Slow Down at the Lobby

  Any hotel where customers are not afraid to look over their room with a black light probably has a concierge sitting somewhere in the lobby. This person has one professional function in life: to field the hotel patron's queries regarding things to do in town, and point them to the places that best suit their tastes. This means that for travelers visiting new territories, the hotel lobby is the place to go when you need to know something. Online poker players should apply this paradigm to the poker rooms they visit, and take a good, long look at the lobby before clicking on a table to play at.  Poker rooms go out of their way to provide features in the lobby that will help their customers decide which the best table to play at is. A lot of newbie players often ignore the volumes of information that is being thrown at them and simply go to the first one with an open seat. This is a mistake.  According to historical sources, Socrates is one of the people credited with the term "Know Thyself". While a number of other people are also mentioned as the source of this nugget of wisdom, including Chilon of Sparta, Socrates is the one most associated with the phrase. A poker player who knows themselves can actually use the information provided in the lobby to increase the money they win playing poker online.  Most online poker room lobbies include information about pot sizes, seen flop percentage, etc. This can tell a user how loose or tight a particular table is and help them find one that fits their style of play. To simply jump into an empty seat without looking at the specs of the table is a good way to reduce your own effectiveness.  If you know yourself, and use the lobby to make wise choices, you should see an uptick in your bankroll.