The position that you sit at a cash game poker table is of immense importance. If you’ve gone through the routine we have suggested in order to select the best cash game table to maximise your chance of profit, but choose to sit in the wrong position at the table you will often be in a worse situation than if you were seated at a totally unsuitable table. This is the reason why you will see full tables that have several players waiting for the chance to join them in correct seat position whilst there are hundreds of other tables with free spaces available.

Why Is Seat Position Important At the Poker Table?

When you are playing Texas Hold ’em it is important to have the aggressive players that have a habit of raising to your right hand side and the looser players that will simply call and check to your left. The reason for this is that by having loose players that constantly check to your left means that you can Continue reading →

There are so many thousands of poker players at each online poker room that you will likely play against several new players each time you take the table. These guys are unknown quantities and as such you will not have had the opportunity to gain an impression of their style of play. Are they loose, or tight? Do they play like a rock or do they have a tendency to go for gutshots. If you’ve played against a poker player online before, you can gain a picture of your opponents play. If not, you are walking into the unknown and that can cost you money. To be able to maximise your chances of making money at an online cash poker game there are two main areas that you need to analyse carefully; your opponents and the table stats. Prior to taking a seat at a cash game there is a great deal of information you can view about the specific table itself. It is important that you analyse the data at your disposal so you can make an informed decision as to whether the table is worth entering.

How to Select a Cash Game Table

Obviously the first thing that you need to do when in the poker room lobby is to select the stake that you are comfortable with. Once you have done this, it will likely leave you with 10’s of different tables to choose from. Most people will just click on a table at random and start playing away. On a number of levels this is an extremely foolish thing to do. It is akin to a racing driver turning up on race day expecting to win a race without having completed any practice laps or preparation. One of the great things about playing poker online is the amount of data you can get before you have even started playing on a table. In the lobby area you can usually check various statistics for each table such as –

• Number of players

• Names of players around the table

• Chip stack of each player

• Average pot size

• Percentage of players seeing the flop

• Hands played per hour

Based on the statistics on each table you can make fairly safe assumptions about the kind of game being played on each table. For example – If a table has a high average pot size with a high number of people seeing the flop on average, it would be fair to assume that the table consisted of some loose players that will call and raise frequently. A table with a large pot size but few players seeing the flop will usually mean there are some tight, aggressive players on the table. Typically these players won’t play a hand unless they have strong pocket cards so will often raise pre-flop and when in a hand the player will raise very aggressively. If there is a small pot with a high percentage of players seeing the flop, the game will usually be full of passive players that call the blinds and fold on the flop. Based on your read of the table you should opt for the table that will suit your table to the greatest extent.

Choose Your Opponents Wisely

A great facility that is present in most if not all online poker room software is the ability to view a live table whilst in play. If you are considering joining a cash game, you should watch the game carefully for a while and try to get an impression of the table dynamic. Is there a large stack in there bullying the other players? Can you spot a tell in any players? Is there a fish in there that you can exploit? By taking a few minutes and actually viewing a few hands you will be able to get an idea of what type of players you will be playing against free of charge. Most importantly if you spot weakness in one or more players, you may well have found the table to join. Some players take notes on their opposition if they find that they have come up against easy pickings or a highly skilled player to avoid in future. Simply writing down your findings can be fine. Alternatively there are notes fields which you can utilise which will allow you to write notes against a player you are playing against and the software will store the information for you. Poker room software will even allow you to search for particular players to see if they are online and if so what table they are on. So if you have been taking notes on weak players you might want to have a search for them to see if they are playing so you can join their table and take their chips. There is no mercy in online poker!

In Summary

When you have narrowed down the tables you want to play at based upon your stake value, there are two considerations to take into account – table stats and your opponents. If you have preferred opponents based either on their style of play or general lack of ability, try to seek them out using the online poker site search facility. Players tend to stay at similar stake levels when playing cash games so if their stake value is the same as yours, there is a chance they could be online at the same time as you. If so, try to join their table and focus your attention on bullying them out of their chips. If there are no preferred opponents online, you will need to do your homework on the actual table stats. For example, if you’re a tight aggressive player you might want to choose a table that has a high percentage flop rate and high pot value – in other words a table that likely features loose players. The best scenario is to have a favourable table that features your preferred weak players. If you happen to get this, set a few hours aside, stay out of the chat box and watch those chips fly!

