Cash Games - waht to look for

[bennymacca]

What do people look for in cash game stats when they sit down?

i tend to look for tables that have a flop percentage of around 30%. this means that there is usually some action to pay you off when you get cards, but hopefully not enough players that it just turns into bingo.

What about the stack sizes of people on the table? big stacks are good in that they will pay you off, but bad because they can bet you off winning hands.

similarly for short stacks - easier to bully, but also more likely that they have either lost a big pot and tilting, or that they bought in short stacked and are just looking to blow off steam.

i am usually a tournament player, and i have had moderate success with tourneys, but i am looking to improve my cash game as it is much easier to build a good bankroll if you are winning.

[Garth Kay]

benny the cunt,

I look for a good flop percentage as well. There are not many other stats I look for.

I play 2/4 or 3/6NL when I do play cash. So it is a different style of game, my bankroll on the one site I do play cash can sustain quite a few hits.

I keep track of certain players on this site, players that I have made fairly comprehensive notes on as well as keeping track of their stats.

Some key stats:

VP$IP
PFRaise%

Once you have a good data spread of these two stats it gives you the ability to classify your opponent.

If you can tell me what these two stats are and how you use them I will go into more detail about other things to look for.

[bennymacca]

VPIP is voluntary money put in pot - i.e flop percentage not including checking the BB.

anything less than about 22% is tight, 22-28 or so is normal, 29-35 is loose, 35+ is maniac.

PFR is preflop raising - i would say that most of the time, around 10% PFR is a decent figure - any more and its prolly too much.

looking at my cash game stats on pokertracker, i am a 29/9 player. this is prolly still a little loose, but that used to be at about 34/12, so i have tightened up a lot lately, and i think it is paying rewards, especially when i am out of position

i would think that the best tables to be on are those that you are slightly tighter than the rest of the players on the table. this means that the other players play a similar hand range to you, but hopefully a few more losing hands.

[muzzington]

I usually look for an empty table, sit there for a couple of hours, then leave so I can claim I had an even session.

[bennymacca]

I usually look for an empty table, sit there for a couple of hours, then leave so I can claim I had an even session.

lol gold as usual muzz.

[Brett Kay]

Depending on how much i am buying in for.

Don't want to be short stack, don't want to be big stack.
Position on the table. Don't want to be the guy to the right of the bigstacks. Old tournament thing.

Hands per hour - See if it is relatively quick
Players Per flop - to see if there is action on the table. However high % means not a lot of preflop raising, Low % means a lot of preflop raising.

Average pot size - Just a quick glance. But usually a pot should be around 20bb of the table stakes. Be careful if it is $100 on a 10c/20c table though, means there is someonethere that pushes all in when they have a hand.

[Ondie J]

Can't honestly say that I've looked for anything other than a full 6 seater. Well, that I'd make it full. I guess I probably should be though after reading this thread.

[AceLosesKing]

*what.

I never used to play cash games - tournys are more my game. But I am slowly getting into them.

[bennymacca]

*what.

I never used to play cash games - tournys are more my game. But I am slowly getting into them.

thanks for that comment aaron, it was certainly useful

[AceLosesKing]

*what.

I never used to play cash games - tournys are more my game. But I am slowly getting into them.

thanks for that comment aaron, it was certainly useful

It matches my other 1652 posts. Gotta be consistent.