1
2 - ME
3
4 - LAG
5 - EMPTY
6
7 - STATION/GAMBLER
8 - EMPTY
9

others seats filled by typical 2/4 or 5/5 players (some regs, some recreational)

5/5 game. I cant remember the exact seating arrangements but above you get the idea. I had this decision to make yesterday and I sat next to the LAG (and played very tight for the next 3 hours)

* Station was a whale, calls his stack off with TP bad kicker in multiway pots facing aggression on all 3 streets. Loves hero calls. Typical gambler, rebuys constantly.

*LAG is a very good reg. Gets out of line sometimes and has swings but is by far a winning player.

Where do you sit. My original seat, when the LAG sits down, is now horrible.

I like seat 8.

I want position on the station. Your money comes from him. He makes the worst mistakes. As long as you move from your current seat, I wouldn't focus on trying to do more to neutralize the good LAG. And frankly, having position on the station is probably your best defense against the LAG - the LAG will have to adjust to the station.

On top of which, most times the 3 of you are in a pot together, you will have absolute position on both, and if the LAG raised you also get relative position. I agree--Seat 8 it is.

I also like seat 8. My preference overall is to make sure we are not immediately OOP to the difficult laggy player, but seat 8 gives us the best of both worlds where we have position on the whale plus we'll have 4 seats between us and the lag (so he'll be across the table, which is good enough).

If the laggy player was in seat 1 or 2, the decision would be a lot more difficult, imo.

GcluelessNLnoobG

I want seat 5. Position on the lag and "position" on the station. I want to be to the left of the lag and I don't mind value betting to the right of the station.

I want seat 5, definitely -- duecesful typed it for me.

Seat 5 is good too, but 8 is a bit better - you get to play perfectly against the station. Value bet as thinly as you can when he checks, fold more when he bets into you.

Another problem with seat 5 is that you will rarely have the best position at the table post-flop because the passive player will call pre-flop and won't let you have it.

I think wedging the loose-passive between you and the LAG is also going to pay off in a bunch of post-flop situations in which you'll sometimes have the best position.

I would have thought this a consensus seat 8

Seat 7 is the target, and position on him let's you decide about playing marginal hands because he is in it, rather than worrying about what the good player is going to do and HOPING seat 8 plays in a hand with you too

Seat 8 ainec. Your winrate comes from the fish, not the winning player. Lag can open, fish call and you have position on them both... bumhunting 101

Way harder to value town the fish from seat 5, esp if laggy guy opens wide pre.

I'm now convinced seat 8 is the better seat.
Thanks for the input.

I am also convinced. Does assuming the empty seats will be filled by an unknown change the decision at all?