This article draws the views of the experienced players suggesting which seat is likely to be the best seat at the poker table. Believe it or not, the right seat at the poker table can make all the difference when it comes to winning.
In order to effectively choose the best seat at the poker table, you need to have a general idea about what type of poker players are playing with you. If you are playing poker online, then watch a few rounds before you decide to settle for a table and try to figure out who are the aggressive and passive players. However, if you sit on the table where you see some familiar names popping up, then you should get to know their playing styles pretty quickly.
When you choose your seat at the poker table, try to put the aggressive players to your right. This way, you can act after these players who tend to open up more and usually raise or re-raise. If an aggressive player is seated to your left, then you will be forced to play more passively, as you don’t know what move they are going to make after you and you could end up losing more money even at online poker tables.
Position of Poker players at the Poker table
Make sure the next time you sit down at the poker table, stop, observe the situation, and then try to choose the best seat to enhance your winnings. Further, we have come up with the basic questions that beginners must think of before settling for a seat. Is there sufficient money on the table?
It is important to ensure that a table as a whole has enough money because sometimes, a seat isn’t likely to be profitable due to the lack of it. Reason being, if everyone, or nearly everyone, is playing with short stacks, the rake is likely to eat up all of the profit you can expect.
You can look for online poker tables where players have stacks of at least 100 times the big blind (INR200 in a 1/2 game), and most of the other players should have at least 50 big blinds. So, if you see a table with a whole bunch of stacks under INR100, take a pass and look elsewhere.
What is the quality of the players at the table?
In general, aim for a game where at least a few of the players appear to be relatively poor in their game. If you see a table filled with guys you know to be good or better than you, without even a couple of potentially soft spots around the table, you should be inclined to keep looking for a seat somewhere else. This is easier to do in online poker tables.
Is the seat to the left of one of the large stacks empty?
As the great poker theorist Mike Caro has pointed out, money tends to flow clockwise around the table. You’re more likely to win money from a player on your right than from a player on your left. That’s generally because, with the large stack on your right, you have the first crack at his big stack. That means an empty seat to the left of a large stack should be more inviting than one on the big stack’s right on a poker table.
Is there action?
It generally doesn’t take that long to see if the game is lively or a rock garden, just a few hands is often enough to decide. A few hands should reveal enough to make a good estimate of the character of the game. Get these few basic answers – Are players all folding pre-flop? Do players tend to call a pre-flop raise? Are some at least willing to gamble it up from time to time?
Also Check: How To Play Poker
Yes, it’s true that a really good player can make money no matter what the level of action is in a game. In the context of beginners, the ideal game is one with a lot of loose and passive players with players doing a lot of checking and calling at the poker tables.
Where is the seat relative to the aggressive and tricky players?
Assuming the table as a whole is acceptable, you ideally want the seat to the left of the fiddly and aggressive players. You want the advantage of seeing how they will act before you decide to play your hand. For instance, if there’s an active, aggressive poker player sitting to your right, you are in a better position as you are able to consider their action before deciding whether and how to play your hand.
Similarly, you’d prefer not to have him on your left, lest you find yourself having to face a raise or re-raise from him after you have already entered the pot.
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