Game Selection for Beginners

Game selection is vitally important for beginning players. Even though most of the games at lower stakes are very good (relatively speaking) it doesn't hurt to select the best ones. That way you will win more often and you be a happier person :)

What Game Do You Want To Play?

I will be teaching 6-max a.k.a 6-handed No-Limit Hold'em. If you'd much prefer a full-ring game (9 to 10-handed) then there is nothing wrong with that, you will learn much here, I promise.

The reason I recommend and teach 6-max is because the players are worse and the game is in general a lot more fun to play. You have to play a lot tighter in a full ring game and by that I do not mean you should play loose in a 6-max game ;)

You can play very tight in a 6-max game and win, I do it myself from time to time at stakes reaching the $400 and $600 buy-in level.

Okay, So How Do I Select Good Games?

If you're new to an online poker room chances are that you will not have notes on anyone, so you do not know who is bad and who is good.

When this is the case you can use a statistic displayed in almost every poker room called Plr/Flop which indicates how many players are seeing the flop on average.

Take a look at the screenshot I took at Full Tilt Poker, just click on the image to the left. You'll see that I have highlighted some good tables.

Those are the ones you want to look for, for 6-max games you generally want a players/flop of more than 40-45%. For full-ring I would recommend over 35%.

Also note that these figures are for when a 6-max and full-ring game are full, that means every seat is taken. Because if 3 players see a flop in a 10-handed game that translates to 30% plrs/flop but say two players leave and still 3 players see the flop, that means the % is now 37.5%.

You generally want to look for tables where it says 6/6 for 6-max because that means they are full. You can also look for games where there is one seat available (5/6) but try to get a higher % of plrs/flop on those tables. Pretty easy isn't it?

Sounds Good, What Else?

After you've played for a while and collected notes on the players you can scan the tables for players you have pegged as bad. Again, you can click the screenshot to your left.

When you click on a table name it shows you which players are on that table in the area I've highlighted for you.

So keep notes on all of the players and maybe write down which players you think you have an advantage over!

Summary

Make a habit out of good game selection and you will benefit when you progress through the limits.
Look at the players/flop statistic.
Keep meticulous notes!

Ready To Select Some Good Poker Games?

Are you ready to play? Click here to be taken to the featured poker room (don't worry, you can play for play money in the beginning or just nickles and dimes).

Done With Poker Game Selection? Return to Beginners Guide to Poker