table and seat selection

[rafiki]

Without putting any restrictions on specific aspects, I was curious about what some of you guys do when chosing seats.

We can talk about position relative to fish, position relative to very aggressive players, ideal table vpip in a 10 handed game, and so on.

I'm mostly looking to optimize my seat selection in live play relative to the best and worst players at the table. I've seen some excellent players recommend they'd like position on all the big fish to punish their limping. I've always figured it would be useful to have position on the better players during tough hands. If you had to call for a seat change, what are you calling for and when ?

[HOWMANY]

Do you make more money from bad players or good players? Obviously this is a rhetorical question, but the answer to it should also make it clear what players you want to have position on.

[rafiki]

I just haven't always found it that obvious. Some fish I love pounding on in blind stealing situations. Sometimes I like having the ultra passive guy who never raises blinds on my right at the cost of having the best fish in his place.

I do suppose that "fish" is probably to vague given all the types of bad players out there.

[private joker]

1) Who are you involved in more pots with, the fish who play a lot of hands or the TAGs who play fewer hands?
2) Do you want position on people you're in pots with?
3) Do you want the button more often, meaning you want people behind you to fold to your cutoff and hijack raises?
4) Do fish cold-call raises in position? Do you like when they do that?
5) When you open on the button, do you want the blinds to fold the pot to you?
6) If loose fish are on your left, will they defend their blinds or fold them to you?

Like HOWMANY said, these questions all have obvious answers and all point to where you want to be at the table.

[rafiki]

But are your only concerns the player immediately beside you ? Can't it be a little more complicated then that ? Getting a fish on your immediate right that puts you in a seat with one of the best players on your left. Is that optimal ?

[rafiki]

I would much sooner move to a seat with 2 old nits to my left if it got me away from some TAG with position on me.

[DeathDonkey]

If the best player on your left is truly a good player he will not be involved in many hands with you anyway. Yes I'd much rather have him there and the fish on my immediate right. Of course I'd like the table rock on my left but failing that, a TAG is fine.

-DeathDonkey

[Barry]

I love having loose passives on my right. The term that I learned was "FROI" or First Right of Isolation. I hate having them CC behind me. Tight passives go on my left.

I'd rather have the TAG's opposite from me, but if that's not possible, having them to my left is much better than to my right. As long as I'm not getting too far out of line with my raises, the TAG's to my left let me feed off the fish first and they get the leftovers. Well, with the possible exception of bugstud that had a great time 3 betting me, the last time we played together, with semi-air after I opened... far too often for his liking.

[ProfessorBen]

Note: I'm sure theres topics on this already. I made one not too long ago. Might've been good to do a search.
-Weak tighties to your left so you can steal blinds from them and the people just past them.
-LAGs to your right so you can isolate, have position, and take freecards on them when needed.
-Get away from TAGs so you don't have to face them in blind steals/tough spots.
-Loose passives can be anywhere because you just value bet them to death and it doesn't even matter if they have position on you because they just often check behind.
-Sit to the left of someone who never chops.

Which one of these takes precedence depends on the table as a whole. If the table is very tight, making sure you can steal and sitting to the left of the non-chopper are the most important because it will be folded to you(or the SB) frequently. If the table is sporadic with a few LAGs, it's most important to be be able to isolate and extract bets from him. In the games I've played in, 20/40 and lower, this is usually the most important consideration for me.

Usually this is my ideal setup:
6 LP
7 LP
8 LAG
9 LAG(doesn't chop)
10(ME): WIN MONIES!
1 weak/tight(chops)
2 weak/tight
3 weak/tight
4 LP
5 LP

[Bad Lobster]

[ QUOTE ]
Without putting any restrictions on specific aspects, I was curious about what some of you guys do when chosing seats.



[/ QUOTE ]

I don't usually worry about it much because players are moving around so much anyway.

The only time I really want to change seats is when I'm sitting on either side of the dealer. It's hard to see the other players, which sometimes causes me to make dumb mistakes, and occasionally the dealer mucks your cards for you. I don't want to have to fool around protecting my cards when I should be thinking about the game.