Improving your relative position - etiquette question
I'm wondering how people approach switching seats at a B&M, when you want to improve your "relative position" by sitting next to a specific player.
At my last session there was one player across the table from me that I desperately wanted to sit to the left of. The seat became available and the dealer asked if anyone wanted to move. I had the option of changing seats but didn't want to be obvious about why I wanted to sit next to this player, as I wouldn't want to scare them away from the table or cause them to tighten up. Despite being a very poor player, this player did have enough knowledge about the game to possibly understand why I would want to move there, based on some things the player had said about strategy when talking to other players at the table. While I sat around thinking about how to approach this, someone from the waiting list grabbed the seat so the opportunity was lost.
So what do you do?
1) say "this seat has been unlucky to me all night. Let's see if a change of scenery helps me out" or something equally stupid before moving?
2) quite often when you get onto a full table, the only seat available is one next to the dealer. Everyone hates these seats because of the limited view and switches when they can. I considered whether it might be best to stay in that seat until you can identify seats that would be the most advantageous to you, and then wait for one of those to become available.
Any other ideas? Are most ultra loose, aggressive or maniacal players even aware of the reasons why someone might want to sit next to them? Is there some etiquette to this?
At my last session there was one player across the table from me that I desperately wanted to sit to the left of. The seat became available and the dealer asked if anyone wanted to move. I had the option of changing seats but didn't want to be obvious about why I wanted to sit next to this player, as I wouldn't want to scare them away from the table or cause them to tighten up. Despite being a very poor player, this player did have enough knowledge about the game to possibly understand why I would want to move there, based on some things the player had said about strategy when talking to other players at the table. While I sat around thinking about how to approach this, someone from the waiting list grabbed the seat so the opportunity was lost.
So what do you do?
1) say "this seat has been unlucky to me all night. Let's see if a change of scenery helps me out" or something equally stupid before moving?
2) quite often when you get onto a full table, the only seat available is one next to the dealer. Everyone hates these seats because of the limited view and switches when they can. I considered whether it might be best to stay in that seat until you can identify seats that would be the most advantageous to you, and then wait for one of those to become available.
Any other ideas? Are most ultra loose, aggressive or maniacal players even aware of the reasons why someone might want to sit next to them? Is there some etiquette to this?
Comments
Players change seats all the time for hundereds of different reasons.
The person who is the reason you're changing seats will likely neither notice nor care that you are moving.
ScottyZ
Seriously, I would just change when a seat is available. No explanation needed. (likely no one will even ask why)
hork.
I find that asking for a table change would be more difficult because you're almost saying "I hate all of you, and you can all go to Hell!!" I've never changed tables before.
I sometimes change tables, if I find my current table not loose-passive enough for my liking, or if I spot one or two specific fish at another table.
I have gone as far as changing tables 3 times to follow one specific player.
If we're talking online, I change tables *very* frequently, mostly whenever the fish at my current table are gone.
I'd say that table selection accounts a great deal of my low-limit success. Table selection is IMO one of the more underrated concepts in poker.
ScottyZ