Honey Pots

I've been playing $1/2 no limit at Foxwoods lately -- having gone down a few times since my return from the midwest. I've also been able to contrast it with a few "house games" I've been in. There's quite a difference. I prefer the former over the latter as I'll explain.

Foxwoods has been great. There's a wealth of game selection, loads of deep pocketed players who keep replacing losers at the table, and that's not to mention how well the games are run -- compared with "house games". The key for me has been my willingness to take advantage of game selection by moving tables that I judge not to be as profitable as other tables. Here's an example.

I arrived late on a Saturday morning. The place was about one third full -- that is to say that there were only about 30 tables going. Of those a few were low limit and medium limit stud, a few were high limit mixed games going from the night before, a few were limit hold'em, and the remaining 15 or so were no limit hold'em. Of the no limit games, one was a $5/10 game from the night before, four were $2/5, and ten were $1/2 no limit -- my game of choice.

There were two empty seats among those games. I eyeballed them quickly, given that there were a number of folks coming in when I arrived and I didn't want to have to go onto a list and wait for a seat. I noticed that one table had a couple of white young women, a young male African American, a white senior citizen, and five youngish white guys, two with baseball caps and one with a headset. There were a bunch of stacks in the $100 to $200 range, a very short stack, and, in front of one of the youngish white guys with a headset, a very large stack. The seat was just to his left. The other table had nine young guys, three with baseball caps and two with headsets, a couple of whom seemed to be half asleep. A couple of the young guys, each with short stacks, were Asian. No one had a huge stack. The seat was to the right of one of the short-stacked Asian guys.

This was a no brainer. Though the second table looked sleepy -- something that I coudl exploit -- and though no one seemed to be a tough aggressive player who was likely to put regular pressure on me (judging by stack size and the quickly-glimpsed demeanor), the other table looked much juicier -- given the gender and racial stereotyping that I quickly allow myself before seeing anyone actually play. Also, the seat selection at the first table was ideal -- to the left of the one player who might cause me some trouble. I'd get to see him act before I decided to enter the pot.

So I took the seat at the first table, with the presumably deep stacked tough player on my right -- ready to get a read on him and take his money whiel dominating the other players. Such was my plan. It was not to be.

No sooner had I sat down then the deep stacked player literally stacked up all of his chips and left the game, with nary an apology to me for bait and switch. Alas. Even so, as I looked around the table, all was not dispair. There were still a few players with fairly decent stacks. I figured they were beatable and their stacks worth winning.

Thirty minutes at the table disabused me of the notion. Two of the bigger stacks left shortly after my first hand was dealt. They were replaced by two guys who looked to be at least halfway decent -- who bought in for about $100 each. The two women at the table turned out to be very strong. And the rest of the players were as rocky as they could be, typically folding pre-flop even for the unraised $2 big blind.

So I looked around for a better spot. I did this by literally getting up and walking around. I was not disappointed. I noticed a table in the back of the room that had clearly been going all night. There were three guys who appeared to be very tired who had mountains of chips in front of them. They also seemed to know each other. My thoughts were "bachelor party"! Though they didn't yet have an empty seat, the game looked like it had been going all night -- so I figured a seat might open up soon. I went to the floor and asked to transfer to that taable as soon as a seat opened.

Ten minutes later I thought my prayers were answered. As I got up from my rockfest of a game the floor nodded me over. She told me that there was a seat open -- though not in the game I wanted. Disappointed, I looked at the game with the open seat. I had the luxury of watching it for nearly a full orbit. Sure enough, it was a great game -- many deep stacks, many tired and bad players, and what appeared to be an action freak spewing chips. He had plenty to spew (nearly $1,000) so I locked up the seat.

It proved to be a bonanza. I took the seat two to his left. The guy to his left also had a deep stack but was extremely tight. I was fortunate to hit some very strong hands. Three hours later I was enriched by $500 or so of the spewer. He left shortly thereafter.

The game changed markedly by his leaving. It was no longer a profitable table for me. Besides, I was hungry. So I found my buddy who was laying limit and we left the poker room floor for dinner.

When I returned I was faced with no dilemma about where to sit. There was only one seat available -- back at the table I initially had sat down in. A couple of the guys were still there and welcomed me back. The quality of the game had improved; and the stacks were still relatively short. So I started hunting a better game. I found one -- a table with only six players that had been started new about an hour earlier. But a few players had busted. Their chips were congregated in front of two players -- a middle aged fat white guy with a beard, long straggly hair, and a head set; and a young Asian woman. I took the seat as near to the left of the big guy with the chips. The Asian woman was immediately to his right. That way I had a shot at both of their stacks before I commited any money to the pot.

My seating choice seemed to make sense -- though they did not turn out to be the easy opponents that I had initially gauged them to be. Four hours later I left, having won about $200 from them -- plus another $60 or so from the rest of the table.