The Pros and Cons of
Multi Tabling
Multi tabling is a term used in
poker which basically means playing numerous tables at once. This
can be anything from 2 to 24 tables at any given time; however
there are advantages and disadvantages to this. Throughout this
article we will be looking at; why you should multi table? The pros
and cons, hourly rate and multi tabling sweet spot before going
over some key points.
Why Multi
Table
The obvious reason to multi
table is to get an increased amount of hands in a shorter period of
time. If for example at a 6 max cash table you get 100 hands per
hour, you can times this number by however many tables you play, so
10 tables would result in 1000 hands per hour.
The increased amount of hands
will lead to a greater hourly rate, so if you are only a marginal
winner at the game then this could well be a viable option due to
the fact your hourly rate will increase. This is something we will
address at depth later in the article. Let’s take a look at some
pros and cons of multi tabling.
Pros
Playing a greater amount of
hands in a shorter timescale can be a great way to get a decent
volume of hands in if you are pushed for time. A lot of people who
play poker as a second income often lead full time jobs so playing
for five or six hours a day may not be a viable option. Multi
tabling will allow them to get their designated number of hands in
for each session and give them a decent volume from just a couple
of hours play
Bonus ‘whores’ or
‘rakeback pros’ will play a lot of tables at one time as it
will mean they can rack up hands, and more importantly clear their
bonus or generate rake at a much quicker rate. With a good rakeback
deal and a high volume of hands, you can look to make anything from
$1000+ a month.
Reaching milestones on sites
such like Full Tilt Poker (Black Card) can only be done by either
playing fairly high stakes or doing a lot of multi-tabling at lower
stakes. Reaching this sort of milestone can give you extra benefits
along with rakeback.
Cons
As you play lots of tables at
one time you will naturally have less time to act for each
decision, meaning that it’s easy to slip into an auto pilot mode.
By this we mean that you take less care over each decision due to
the fact you will have so many decisions in a much reduced
timescale. Obviously the more tables you play the less time you
will have to act.
This can have a knock on effect
on your game with you making poorer decision as you don’t think
them through as well as you would if you just had that one table to
concentrate on.
Mass multi tabling will also
leave you little time to read your opponents plays and pick up
things such as betting patterns and player tendencies. Even with a
HUD (Heads Up Display) giving you information about your opponent,
it won’t give you the same information in comparison to that of
you making your own reads on a certain player.
Hourly
Rate
We’ve already touched upon
the fact that multi tabling can be a great way to increase your
hourly rate, but now we will take a little deeper insight as to
why.
Let’s say that playing 2
tables at once your hourly rate is $10 per hour over a significant
sample of hands. If we were then to double the amount of table and
your win rate remained constant with 4 tables to that of two
tables, then your hourly would increase to $20 per hour.
However, it’s likely the more
tables you add the more your win rate will drop, so you need to
work out if adding tables is going to affect your win rate to an
extent that your hourly remains the same (or worse, decrease) to
that of playing less.
Let’s now take a look at
increasing the amount of tables you play up to ten. If your win
rate would remain the same your hourly rate would be an impressive
$50 per hour. With this amount of tables however, it’s almost
certainly going to drop. Now, even if your win rate at this point
halved and you only earned $2.5 per hour per 100 hands (or 1 table)
and you played ten tables. Your hourly rate would then be at $25
($2.5 per table * 10) per hour which still increases your overall
hourly win rate to that of playing just 4 tables.
Multi Tabling Sweet
Spot
Given the information we know
have about our hourly rate, its imperative now to find the right
amount of tables that will gives us the maximum hourly
return.
The greater the number of
tables you play, the harder it will be to maintain a good win rate.
Very few can actually play more than 12 tables to a high standard
and often your sweet spot will be around 6-10 tables.
You need to test different
amounts of tables at one time and track your results over
significant samples of hands. From here you can then see the
maximum amount of tables you can play which will give you your
maximum hourly rate; thus, your sweet spot.
Key
Points
- Find your multi tabling sweet
spot in regards to how many tables you can play at once
- Use more tables to increase
your hourly rate
- Remember that the more hands
you play the more you will earn in rakeback or bonuses
- Don’t force the amount of
tables you play, just keep adding to get to a point where you feel
comfortable and can still make the correct decision
- Don’t get hung up on playing
mass amounts of tables
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