Seat Selection: Who Belongs on Your Left

You get one decision that applies to every hand you play for the next four hours, and it costs nothing: where you sit. Most players take the seat they are given and never think about it again.

The Rule, in One Line

You want the loose aggressive players on your right and the tight predictable players on your left. That is the whole principle, and everything below is why.

Acting after someone is worth money on every street. When the aggressive player is on your right, you see his action before you decide, every hand, all night. When he is on your left, he sees yours, and he gets to punish your marginal hands with position and pressure that you cannot answer.

Who Goes Where

• On your right, ideally: the loose aggressive player, the straddler, the person raising too many pots. You want to act after him, so you can isolate him with a real hand and fold cheaply otherwise.
• Also on your right: the deep-stacked recreational player. His money is what you are there for, and acting after him is how you get it in the pots he builds.
• On your left, acceptably: the rock. He folds most hands, so his positional advantage over you is worth very little.
• On your left, tolerably: the short stack. Limited damage in either direction.
• The seat to avoid: the one with the table captain on your immediate left and nobody loose on your right. That is the seat where you fold your way to a small loss.

How to Actually Get the Seat

Ask the dealer for the seat change button. It costs nothing, it is a normal request, and it puts you first in line for the next open seat at your table, in the order requests came in. Most players never ask, which means the queue is usually short.

Ask early. The moment you identify who you want to be sitting after, put your name in, because the seat you want will open at a random time and the button is what claims it. The room mechanics are in the card room guide.

Position, Restated for Live Games

Live low-stakes pots are multiway, which makes position worth more here than in a heads-up-heavy game, not less. In a four-way pot, acting last means seeing three decisions before yours, on every street. That is an enormous amount of free information, and it is the reason the same hand is a call in position and a fold out of it.

The blinds are where this bites hardest. You play those two seats out of position against everyone for the entire session, which is why your calling range from the blinds should be materially tighter than your instincts suggest. The preflop guide covers the shape.

When to Change Tables Instead

A bad seat is fixable. A bad table is not, and the two get confused constantly. If the table has no recreational player in it, no seat is a good seat, because a table of competent regulars grinding a raked game is a losing proposition for everyone at it.

Reading a room before you commit four hours to it is its own skill, and Table Selection is the long version. Ask the podium for a table change the moment you conclude the game is bad. It is free, it is normal, and the wait for a better table is cheaper than four hours in a game with no money in it. Most players will not do this because it feels like an admission. It is the single highest-value habit in live poker.

A Quick Checklist for a New Seat

1. Who is the loosest player, and is he on my right?
2. Who has the biggest stack, and where is he relative to me?
3. Is anyone here clearly better than me, and are they on my left?
4. Is there at least one player at this table I am confident I can beat?

If the answer to the last question is no, the seat change button is the wrong tool. Ask for the table change instead.

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