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Playing poker on multiple tables – also known as multitabling – is an effective way to increase your hourly rate at poker.
You can find tips on how to efficiently multi-table here
- Playing Sit and Go’s in sets vs. continuous play
- How to arrange tables for multitabling (Cascade vs. Tiled vs. Stack)
So far, so good, you might think. And the more tables you play, the more money you will earn. But it is not so simple. Your goal must be to earn the highest possible hourly rate in poker – along with having fun of course. And multi-tabling is an effective way to earn more money, but not always. Avoid these three common multitabling errors and mistakes if you want play successfully online poker at multiple tables.
Multitabling Mistake 1: More Tables = More Money
If you play 4 tables at the same time with an hourly wage of $10, then your hourly rate with 8-tabling should be $20 and with 16 simultaneous tables even $40? No, unfortunately, the math is not that simple. Each additional table you play decreases the attention you can pay to the other tables. That is why we also speak of “decreasing marginal utility.” If you earn $10 per hour playing Sit’n Go’s on four tables, then you earn $2.5 per table. But if you add another table, then you’ll be able to achieve a total of perhaps $12 (2.4 $ per table). The marginal utility of the additional table is thus only $2 (from $10 to $12). And so it goes on until the marginal utility of an additional table becomes even negative. If you play poker at the same time on too many tables, then you will earn less money than when playing on the optimum number of tables. But what is the optimal number of tables you should use for multitabling? You have to determine this by yourself. Typically, the best number of tables is a figure where you
- always feel comfortable while playing online poker
- will never be timed out
- could play relaxed for at least another hour
Multitabling Error 2: Many Tables = Steep Learning Curve
Similar to the number of tables and your hourly wage is the effect of multitabling on your learning curve. You do not want to play your Sit’n Go’s like a bot (computer player), you also want to improve your game. Because improving your game equals increasing your edge over your opponents, which in turn leads to a higher hourly wage. The problem with multitabling is that the learning effect is lower if you play many tables at once than if you play poker at only a few tables. If you play 15 tables simultaneously you will of course total a higher number of hands played. But you will probably not even notice that your opponent has folded to your all-in bet or that your 2.5BB raise was too small to steal the blinds against the opponents on table 14. Learning poker means understanding the cause and effect of actions at poker tables. With too many tables, you won’t be able to understand cause and effect of your actions, because you will be too distracted. So this means that you just play “ABC Poker” and won’t improve anymore. Of course, you can use tools like the Sit and Go Wizard to improve your game. But while playing poker at the maximum possible number of tables that you can handle, you will just learn to move your cursor quickly and accurately.
Multitabling Error 3: More Tables = Moving Up Faster
This too is a fallacy when multi-tabling, in two respects. First, you earn less per hour if you have exceeded the optimal number of tables. And second, you learn less and play just like a bot. Playing a 08/15 style might work on the lowest buy-in SNG’s, but on the higher limits you have to adapt more and more to your enemies and situations. And it is much cheaper to build up the knowledge and skills on the lower limits. So if you play poker at the same time on too many tables, then you risk
- firstly, to earn less
- secondly, it will be much harder for you to beat the next higher limit
This poker strategy articles is not a plea to the single tabling. But we believe that a successful poker player needs to understand that there is an optimum number of tables that should be played simultaneously. This number of tables is well below the maximum number of tables that one can multitable. We cannot give you a recommendation as to how many tables are best for you – because only you can answer this question. And the answer depends, among other things, on your gambling skills, your familiarity with the computer and poker software and on the limit on which you play poker . While an amateur player may be overwhelmed already with two tables, 20 tables for a sit and go pro in low or middle limits might be too few.
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