Game Selection

I wrote a series of blogs which I will repost here called "Things that aren't in Poker Books"

The following talks about game selection

Today's entry is on game selection......................most writers give you the stock answer on game selection, FIND A GOOD GAME, I am not sure what that means, so, since they didn't tell me, I will tell you.

Game selection depends on quite a few different factors...............Type of game, Your style, your mood, ante structure, time of day............etc...............

Personally, I consider myself at least moderately competent at a bunch of games, so I need to take all of these items into context when selecting a game.
Type of Game - If you are playing big bet poker (PLO, NLH, etc) you may want a loose passive game to allow you to control the action, even tight passive could work, if you are someone that likes to take control of the table and raise and reraise a lot, If you are playing limit poker, you may might want a loose aggressive game, that builds gigantic pots to allow your ability to understand the math of the game to take control.................

Your style - You ideally want a game that is the opposite of your style, this seems like common sense, but a good game to you, might be a horrible game to me...............example, if you are a loose aggressive player, you might not want a stud hi game like I played the other night on FT, in which the $1/$2 stud game had several pots over $40, you would ideally like the Stud 8 games on Stars that I sometimes frequent which allow enough stealing opportunities to be basically freerolling when you do have a contested pot. If you are a very tight player, a big bet game that is loose might be ideal, so that you can wait for quality hands and still get a lot of action

Your mood - This is rarely taken into account, but it can save you lots of money, everyone has sat down at the table and either felt really passive or really aggressive when they sat (regardless of their normal style), so sitting at tables that are the opposite of your mood is a very smart idea.......................I remember feeling really aggressive and sitting at a $1/$2 Stud8 table on Stars with a 24% 4th street %, which is really low for this level................I sat down and ran over the table and when I did make a hand, I got action because I was the crazy player..............very nice session................on the other hand, if you are feeling really passive, an aggressive Omaha 8 Limit table might be good, you can sit, wait for a huge hand and let the aggressive players build a pot for you

Ante Structure - This should be taken into account along with the items mentioned above...........I will give an example, if i jonesing to play stud, I have 2 options, the $1/$2 game on Stars which has a $.10 ante and $.50 bring in or the $1/$2 on FT which has a $.20 ante and $.25 bring in.................so, if I am feeling loose and gambley, I play on Full Tilt, due to the larger initial pot in a 8 handed game and my larger investment per round, if I am feeling really tight and only looking to play big paired hands then I go to Stars, it is important to know the difference

Time of Day - General rule is that mornings and afternoons are filled with people that are not intoxicated and generally play very nity, the night time (for me, especially the 3 hours after work in the US) or even the weekends are very loose and lots of times you will be playing with people who are having a few drinks to unwind.................see which spot you prefer

All of these factors should be considered when picking a game to play...............more on game selection at a later date (including tournaments)