The Poker Player’s Manifesto

Game selection, or a poker player’s choice of what stakes and game of poker to sit in on any given day, is an important skill that lost much of its importance during the poker boom. All the games were good, so the accepted strategy was to sit in the game you are best at at the highest stakes you are bankrolled for and maybe change tables to a better game under the same umbrella. There was no reason to play smaller since it was less profitable, and there was no reason to play a game that you are not an expert in since that would ultimately be less profitable than simply playing the game you’re really good at. We’ve always known that playing in a game against good players is bad and playing against bad players is good, but when there are lots of bad players and few good players, then little selection needs to be made.

In the wake of the poker boom, however, drifts thousands of poker players who are really good at no-limit hold’em. All these players were fine years ago when there were tens of thousands of bad players to go around. Now though, those players have either gotten better or quit the game, and the proportion of players that are good has been increased and the proportion that are bad reduced. Now when I walk through a poker room in Vegas, I see many familiar faces. Players who used to be winners at $100-200 limit hold’em playing $20-$40. Guys who used to crush $10-$20 no-limit hold’em slumming at $2-$5 no-limit hold’em. Games have gotten tougher and the wise poker player will devote much more effort to game selection.

It is still optimal to start game selecting with your best game at the highest stakes you are comfortable playing, however is is no longer optimal to blindly sit in that game. If the game looks tough to you, then don’t sit in it! Maybe the game is beatable for you, but will you make more money playing $5-$10 against seven good players and one fish or at $2-$5 against two good players and six fish? I believe the better spot is at $2-$5, where your hourly should be as high if not higher than that tough $5-$10 game with much less risk, exposure, and challenge. Furthermore, I believe that oftentimes there is a $1-$2 game in the same room that is better than both games! Eight super fish at $1-$2 is an extremely profitable spot with little risk to one’s bankroll. Therefore, the first rule of game selection is to be willing to move down in stakes for a better game.

The second rule of game selection is to consider all the different game variants out there, which brings me back to the plethora of no-limit wizards floating around out there who wonder why poker has gotten so tough and what they’re going to do with their lives. I recommend starting with learning the other variants. In this epoch of poker, it is bankroll sabotage to not be able to play in that good game over there because you don’t know how to play the game. It is especially shocking to me when I hear that no-limit hold’em specialists haven’t even learned limit hold’em yet, since that is likely the second most common cash game in the United States.

The problem most of these players face is finding a practice field in today’s post-Black Friday environment devoid of online poker. It isn’t wise to play high stakes in a goofy game trying to learn it, nor is it wise to play in a small stakes game when there is profit to be had in a bigger, more profitable game. Plus, it is excruciatingly difficult to learn a game in a live poker setting. Thirty hands an hour doesn’t teach much and can actually teach some bad habits. So, how do you learn games that you don’t know? The same way you learned to play no-limit hold’em, with a lot of hard work.

I recommend starting the process of learning a new game with online poker training videos. You can learn much more in an hour of watching somebody good at a game play that game online then you can in an hour of playing that game live, especially if you don’t know what you are doing. The wizard talking to you in the video should open up your mind to the general concepts involved in the game and how you should seek to exploit other players’ mistakes. It is important to build a solid foundation of knowledge in fundamentals before ever dabbling in an actual game to improve learning ability and prevent the formation of bad habits.

Once you have an idea of how to play the game, then go play it. The best thing you can do for yourself is get as many small stakes hands in as possible, and the best place to do that is online. Unfortunately, the only options I know of in the US, unless you live in Nevada or New Jersey, are Bovada and Carbon. Using them for small stakes training is an excellent tool. You can get many hands in from your couch while watching football without interrupting your regular grinding schedule.

Once comfortable in alternative games, then consider them in your process of game selection. Sometimes (usually) that $40-$80 Omaha eight-or-better game is better than that $40-$80 limit hold’em game, but you don’t play Omaha as well as you play hold’em.
Most players have played more hands of hold’em than any other game. It is safe to assume that the players at Omaha eight will be worse at the game than the hold’em players, so it is your job to determine that skill gap. Are you, in your hold’em wizardry, better than those hold’em players, or is your mediocre Omaha game better than those Omaha players’ Omaha games? Sometimes it is one, sometimes it is the other, and game selecting wisely will land you in the most profitable game, not the game you are most comfortable in.

Game selection is increasingly important to the modern poker player. Avoiding bad games, moving down to play in better games, and playing games other than hold’em are all important actions that the most profitable player will take when faced with a tough game. Stubbornly sticking to the game you have always played and blaming depressed results on bad luck is a certain way to flush your bankroll down the rake slot. ♠

Bryan Devonshire has been a professional poker player for nearly a decade and has more than $2 million in tournament earnings. Follow him on Twitter @devopoker.