What does it mean when people say to "table select better"? In the Full Tilt lobby, all I can select a table based on is avg pot, plr/flp, h/hr, stack sizes, and whether any players have a red note (which is what I use to assign to long-term winners per PTR). Is there something else included in table selection or are people referring to making decisions based on these available factors? I often see people say poor table selection is a big leak, but there doesn't seem to be enough info available to make super-educated table selection decisions.
you use all of those things to make initial selections. You also want to look for people with non short stacks so we can get value. the deeper you are the more skill involved. Ideally you want the fishest players on your right and tight players on your left. The reason is you have postion to value bet the fish who yo u will be in the most pots with and the tight players will be folding a lot making your CO an extra button most of the time. Part of table selection is getting on and off tables as the become more or less ideal.
If I am planning on playing say 4 tables I usually sit at 6-7 and pick the best four after an orbit or two. If they all turn out great I might stay at all of them but get off as they become less ideal
most people use huds which can import at least one hand in turns means your HUD will display ALL stats you have for people at that table. this is extra ammo at the disposal of a table selector.
also as per uganation's post above part of table selection is knowing when to leave a table. even if all you ahve is the basic lobby stats....if find that the table is not great* the just leave and dont be one of those people who's ego prevents them leaving a table just because they lost a few bets there.
*this is relative...what is a great table at playerA stakes may be a terrible table at playerB stakes.
oh and one more thing.....seat selection is important at the table. table and seat selection go hand in hand and are related. simply put...the seat that is available at a given table can have a pretty significant impact on whether that table is good. sometimes it pays to wait for a better seat at that table.
there are also a few decent threads out there on table selection which can be found via the search feature.
Sort tables by % players to flop, and pick a full table with no more than 2 shortstacks with a high %to flop. If I don't have any identified fish within 2-3 orbits, I'm looking to leave. I do this with ~4 tables and try to end up with 2 tables with position on an obvious fish. THis is basically what uganation described above.
The worst thing you can do is stay at tables where there's no obvious fish. Playing against other players at the same ability level as you means you're just going to be trading blinds and variance - it's a waste of time. There's usually plenty of tables on any site, go look elsewhere for fatter, jucier pickings.
