I mentioned in my earlier post that I'd devote a minute or two to table/seat selection at the beginning of the session and explain my reasoning, then ended up writing it all out in a post today anyway.

I'm "quoting" that stuff here for reference - and I put quoting in quotes because on re-reading it I need to change a few things which I'll do without reference to what it said before. So no quote box which may mislead to suggest nothing has changed.

Here goes:

My table selection goes as follows:
Filter only for the type of table I want to play. Currently this is 10nlhe, 6max, not fast tables (I want 30 seconds for my decisions as opposed to 15), not full tables (no seats right now)

Order by saw flop %. Any table with more than 30% saw flop warrants consideration, I start looking at the top % first.

Typically I disregard tables with just 2 or 3 players, but I don't filter them out because sometimes you can spot a fish there and it's even easier getting their money when the table is shorthanded.

The second thing I look at is the STACKS. If there is no money to be won at the table I don't care how loose they all are. I prefer sitting down at a table where everyone has 100bb or more, but typically I have to settle for 3-4 out of 5 having a full stack.

I open up a promising table and check which seat is available. I probably reserve it and look around a bit. If I have position on the only short stack and I have stats on several opponents and know they are nitty I might just leave again. I ask myself the question - will they be dropping their money in my lap - if no, I seriously consider leaving.

I rarely ever consider the average pot size. The number is an average over a set number of recent hands. That number is probably in the area of 20 hands, and average pot size is skewed heavily by variance. If people have been getting good cards it will be high.

Also there is this: The bigger the average pot size, the higher the chance that the average pot size is big because someone just lost a huge pot and left the table - it's his seat that's available. Good players tend only to get into big pots that they stand a good chance of winning, whereas poor players tend to get into more big pots that they lose. This again increases the likelihood that the guy who just busted out was the biggest fish at the table. Also poor players tend to lose their buyin and leave, good players tend to lose their buyin and reload. So one more reason why big average pot means the fish just left.

I don't count a big average pot size against a table - I do still consider it a small plus. But I don't really consider it much of one. And by this I mean a big average pot size in a reasonably normal range is a plus - a big average pot size outside the reasonably normal range is approaching a minus.

It's much more important imo to get to a table with big stacks, hit sets and get paid as they say.

Or to put it differently - to sit at a table where the money is 1) abundant and 2) loose and then sit and wait for it to flow naturally into your hands. One mistake I often do in the beginnings of sessions is to push to get a profit. When I push it pretty much always goes wrong and costs me a lot of money. Patience is the thing - profit will happen on its own schedule.