When playing Texas Hold ‘em online you can play games that have a pre-determined number of players at the table. The number of players around a table is an important factor to take into account because depending on the number of players present you will need to adopt your strategy accordingly.

If you are playing in a single table Sit N Go tournament you will usually be able to select the size of the field that you want to compete against. This can range from heads up play (2 players against each other) through to 9 or 10 players around a table. Even though you will start with a set number of players in a Sit N Go, this will slowly dwindle as players are eliminated so you need to be constantly aware of numbers at your table.

There are numerous strategies specific to Sit N Go’s which I’ll go into later.

With cash Texas Hold ‘em games you will be able to see the number of players around a table prior to joining, however, the numbers can increase or decrease over time as people lose all their chips or decide to leave, or other players decide to join in the action. This can complicate matters somewhat, but if you join a solid cash game the numbers shouldn’t change too often so you can get into a poker player rhythm based on the play of your opponents and how many there are of them. As a general rule, if you find yourself on a cash game table with a relatively small number of players such as 4-6, the blinds will come around to you a lot faster than a full table so you can see your chips dwindle quickly. Also, statistically with fewer players involved it will mean that you will need to play hands of a lower value than you would play if there were 9 players involved.

Tables with 5 or 6 players often attract higher quality players because to be successful you need to be able to play lower hands well which means having solid post-flop play and be able to bully players out of the pot through aggressive pre-flop raising. If you fit the bill, then this size of table would be a good option for you. However, if you simply want to see more action quicker by playing in small tables then you need to be very careful and ensure that you show some patience when selecting hands to play.

Larger tables containing 8, 9 or 10 Texas Hold ‘em players are usually more suited to beginner or intermediate players as there is more time to decide whether to play a hand and assess your opposition and the blinds come around a lot slower meaning that you can take your time and only play premium starting hands. However, as larger tables can be rife with beginners and less confident players, it can be an excellent place for proficient players to pick off the weaker ones.

Find a table with a couple of loose callers and you can often clean out their bankroll. Although if a table has several kamikaze callers you might need to be a little more wary and modify your strategy to a very solid, rock-like game. You may not yet know which size of table suits you best if you are just starting out. Play a few sessions against a different number of players and see which you feel comfortable with and most importantly which number of players you regularly win the most against. There are some poker professionals that base their careers on heads-up games and do very well from it, whilst others flourish against full tables. Only time and experience will dictate which size table fits your style of play.

Texas Hold’em cash games are online poker games that are played with chips that are worth actual real money as opposed to tournament poker where there is a set buy in fee and the chips are effectively worthless outside of that specific game.

The main derivatives of Texas Hold’em cash games are NL (no limit) and PL (pot limit) – both of which are self explanatory.

To join a cash game online you will need to buy-in to the game from a portion of your bankroll that is equivalent to the rest of the cash game players to stand the best chance of success and throughout the game “antes” and “blinds” (mandatory bets) can be taken at the start of the hand as well as the poker room “rake” which constitutes a micro payment and is their cut of pots that are won. This is largely how the poker rooms make their millions. There are however, generous offers known as “rakeback” deals whereby players can claw back portions of their rake by virtue of high volumes of hands played.

All the online poker sites offer cash games as these are the bread and butter games of the poker rooms. Casual players can play in games with as low a value as $0.01/$0.02, whereas the more serious action in the poker rooms can be at the £200/$400 NL levels.

As with Sit N Go’s there are a variety of options open to the cash game player and it is up to you to see which suits you best. You may find that you are successful in cash games with 6 people on the table, but when you move up to 9 players you struggle. Or you may prefer to play heads up cash games. Either way, there are options whichever type of player you are and if you are a beginner or even an intermediate player that plays on a casual basis, the tips and strategies on this blog will help to define what type of player you are and at which level you will stand the greatest chance of success.