Table and Seating Choices

Tables also come in flavors. Some tables are very loose with five or more players always in to see the flop. Tighter tables would have three or less regularly in to see the flop. The significance of this is if it is a loose table you may wish to play tighter than usual because with so many players participating it is more likely someone will really “hit” the flop. Good hands are therefore often “run down” by lucky flops and turn cards improving someone’s mediocre holding to a good hand. On the other hand, tighter tables may be best played by playing looser and increasing your choice of pocket cards that you use to enter the preflop betting. If you find you have better luck against tighter tables, then you should check tables out by watching their play and joining when it seems to be to your liking. If you are at a table that is not to your liking or through players leaving and entering, becomes a different type of table, then you can ask for a table change. Casinos and players have no problem with this request. It is often done and casino people are quite willing to accommodate you. After you have selected your table, whether loose or tight, then you should consider your seating choice. My suggestion is to first look at the sizes of the table stakes in front of each player. Since money tends to flow to the left, sitting on the left of a big stake is often helpful.

I believe you should sit to the close left of maniacs and T/A players. This allows you to make decisions after they have bet. I do not like to make bets in front of them, since I may be trapped with an average holding when they raise. You can improve your sitting by simply informing the casino dealer that you wish a particular seat, when it becomes available. They have no problem with this request and you will then have preference over new players entering the game. The casino dealer will, also, offer any open seat when a player leaves first to the existing players. But, if you have not asked for it in advance, you might not speak up in time before another existing player grabs it. If you notice that there are two or three excellent players at the table, this does not mean you are necessarily at a disadvantage. What you need to offset this are two or three bad players. Simply confront the bad players more often than the good players.

I hope this would not happend to you! :)

Man stakes his wife in poker game

Andrei Karpov, from Moscow, Russia, is a prime example
of a man not knowing when to leave a poker table. So desperate
he was to stay in a poker game, he put his wife up as a stake
after he'd run out of money.

His unusual stake didn’t bring him any luck and he eventually
lost the game to his opponent Sergey Brodov. Brodov then
went to Karpov’s house to claim his winnings. Even more
surprisingly, Tatiana, Karpov’s then wife, agreed with the
idea instead of point-blank refusing to be used as winnings
in a poker game.

As a result, she divorced Karpov and later married Brodov
and has not regretted her decision.

'It was humiliating and I was utterly ashamed. But as soon
as my ex-husband did that I knew I had to leave him,” Tatiana
said.

“Sergey was a very handsome, charming man and I am very
happy with him, even if he did "win" me in a poker game.”

John "Johnny World" Hennigan makes history winning the World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event at the Borgata Winter Poker Open. Hennigan joins Daniel Negreanu as the only player to win a World Poker Tour title, a World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Bracelet (Hennigan has won two), and the US Poker Championship. Not only did "Johnny World" win $1.6 Million for first place, he re-established himself among today's poker elite.