The Most Profitable Table

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A couple of days ago I visited a casino just outside Phoenix and had an incredibly lucky time. There was literally no way the players at the table could beat me. I am going to reveal my secret of how to find the most profitable poker table in the room.

The table was $4-8 Omaha High-Low and it was made up of one woman in her 40s and seven male players. My normal way of playing is to spend the first hour analyzing the quality of play at the table. I learned quickly that these players were bad.

My female opponent raised often, but she raised with poor cards. The average Omaha High-Low player waits until he gets pocket aces and a low card or two before pumping the pot. She would raise on almost any four cards. The first time or two she raised, I backed off and folded because I didn't know what she had.

My timid play at the start caused me to lose about $100. But as I became familiar with the really poor play of my foes, I started smiling within. I knew I could easily beat this table.

If you are playing against poor players who don't understand the value of choosing strong hands before calling a bet, it is almost as good as having your own private ATM machine that just prints money.

It is even better if most or all of the other players do not raise the pot, but will call your raises. About two hours into the game, I became the only player to raise the pot -- and I got a lot of callers. In fact, I noticed the woman was calling nearly every hand regardless of what she was holding.

She had a lot of chips in front of her when I sat down, but she lost them quickly. After a while, she lost the smile on her face and changed seats. That is always a good sign. It means the opponent is dissatisfied with his or her play and you can take advantage of this lack of confidence by playing a wider range of hands.

My stack of chips kept getting bigger and bigger. After a while, I had to color down my white dollar chips to $5 'redbirds.' I won over $400 before the table finally broke up.

Look for a table where the quality of play of the other players is poor. If you are the only raiser, you can write your own ticket. There is no way you will go home a loser unless you run into incredibly bad luck with the cards.

As I cashed in my winnings, the girl handing me the money said, 'You had a good evening. Congratulations.' I tucked the money into my pocket and thought, 'If every day was this easy, life would be so grand.'

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).