Game Selection at the Poker Tables is Key to Winning... BIG

In my mind, the single most important thing to winning big is game selection. I will sit down to any type of poker game, whether it be No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha Hi, Limit Omaha 8 or better, Limit Hold'em, or even occasionally Seven Card Stud. But wherever I choose to sit down I keep table selection in mind.

I started playing poker at an early age. I played with my family, including my quasi-celebrity World Champion brother, Brett Jungblut. My father, Art Young, the well known big limit player, and my mother, Cris (whose big claim to fame was knocking out my dad from a final table of a big tournament in the '80s) played at our family table.

The truth of the matter is that I don't remember every hand or every game we played against one another. What I do know is that nearly every picture I have seen from those games, shows evidence of how I earned the nickname, Chips Bo. I realize now why those family photos always showed me with the abundance of chips (and it's not because of the "never-ending string of beginner's luck" that my brother told me I had). Those mountains of chips often blocked half of my small body in the pictures. The chips were practically given to me by my overly strategic father, my overly aggressive brother, and my overly playful mother.

The reason I mention this family history is to illustrate the concept that I think is the single most important thing in becoming a winning poker player. My family's style of play was very beneficial to me. I have an 'ABC' style of play, so these early games were perfect for me. For instance, my father was and still is like a bull. Often, he is seen charging ahead with unexpected raises and check raises that are to the casual observer very crazy play. But this style of play is actually his way of winning. He believes that there is often a way to win the pot without having the best hand.

Recently, I remember walking up behind my dad while he was playing 75-150 Seven Card Stud hi/low at the Bellagio. They were three handed on the final round of betting. His split queens lost to the man on his right showing two kings that he caught on the middle streets. The kings checked and so did my dad, allowing the obvious low hand across the table to bet, and with the kings just calling, my dad put in two big bets. The low hand smooth called and the kings thought a little while, decided my dad must have made a set or full house or something that his pair couldn't beat, and then eventually folded. It was obviously an expert play. The Kings didn't quite appreciate it as my dad rolled his hand over saying he had one pair. Unfortunately, the final card had brought the low an inside straight and the player with the low hand won the high hand too and raked in the entire pot.

My brother's style, at least at an early age, was one in which he thought it was his God given right to both win and to be the best player. He played very aggressively, often raising every time he felt his hole cards were better then average, or raising purely to bully his younger brother (me). My mom, who played more for the fun then anything else, got married to hands that were her personal favorites, often citing her reasoning for playing the cards was remembering a big hand she once won with them.

Looking back more recently, I can easily remember some of my good and bad sessions at the casino. It is the players in the game that often make the difference between a win and a big win, and for that matter a loss and a big loss. There is a parallel I would like to draw between my younger days and my more recent ones. It is an observation that seems so obvious, yet is often under appreciated. The players in the game and their willingness to 'gamble' is what makes a good game good and a bad game bad. I remember hearing people complain about so and so playing erratically, or that it was impossible to win against him, so they switched tables to find a game in which they feel more comfortable.

But more often than not, these comfortable games tend to be typically too tight. These types of games are where you tend to have small wins and losses because you are now playing against people playing basically correct and your win/loss is more determined by the luck of the cards on any given night. It is very frustrating in these games when you finally flop a good hand and win, but then realize you only won a few bets.

On the other hand, when in a wild game with several players playing incorrectly, your good hands not only win much larger pots, you often can get out much earlier with your marginal hands, figuring they can't beat several players this time.

Last weekend, I was playing Pot Limit Omaha Hi only, 5-10 blinds at the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was a very good game, with a well known Southern whale (big big fish) seated who was known for his loose calling station style of play. In one of the biggest hands of my life, just his presence at the table made other players play a little looser than normal.

I held the 5-6-8-8, limped in and called a small raise from the whale himself. In early position, I took the flop with six players. The Flop was 4-8-T with two spades. The blinds checked, I bet the pot, $300, hoping to win it right there, but figuring to get at least a little action with that kind of flop. There were three callers with only the blinds folding.

The turn was an off-suit 3, giving my hand an additional straight draw, regardless of which made me decide that I needed to put my remaining 700 plus in the pot. The first caller folded but the other two callers had no problem putting in their money, with the second one saying he "just happened to have $700-plus right here" referring to his stack of several thousand dollars. As it turned out, the river brought me a sweet 4, making me the full house and missing both the nut flush draw and the big wrap straight draws of my opponents. It was a $3,900 pot, and I secretly remembered how it was just like the old days all over again, "Chips Bo" with all the chips and my opponents scratching their heads as to how I did it.

The truth is, I put myself in a position to win big based on my table selection. So do yourself a favor, when choosing a game at whatever limit you choose, make sure there is at least a couple of players whom you can count on that are more than willing to make use of their disposable income.

Bo Jungblut

Note by gank: this article was written by my brother Bo, his favorite games are online pot-limit omaha hi/low and real life pot limit omaha. He also has redesigned the entire Pro Poker School website and lives with his wife Thais and dog Chico in San Diego.