Seat Change

[stinger]

Last night a player sat down and immediately requested "First Seat Change". During the course of his play he had won about 450.00 and I had sucked out loosing my last 75.00 with pocket Jacks to a miracle flush. (He stayed with 4-9)
I said I wasnt comming back and then decided I would. When I returned to the table he was in my seat and his was vacent. I took his seat with my 100.00 and proced to run it into 350.00. He kept complaining that he wasnt getting any cards.
Since all players play differently, rocks, maniacs, tight etc do you think that the seat makes any difference.
Many gamblers think it does in Blackjack but that is a game played by rote much like the players that play video poker and bounce from machine to machine.
I see players winning with hands I wouldnt play and wonder if I was in their seat would I be winning.

[JKDS]

Seat changes matter but not because one is "luckier" or "getting more cards" than another. Their important because they determine which players have position on you, and which players you have position on.

[oskar]

A couple horribly degenerate things going on here.
You're being superstitious, you're complaining about bad beats, you're halfstacking, you're using poker terms wrong, you're coming back to a game when you had already decided to quit.

All of these things are terrible...
Being totally honest - from this first impression I think you'd be better off not playing poker at all. If you insist then you have to change your attitude completely... learning how to play the game will be the least of your worries.

You might think I'm being rude right now, but when I'm sitting at your table, I nod, I have sympathy for your bad beats and I even think there might be something to your superstition while I mumble something about the air conditioning and reseat to your left.

[stinger]

If anyone does not like my posts DONT READ THEM. You dont have to get nasty about it. I dont agree with everything thats posted but I simply read them and if I like them ok if I dont thats ok too.
As far as guitting poker thats my decision so as long as I am cashing I will continue to play and since none of you are involved if I play or not really what business is it of yours.
I play live 1/3NL and usually cash so it cant all be luck.
I know I am not the best player and dont pretend to be I play for the enjoyment and if I can afford it why should I quit. So comming back and leaving a winner was wrong.
My point was why would you change seats if you are winning!

[oskar]

When you there's another seat open at your table then not changing your seat is an equal decision to changing your seat. - staying seated is also a decision you make. Poker is about making the right decisions, and not only while playing a hand. If you pass on the opportunity that will make you money, then you're loosing money.

You always want to sit where you think you can be the most profitable... that is dependent on relative stack sizes, aggression, who's straddling, where the limpers are, if there are any squeezers or 3-bettors or if someone is just obviously on tilt and about to spew his stack.
As a general rule of thumb - you want the tight players to your left and the loose players to your right so you're playing more pots in position. If you're going to iso a lot then you don't want a habitual squeezer to your left...
and so on.

If you don't want advise then don't post here. My advise to you is to stay away from the games and spend some time reading.
You can drive a car without knowing what a clutch is, but there's being able to do something, and then there's being competent in doing something.

I apologize if I come off as rude, but it's in your best interest. It is possible that you've been winning money over what seems to you like a large sample, but it took some divine intervention. More likely you just haven't been keeping track.
In your other posts: your bet sizing doesn't make sense, you're reasoning is spectacularly... creative... you don't really have any clue what you're doing. The sooner you realize that, the better.

[Aces]

Regarding seat changes(and overall a good poker book), read Tommy Angelo's "Ellements of Poker" - but osakar explains it pretty well - when playing live you should evaluate your seat every time one comes open. How well you're running should not factor into it at all. In fact when I do change seats to get better position on bad players I will often say something to the effect of "I need to change seats, not getting any cards here" to explaing the move and so it won't be obvious I want position on any particular players.

I don't think osakar was being rude, just honest.

[ChezJ]

Personally I hate the #1 and #10 seats because I can't see shit from those positions. I also hate being in the middle seats (across from the dealer) because I feel like I am being watched by everyone and can hardly watch anyone else. I prefer the corner seats because I can see everyone from there. If I were seated anywhere but in the corners, I would request a seat change. That's just me.

[sk8r_daniel]

Agree with everything they said...

Another thing regarding seat changes: Just because you are losing money (not getting any cards, or suck outs) doesn't necessarily mean you have a bad seat either.

The longer you stay in one seat, the longer you have to survey the players, gain information on their playing styles and then figure out a more optimal strategy.

Try sitting in the same seat for 7 or 8 hours and see how much differently you perceive that game... hopefully that seat has aggressive players to your right!

[sk8r_daniel]

As for why you are winning, it could be a small sample, but it could also be that you have good intuition and play solid cards, while your opponents are playing even worse cards...

If players who have a grasp on the fundamentals of poker spot your leaks, be glad that there is room for improvement. Improvement = more money! Its not like anyone is actually trying to personally assault you. This is quite an objective forum. They are trying to help.

[sk8r_daniel]

As for why you are winning, it could be a small sample, but it could also be that you have good intuition and play solid cards, while your opponents are playing even worse cards...

If players who have a grasp on the fundamentals of poker spot your leaks, be glad that there is room for improvement. Improvement = more money! Its not like anyone is actually trying to personally assault you. This is quite an objective forum. They are trying to help.

[LawDude]

You should change seats for 2 reasons and 2 reasons only:

1. To position yourself in a more advantageous position vs. the other players at the table (i.e., if you want to sit next to the nit, or whatever).

2. This is minor, but some players really do have trouble seeing the community cards and the other players, stacks, and cards, from the corner seats, or don't want to sit next to the dealer due to the potential of their chips or cards getting commingled. So if you can seat change out of one of those seats and into seat 4, 5, or 6, that could be +EV for certain players.

Unfortunately, the most common seat change at the casinos I play at is for some fish to ask to sit wherever some winning player just got up from.

(Of course, you can use that as a measure of how well you have been playing. If you are playing the game right, the fish should be clamoring for your seat almost every time you leave a session.)