This article was originally written by Dingus
If you're like me, playing just one table is extremely boring. Unlike a live game, where you can actually look at people and try to get some information on their tells, style and general ability, sitting staring at my computer screen does not provide me with endless hours of enjoyment. Like many players, I began experimenting with multiple tables, with my high being 14 tables at once (not recommended, lol). Currently I play anywhere from 4 to 10 tables, depending on my mood and the type of game I'm playing. Some games, like 7 card stud, require you to pay attention to the cards that actually come out, limiting your overall ability to multi table, but holdem, and omaha, which allow you to play the board rather than your opponent (at the lower stakes) create superb opportunities to try and increase your profit potential through multi tabling. I suggest you only attemp to multi table in the online realm of poker, casinos seem to get angry when you're running back and forth in their poker rooms, lol.
Here are a few of the positives and negatives to multi tabling:
Positives of Multi tabling:
1) Decreases boredom and wait time between hands
2) Increases profit potential
3) Increases your own poker experience by speeding up the number of hands you've played
4) Allows you to clear bonuses at an alarmingly fast rate
5) Provides you with the chance to play more on auto pilot and act on instinct rather than over thinking
6) Allows the idea of "long term" to become a reality, rather than having to play countless years before seeing the odds of poker begin to hold up
Negatives of Multi tabling:
1) The potential for catastrophic losses increases with each table you add
2) Your attention is divided across many tables, which may not allow you to pick up as much info on your opponents as is necessary to continually make the "right" plays
3) A larger bankroll is required to deal with swings, something many players aren't willing to wait for
4) The more tables you play, the more automatic your play becomes, which may lead to predictability and exploitability
5) There is always the chance of "unfortunate events" occurring. This refers to the odd time when you accidentally fold a great hand, or time out due to play on another table, call a bet when you didn't want to raise, raise when you didn't want to etc. Over lapping windows can often lead to you doing things that you didn't intend, simply because the mouse landed on a clickable button.
6) Bad beats happen more frequently, due to the massive increase in number of hands played. This fact alone, may lead some players to curse poker and believe in the rigged nature of it all. The simple truth is that if you play more hands in a shorter amount of time, you can expect to get bad beat more often. Learning to deal with this and move past the crushing emotion of losing, will make you a better poker player.
Most players seem to have a grasp on what it takes to be a successful multi tabler, and finding out exactly how many tables you play, while still being effective and profitable, is a very important part of the learning curve. Don't let the thrill of sitting at 10 tables overshadow the fact that you may play better with only 3 or 4. If you are playing for fun, then sit at as many as you want, but if you play for fun and money, find the maximum number that you can sit at without affecting your potential win rate.
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Originally Posted by fharmas
