Starting new tables

This is something I notice that many players are not prepared to do, but is something I have always done willingly.

I started doing it originally on UltimateBet as you used to get double player points for being the first player to join a table. Now I have moved on to other sites but I have noticed that there is often good value to be had in waiting at a new table for other players to join.

Often, other regular players will stay away as they dont want to play heads-up against another regular. Or they may sit down but then sit out until some other players arrive. This is fine by me. Generally, the first one or two players to sit down will be weaker players. Maybe they just fancy a gamble and all the other tables are full so they think "Heads up? OK, why not!"

Sometimes they give away their weakness by the amount they sit down with. If its a strange amount, like $455.72 at a $1000 max table, it is quite likely that they have their whole bankroll on the table. This is a favourable situation, as you will find that if you can get them off to a losing start they will be desparate to get ahead. They will often become married to any hand that they raise or call a raise with. When they've lost a good chunk of what they started with they will often gamble recklessly to win it back or go home.

Other players sit down with the minimum buy-in, and will often start to play 'properly'. For a while you can bully these guys and take a few blinds off them before they realise what you are doing. They normally counteract this by re-raising all-in. If I find anything decent here, like AJ or KQ I will normally call their bet and expect to be in decent shape against their range.

Sometimes the min-buy-in players will reload but with their 2nd attempt they genereally play a bit more aggressively.

On some occasions the table will start to fill up quite quicky. Usually at least another couple of 'gamblers' will come along but when the table gets to 5-6handed the multi-tabling regulars usually swoop. This means that the table dynamics change again. You need to play totally differently against the regulars compared with against the gamblers. However, you can try to isolate the gamblers and you will be largely left to it by the regulars.

Its almost implied that there's no point messing with the regulars when there are some loose fish to fry. I try to take advantage of this a little more than most, but you cant be too greedy or you may get slapped.

After maybe 30 minutes the table plays more like a normal full-ring table, as the fish bust out and are replaced by tight regulars attracted by the higher than normal pot sizes. In my opinion, they have arrived too late to extract value from the fish and must patiently wait for a soft spot to arrive and dump off some cash. This is much more difficult as the shark/fish ratio is totally reversed by this stage. I will generally stay at the table until there are no soft spots at all, which rarely happens, or until external factors (such as bedtime!) require me to leave.