Finding a Winning Table

When I am in Las Vegas, Reno or some other city where there are multiple casinos, I like to find a poker room that has a lot of tables.

One thing I have discovered from my years of playing poker is that the mix of players at a table can make a huge difference in your chances of winning. This boils down to one truth: you need to search for a good table before sitting down.

Here is a good example of what I mean. I checked into a room at The Orleans Casino in Las Vegas some time ago. After settling into my comfortable air conditioned room, I took the elevator to the casino and strolled past the slot machines, roulette tables, blackjack tables and dice tables on my way to the poker room.

I passed a dice table where the players were shouting and urging the shooter on. I stopped, pulled out a couple of $20 bills, and bought chips. The shooter was a burly man with thick wrists and a gold chain. He had a pile of chips in front of him. When the dice were handled to him, he began manipulating them to set certain numbers. I knew this meant he was a controlled roller and I immediately placed a bet on the come line.

He rolled a seven.

The dice man paid me off and I made another bet. This time the shooter rolled a six. I placed $20 in chips behind my bet to take advantage of the odds and put bets on the five, eight and nine. The shooter kept hitting those numbers and when I left the table 15 minutes later, I had $240 in profits.

I continued my walk to the poker room. The room was buzzing with action. As I waked between the poker tables, I checked out the games and the players. Two tables were filled with deadly serious players. There was no talk, no jokes, no connection between the players. Those tables I would avoid.

There were two other tables that had a mix of men and women. The payers were smiling and joking. I found a floor man and whispered, 'How about getting me into that game?' He smiled and a couple of minutes later I took a seat and made my buy-in.

There are several different types of players you will find at a poker game. There are the passive players who are calling stations and who rarely raise. There are the aggressive players who raise every other hand. And there are tight players who only play when they have premium hands.

This was a largely passive table with several players who were calling stations. Perfect. My aggressive game would do well here.

For the next couple of hours, I treated that table like my own personal ATM machine. I made withdrawal after withdrawal. I joked with the dealer, the cocktail waitress, and the other payers. I had found a perfect winning table.

The next time you enter a casino, I strongly urge you to do the same thing. Don't play over your head. Steer clear of the super-aggressive players who demand action and who raise and re-raise each other to the maximum. You can only get into trouble at such a table and your bankroll could suffer.

Tables can change in makeup. A once passive table can become quite aggressive as players leave the table and they are replaced by new players who are manic aggressive. When that happens, it is usually time to call a floor man and change tables.

Finding a winning table is easy. Just use your head and make the right choice. Let the games begin.