight player go about maximizing value through table selection? Well, you want opponents that you can easily exploit. You win the most by having the best hand and getting paid by weaker hands. You also don’t deal well with aggression, so you’d like to mitigate that factor. Where does this leave you?

- You want your opponents to be loose. An opponent with a high VPIP will mix it up with you when he’s behind, and that’s where your winrate comes from. Loose is your friend: high VPIP (over 50%) and high WtSD (over 30%) are qualities you’d like to see in your opponents. This is especially true of the person directly on your right, since that’s the person who will be paying you the most.

- You want your opponents to have stack sizes you are comfortable with. Ideally, you’d like to have your opponents with big enough stacks to make it worth your playing but not so large that you can get easily scared off the best hand. Where your comfort zone lies will be a personal decision.

- You want your opponents to be passive. You don’t deal well with aggression, so you’d like to have someone who would not pressure you when you’ve got a big draw. This is especially true of the person directly on your left, since that’s the person who could put the most pressure on you the most often. Look for average aggression numbers under 1.5; under 1.0 would be even better.
Note that the absolute most standard and generic advice about table selection is “loose and passive”: that’s because weak-tight players are the ones most often looking for input about how to table select. But what if you’re NOT weak-tight?

2. I am a nit.

Nits are players who take the “tight” aspect of “tight/aggressive” VERY seriously but downplay the “aggressive” part a bit. Nits generally look something like this:

- Ridiculously tight preflop. A nit’s VPIP will often be under 20% at a six-max table. Some nits actually have VPIPs below 15%. Basically, they just refuse to mix it up at ALL preflop, and as a result they don’t play many hands.

- More aggressive preflop than postflop. A typical nit will raise most of the hands that they play preflop, but will often shut down postflop, usually after making a c-bet. Some nits have aggressive stats simply because they fold an insane amount of the time (the true “set hunters”) while others actually look a bit on the passive side postflop because they go for pot control in all but the most obviously dominant situations.

- You hardly ever get to showdown, and you hardly ever LOSE at showdown. A nit doesn’t see showdowns without a virtual lock on the hand, so WtSD will be remarkably low while W$SD will be equally remarkably high. It’s not unheard-of for a nit to go to showdown under 20% of the time and win at showdown over 60% of the time.

How should a nit table select?

- You want your opponents to be aggressive. The most important aspect for a nit is to have aggressive opponents. Since the nit won’t make plays on his own, his best bet for cashing in will be to slowplay and let his opponents bet themselves to death. Many is the TAG or LAG who fires off three barrels at a nit expecting a fold, only to find that his opponent has the stone cold nuts and has just milked him for an entire stack. The saddest sight in the world is a nit with flopped quads winning 8 BBs from a calling station with a flopped full house, but it happens depressingly often. Given that you’re going to need your opponents to do all the work, find opponents WILLING to do the work. If your opponent has an average aggression rating over 2.5, you are happy. If it’s over 4.0, you’re ecstatic.

- You want your opponents to be loose post-flop. A high WtSD (say, over 30%) is a handy thing to look for in an opponent, because you want to make sure that on those rare occasions when you’ve actually GOT the hand you want, you’re not going to lose your customers. A nit does not make his money through folding equity; he makes his money at showdowns. You’d like your showdowns to be frequent and you’d like your showdown pots to be enormous.

Nits are the only opponents who actually can make really good money from bad TAGs. Smart LAGs are terrified of good nits, but dumb LAGs have zero respect for nits (though they pay them off like freakin’ slot machines). Watch for aggressive tables with extremely large pots: these will be your bread and butter.

3. I am a LAG.

LAGs never met a hand they didn’t like, but they play all of their hands to the bone. A good LAG has the aggression of a TAG, the looseness of a donkey, and the selectiveness of a champion. The differences between a good LAG and a bad LAG are timing, hand reading, and table awareness, and those features mean the difference between being a huge winner and a huge loser. A LAG benefits greatly from smart table selection. What should a good LAG want in opponents?

- You want your opponents to be weak. Nits are absolute money buffets for a good LAG: the LAG wins most of the blinds, almost all of the small pots, many of the medium sized pots, and almost half of the big pots. By having weak opponents who fold entirely too often, the good LAG can steal relentlessly. While he loses more than his share of big pots, he steals so many of the (much more frequent) small- to medium-sized pots that it more than makes up for it. The good LAG understands Sal Bandini’s advice: “apply pressure until you hear cartilidge snap or they crap in their pants.” The best way to spot a weak opponent is to look at their W$WSF (smaller is better — under 40% would be fantastic) and their WtSD (you don’t want them going to showdown often — under 25% is healthy for you).

- You want your opponents to be straightforward. Tricky opponents will be the death of a good LAG. Slowplaying is the most deadly weapon of the good LAG’s opponents, so you want to watch for opponents who play in very obvious ways. Good ways to spot this are to look for small check-raise numbers (say, under 0.5%), small raise c-bet numbers (under 15% or so), and large fold to c-bet numbers (over 60% would be nice). When your opponent has a hand you’d like him to make it clear IMMEDIATELY; when he does not have a hand, you’d like him to fold IMMEDIATELY.

Good LAGs therefore prey on the bad regulars more than the bad tourists. Luckily, there are many bad regulars at the uNL (and SSNL, and MSNL) levels, so table selection is still a viable option.

Source: 2+2