If your main requisite for selecting an online poker table is how many seats are open, then you and your bankroll both are in trouble.

Luckily, learning how to find juicy cash game tables filled with fish isn’t hard if you know how to spot them.

Here is what to look for when picking an online betting poker table.

Look at the Flop-viewed Percentage

If there’s one thing that reigns true in poker, it’s that limpers mean fish.

And as long as there are lots of players limping in to see the flop, the pros will always be able to make a living.

Maybe some day you can make a living with poker too if you keep looking at the flop-viewed percentage before sitting down at a table.

On a full table, a flop-viewed percentage of over 40% indicates a table you should be trying to join.

On short-handed tables, look for games where the flop-viewed percentage is over 50%.

Watch for Small Average Pot Sizes

Assuming you can find a room with both a high flop-viewed number and small average pot size, you’re in business.

Small pots mean there are a bunch of tight, nitty players at there table who you can steal blinds from all day.

Plus these tight players are more predictable since they’ll usually only raise and bet out with the nuts, which is makes it easier for you to fold.

Check Hands per Hour

While it’s important to look at the first two factors, they mean nothing if the hands per hour number is low.

After all, if a table has played less than 100 hands per hour, there is a good reason why the flop-viewed percentage and pot sizes were low – there were hardly any players.

So make sure that the hands per hour number is above 100 to ensure that the first two numbers are legitimate.

As local card rooms search for ways to draw players in, freerolls have recently become extremely popular.  Several casinos have tried to one-up each other by creatively structuring freeroll tournaments for players who frequent cash games.  You can also find a ton of freeroll tournaments online.

Freeroll poker tournaments are one of the most attractive prospects to any player for the obvious reason that there’s no buy-in.  Unfortunately, the fact that the casino is putting up the money in a freeroll means everybody who knows there are 52 cards in a deck will be entering these tournaments.  Because of the large amount of entrants with less tournament experience, you need to come at freerolls with a different strategy than you would with other tourneys.  Here is a quick look at how you should approach a freeroll tournament.

Play Conservative Early

Contrary to what some freeroll newbies think, there is no requirement that you need to double up within the first 10 hands.  Even still, plenty of people play every hand like it’s their last in the very beginning.  This is where your strategy should differ because you need to take a more conservative approach.  Stick to strong hands early on, and stay with making plays from late or middle position unless you have something really good like AA to JJ.

Open up Play in the Middle Stages

With most of the ‘all-in or nothing’ players out of the way now, you can open up your play a little more without fear of being re-raised with an all-in bet.  Here you can get more aggressive from middle position, and even play a few more hands from early position.  Of course, this isn’t to say that you should be a maniac….just don’t wait for the perfect cards to play or you’ll get blinded out.

Be as Aggressive as Possible towards the End

If you thought the blinds were a factor in the middle stages, they really become a problem towards the end.  And nothing hurts worse than to play through three-fourths of a tournament only to have the blinds eat your stack.  At this point, you should be trying to steal blinds and small pots whenever possible; some players like to get comfortable and think of cashing so you should capitalize on this weakness.  Also, pick your spots at this point and attack weak players who play extremely tight.

By BetUS Staff

by Carl “The Dean” Sampson

Quite often in poker, if you see a particular play for the first time of asking in a session then it is better to assume that the player is making a standard poker play than getting out of line. Let us look at an example from NL200 six max to highlight what I mean. You have raised with the Ad-10d UTG and everyone folds except the big blind.

The flop comes As-8c-2h and the big blind checks. We make a value bet with the likely best hand and bet $12 into the $15 pot. The big blind then precedes to check-raise us to $50. With the arrival of this check-raise then our hand value has just dropped alarmingly even in a six handed game. Unless the player is a very loose aggressive type or a maniac then it is better to assume that they are playing solidly until we have further evidence to the contrary.

If the big blind is solid then they are aware that a fair percentage of your UTG raising range has connected with that flopped ace. Despite them knowing this they have still been willing to check-raise you. Here you run the risk of going very deep in a marginal situation and getting needlessly stacked.

Here I think the better play is to fold and stay out of trouble. This is all assuming of course that this is the first time that we have seen this player and we have no available information on them at all. But let us say that we are dealing with an unthinking LAG type who likes to blindly call raises and then make post flop moves without thought.

This then places us into a situation where we cannot fold. If we have observed the pattern of calling and then check-raising flops from this player then we cannot fold top pair. Doing so would just leave us vulnerable to wild aggressive players who constantly raise and throw some chips in our face. With the correct information and observing the proper patterns then this would be the perfect time to deviate from standard play.

With the proper information then the standard play shifts and a correct fold suddenly becomes a correct call. What we haven’t mentioned here of course is stack sizes and your decisions will be largely based on your stack sizes and that of your opponents. Usually though at the middle limit hold’em games then the majority of the players sit with full stacks or close to full stacks.

But if you are unsure how to progress then folding sooner rather than later is the proper play. If you had raised with 10-10 and been called by the big blind and the flop came Q-8-4 rainbow then you would be in a similar situation.

In fact this is quite complex as the queen means that the flop has hit less of your UTG raising range than if an ace had come and the big blind knows this. You also no longer have top pair and that is another problem. But a first time check-raise would still probably get me to fold here.

By Carl “The Dean” Sampson – BetUS.com

Let’s face it, we all know the feeling of raising with K-K and getting called and then seeing the dreaded ace appear on the flop. How you handle this situation is dependent on several factors. Your opponent and how they play is key here. If they call a lot of raises with speculative hands like pocket pairs, suited connectors and Broadway cards then you are still likely ahead with your kings.

But if they call pre-flop raises very sparingly then you maybe have more of a problem. You also have another problem if the stakes get higher and you encounter better players. Let us say that you raise to $14 in a NL400 ring game with Kh-Kd and you are called by the button. You both have $500 stacks and the flop comes Ad-9c-5h. There is $34 in the pot after both of the blinds have folded.

Now against a sophisticated player, they will expect you to continuation bet this flop and will be ready for you. The board is dry and has either hit you or left you with a vulnerable hand. If you are playing six max then you have many hands in your range that do not connect with that board.

Much of how you play post-flop is dependent on your opponent and how they play, what they know about you and how you play, your stack sizes and your overall poker philosophy. Also it has to be said that the level that you are playing at will also have an impact. But an interesting facet of this hand is your overall poker philosophy. If you are playing on a smaller bankroll than many of your opponents or you prefer pot control methods then your opponent may sense this and play back.

Let us say that in this instance your opponent called your raise with the 8s-7s which gave them a gutshot straight draw on the flop. They expect you to continuation bet and you do so to the tune of $22. They float you and the pot becomes $78, this is a difficult situation now for any player who has KK-TT. Now the standard line here for many players if their flop bet gets called is to either check the turn or bet a smaller amount.

Each of these plays smells of weakness and a strong player will jump down your throat. If you check the turn and they bet then you are well and truly on the defensive. A strong player will make a sizeable turn bet after your show of weakness and a very strong player will fire another barrel on the river. Do not get me wrong here; there is nothing wrong in protecting your stack and giving up.

But that kind of line and play will be meat and drink to your opponents. Against weak players then you can simply go ahead and bet or players who call too many raises as your kings are ahead of their range even with the ace.