Better Switch Than Fight: On the Importance of Table Selection in Poker
In poker, from where does your long-term profit come?
If you answered "luck," you are clearly wrong. Luck is chiefly a short-term phenomenon. Indeed, you probably didn't answer "luck." We all know that poker is more than that, but it sometimes bears repeating.
However, if you answered "skill" — as in your skill as a player — you are only partially correct. If you rely on applying your poker skills alone to improve your long-term profit, even if you are a true master you could still end not winning as much as you could, or even losing.
The correct answer is that your profit in poker comes from correctly applying the differential between your skills and those of your opponents. As the saying goes, if you are the sixth greatest poker player in the world but playing against the five people in the world who are better than you, you will end up losing. Nothing is gained by sticking around and battling it out with your betters.
Whenever possible you want to switch from a table of sharks to one where you can play against your inferiors. But few do this.
There are a number of reasons why this is so. Many players have an inverted view of whom they should play against. Some speak about how they can't beat bad players — how their tables are unfortunately filled with luckboxes and fish. Absurdly, these players think it preferable to play against better players, lamenting as they do the poor quality of their opponents.
Similarly, there are players who have a distorted view of the skill of their opponents and of their own skill. They inflate their own ability and incorrectly minimize that of their opponents. They often attribute their losses not to being outplayed, but to vagaries of chance.
There is also an inertia of rest that infects the play of many. Their asses seem glued to their seats! This phenomenon is probably caused by two very different impulses.
One is laziness — that is to say, a simple unwillingness to physically move to another table.
The other is an anxiety over being seen as wanting to leave. Many don't like to admit that other people are superior players. So we are loathe to retreat in the face of better talent or execution. We so want to be a superior player (or be seen as such), we do not credit others with being better. We surely don't want to admit it by going to a different table to avoid them. That would be akin to admitting defeat.
Poker players often embrace the creed of competitive athletes — "Winners never quit, and quitters never win." So we fight on at a table even when we should go elsewhere.
With all that said, let me give you a five-step prescription for quitting a bad table, and as a result considerably improving your chances of increasing your bottom line.
Step #1: Honestly size up the relative skill of your opponents and yourself
This is not always easy to do, but it is essential. Are you able to dominate your opponents at your table? Do they seem to fear you? Can you manipulate their play with your betting action? If so — if you truly seem to be the dominating player — then you probably are the most skillful.
Are some of your opponents, on the other hand, making your head spin? Are you frequently worrying about what the guy in the 4 seat or the woman next to the dealer are going to do whenever the action is on them? Does it ever appear as if they can practically read your cards, or know when you are weak and when you are strong? They may well be better players than you.
Step #2: Look around at the other games to determine if there is likely to be softer opposition
This requires taking a walk around the poker room every now and again. See a table full of the tough players you have avoided in the past? See one with a bunch of short-stacked grinders, rocking around without giving any action? Avoid those tables to be sure.
But what about the one with the five folks sitting together from a bachelor party? What about the one with six of the people with bottles of beer in front of them, two of whom have deep stacks? Those would be ideal places to play.
Step #3: Have the initiative to ask the floor for a table change
If players at your table ask why you're looking to move (and it's best if you can do this discreetly to avoid this conversation), you can either laugh it off, tell them overly seriously that they are just too good for you, or make up some story about wanting to change your luck, or getting a better view of the game.
Though folks may notice you leaving, it rarely matters that much to them, especially once they become engrossed in the next hand. So don't give it a second thought.
Step #4: Be willing to move, even if you just won a hand
Your decision to stay or leave should not be influenced by having just won or lost a single hand. Once you've made the decision to go, have the temerity to stick to it (unless the quality of either game seems to have changed since you made the decision to move).
Step #5: Be willing to move again if conditions require it
There is no limit to how many times you can move, although you don't want to make a major nuisance of yourself. I've moved two or three times in a session, each time to try to find the most profitable table. It seems to have paid off, as I've frequently booked profitable sessions from the tables to which I have moved.
Of course, part of the reason I've done well could be due to an improvement in my play when I leave, having become motivated more to do so once I've left what I thought of as a losing environment. But even if moving works for purely psychological reasons, what's wrong with that?
Conclusion
The key is to embrace the winning thought that it's better to quit a tough game and switch to a good game. Remember — there's no prize for valiantly soldiering on against the best players in the room.
Ashley Adams has been playing poker for 50 years and writing about it since 2000. He is the author of hundreds of articles as well as Winning 7-Card Stud (Kensington 2003). He is also the host of poker radio show House of Cards. See www.houseofcardsradio.com for broadcast times, stations, and podcasts.
