Game selection

I canceled my subscription to Sixth Sense at the end of the free trial period. It's an excellent program that accesses your PokerTracker database and then pulls up tables that have the most fish.

My only complaint is the price. For a Gold subscription, which is needed for the program to work on tables above 2/4 NL, I would have to pay $45 a month. That's a bit high compared to the one-time fees of $55 for PT or the $25 for PokerAce HUD.

I may still go back and pay for the program later. I want to see how I can manage without it, especially since I am a table selection nit.

My criteria are pretty strict. I want to sit to the left of a loose player with a big stack. Money flows clockwise at the poker table, and the best way to catch as much money as you can is to sit directly next to the person who's putting the most into the pot.

I also like for the fish to my right to be either a folding station or a calling station.

Now this is important, and I don't think enough people who use PokerTracker appreciate it: the Went to Showdown stat is priceless. I use PokerAce HUD to display Went to Showdown in yellow directly beneath preflop aggression.

Went to Showdown is essential because it's the single stat that can tell you whether you're up against a calling station. In no limit games, a calling station is anyone with WSD stats above 30 percent. A folding station is anyone with WSD below 15 percent.

When playing against a calling station, every bet has to be for value. Bluffs and semibluffs are pretty much worthless. Bet if you have it; check and fold if you don't. Play straightforward. Don't get fancy. Wait for a big hand and bet, bet, bet. The calling station will call you down the whole way.

Folding stations are more fun to play against, but you usually won't get more money from them on later streets unless they have a legitimate hand. Against a folding station, you can break out all those donktastic moves that you've been dying to use: turn check-raise bluffs, scare card bluffs, all-in bluffs, stone cold bluffs. Any bluff will do. The folding station will do what he does best: fold.

Game selection is one of the most important parts of poker, right next to your hand and position. Don't ignore it.