Poker News

Sam Mudaro is the ‘Omaha Guru’

Today we resume our discussion on poker decisions. If you are like most players you have decided which game and what limit you want to play before even entering a poker room. Most players do not consider table selection or seat selection. Although this discussion is geared toward brick andmortar poker rooms, the concepts may be applied to the Internet as well.

Those who play in limited small local casinos, which spread only one table of your preferred game, and stake, may only have a limited choice unless there is another casino nearby. Table selection may mean different things for different people. The average outgoing tourist may prefer a friendly game where everyone is courteous and willing to engage in conversation. They may not want to sit at a table with a loud drunk, with someone who raises the pot every hand or one where almost every hand results in a conflict or criticism. These are all valid concerns to evaluate when selecting a table or requesting a move. If we are not comfortable and cannot concentrate we cannot play our best game.

By keeping an accurate log of our play we should be able to tell if we do better at a loose table versus a tight table and then seek out the game that offers us our highest win rate. Some pros, right or wrong, seek to play at tables with a high percentage of tourists. They believe tourists present a softer field. Their logic is as follows: Tourists are less experienced because they play less frequently. They will play a greater number of starting hands because they want as much action as they can get in the short time they are here. This will causes them to play less then premium starting hands, push poor hands, play tired and drink too much. Most tourist bring “X” amount of dollars to lose and promptly set out to do exactly that. They view it as their cost of entertainment. If our log includes notes about individual players we may not want to sit at a table where there are several opponents we know we simply cannot beat. Would you want to risk your bankroll at a table consisting of 9 former World Series of Poker bracelet winners?

When we consistently sit at the same table with the same opponents our opponents will know exactly how we play and use it to their advantage. We must either change our style or change our venue to keep our opponents off guard.

Choosing a seat is just as important as choosing a table. If one subscribes to Mike Caro’s philosophy that “money moves around the table clockwise” then all we have to do is sit to the left of the person with the largest current winnings. Before you dismiss this concept let me tell you there is some logic to it. The person to your right will always act before you, except when they are on the button. We all know that acting last give us an advantage. Those that have an advantage win!

When there is a maniac or a person who loves toraise often at your table, you want him on your right. The logic is pretty clear. If you are on his right you will never know if he intends to raise. You would then have a tough decision to make every time you are dealt a hand that you would like to play for a single bet, but would not call a raise with. On the other hand if the raiser is on your right you will know if he raised or not. A benefit that occurs when he does raise, and you have a premium hand, is that you may re-raise. You may also want him to do your betting for you and not reveal how strong your hand is until the river.

If we want a maniac to our right then whom do we want to our left and why? We should seek to have a passive player, calling station or predictable person to our left. A passive person will seldom raise and allow us to call with borderline hands. We want a calling station there to call all our bets. If he is to our right and we get raised, he may fold for two bets when he would have called our single bet. It is always nice to know, the predictable player to our left will bet the river if no one else ventures a bet.

So what have we learned? While we are waiting for our name to be called we should scout the tables and look for one that best meets our criteria for a good game. While seated we should pay attention to the individuals players and ask for a seat change if necessary to keep the aggressive raiser to our right.

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