Why multi-table?

Hi, my first post. I've been reading here for a week or so.
I have noted that many here play 4-8 tables. A few ideas come to mind:

1) The more tables you play, the more money you can win in the same amount of time, but,
2) You can simply play higher limits and only 1 table. (play 5/10 rather than .50/1). BUT,
3) competition is generally better the higher the stakes so one should stick with more of the lower tables rather than one of the higher tables, But,
4) Many have posted that there ROI is higher when 1 tabling rather than 8 because they can play the player better.
So, wouldn't the increased ability to play the player on 1 table at 8x the stakes more than offset the fishness of the lower tables at 1/8 the stakes?

Please explain why you 1 table at a higher limit or multitable at the lower. Thanks for FTR. Glad to join.
HTN!! (Help The Newb!) :)

Think of it this way. You are bonus whoring and you want to play the most raked hands as possible, as fast as possible. That way you clear the bonus and move along.
The other way of thinking of it is you don't get a playable hand each time you get dealt cards, but if you have 4 tables on the go, one of them is bound to have a playable hand. If not, the time til you get a playable hand is much less then if you were playing at one table, thus reducing boredom.

Bonus whoring!!

Because I make ~$15 an hour with one table...

And ~$25 an hour when playing 4+ tables

The decrease in your ROI as you move up in stakes is greater than the decrease in your roi as you add tables at lower stakes that you dominate.

Also, less variance becuase you're playing 4 or 8 times as much.

-'rilla

Quick question; how do you multi-table 8 tables? I thought party poker & pp skins only let you play 1 table at a time? Do you just open up heaps of skins?

PP isnt the only site out there =)

Ok, I think I get that. Rilla, as I pondered it more I realized that variance must be a factor I was missing. Thanks for pointing that out.
When would you suggest a rookie move from 1 table to 2? When did you decide you were seasoned enough to play multiples?

Thanks for the replies all of you. I have read lots of your posts elsewhere I appreciate the wisdom. I'll be calling up your genious in some more postings soon.

Hofalo
On pstars as AIAC (All In And Crying)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by renegaderob1

Quick question; how do you multi-table 8 tables? I thought party poker & pp skins only let you play 1 table at a time? Do you just open up heaps of skins?

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You can play 4 tables at a time on party and skins. I am betting you're thinking its only 1 at a time from play money.

party + empire = 8 tables.

and, I think you can start playing multiple tables as soon as you are a competent winning TAG at one table. Playing at just 2 tables doesn't affect you as much as you'd think: a lot of playing poker is folding and waiting.

BTW: one key thing to mention...

Tilt is bad single tableing... multitableing you can burn 4 or 5 buy-in's VERY quickly (and no, that not experience speaking, nope, no way, i'd never ever do that, not in a million years!)

well... no more than a couple times anyway

I would definitely play at least 2 tables. If you want to play the player and really pay attention to your opponents, you can still play 2 tables, and put 90% of your concentration on 1 table while you just switch over to the other when you have to make a decision there. When I play tourneys, I will 2 or 3 table, and put most of my attention on the tourney. If I get down to 4 or 5 players at a SNG, or deep into a MTT, I'll close down the other tables to concentrate on that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Laeelin

BTW: one key thing to mention...

Tilt is bad single tableing... multitableing you can burn 4 or 5 buy-in's VERY quickly (and no, that not experience speaking, nope, no way, i'd never ever do that, not in a million years!)

well... no more than a couple times anyway

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I find that tilt is somewhat less of a factor while playing 4 tables, cause although I may be pissed that my kings got cracked on the river on one table, I'm thrilled that my flush made it and trippled me up on another table. It all seems to balance itself out in the end. (variance)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by storm75m

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Laeelin

BTW: one key thing to mention...

Tilt is bad single tableing... multitableing you can burn 4 or 5 buy-in's VERY quickly (and no, that not experience speaking, nope, no way, i'd never ever do that, not in a million years!)

well... no more than a couple times anyway

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I find that tilt is somewhat less of a factor while playing 4 tables, cause although I may be pissed that my kings got cracked on the river on one table, I'm thrilled that my flush made it and trippled me up on another table. It all seems to balance itself out in the end. (variance)

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Yep, tilt is hardly a factor when multi-tabling because you are moving onto to your next batch of hands before you even have time to think about a bad beat you just received.

Quote:

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Why multi-table?

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Why have sex with only one woman?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DaNutsInYoEye

Quote:

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Why multi-table?

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Why have sex with only one woman?

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:D

Why multitable:

• fights boredom - more hands -- and I play better when I'm not Jonesin' for action
  reduces variance
  decreased play efficiency does not decrease time efficiency -- one table, win $20; two tables, win $15+$15=$30; three table, win $12+$12+$12=$36 ======= $36 is better use of my time

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hofalo

Ok, I think I get that. Rilla, as I pondered it more I realized that variance must be a factor I was missing. Thanks for pointing that out.
When would you suggest a rookie move from 1 table to 2? When did you decide you were seasoned enough to play multiples?

Thanks for the replies all of you. I have read lots of your posts elsewhere I appreciate the wisdom. I'll be calling up your genious in some more postings soon.

Hofalo
On pstars as AIAC (All In And Crying)

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The momment your focus weakens when you only play one table. At 4 full tables, I still dont pay attention to much going on outside of the forum. :(

-'rilla

I think a good time to add tables is when your PF decisions are automatic and most post flop decisions are fairly easy. At that point you can add tables w/o spending much time at any one table.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by storm75m

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Laeelin

BTW: one key thing to mention...

Tilt is bad single tableing... multitableing you can burn 4 or 5 buy-in's VERY quickly (and no, that not experience speaking, nope, no way, i'd never ever do that, not in a million years!)

well... no more than a couple times anyway

---

I find that tilt is somewhat less of a factor while playing 4 tables, cause although I may be pissed that my kings got cracked on the river on one table, I'm thrilled that my flush made it and trippled me up on another table. It all seems to balance itself out in the end. (variance)

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Kings getting busted will not tilt you, but dropping 4 buy-ins can make you tilt =)

Laeelin, I'm glad I'm not the only one loosing several buyins due to multitable tilt.

Yes, its easier to get over a bad beat when multitabling, but if you are experiencing lots of bad variance at several tables at once, it can put you on multitilt - being on tilt when multitabling certainly is not a thing I want to experience again

Below are two hands from about 10 like them today.. (edited hands to make shorter)

I'm down 7.5 buyin's so far today on pokerstars (up 3 on party poker to help recover from the rest)

I'm not tilting this time though, and i'm keeping it that way :)

Seat 2: Vinas ($13 in chips)
Seat 3: Laeelin ($95.15 in chips)
Seat 5: rebellious1 ($40.10 in chips)
Cadro1: posts small blind $0.50
phootball23: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Laeelin [Ac As]
Vinas: raises $2 to $3
Laeelin: raises $2 to $5
rebellious1: calls $5
phootball23: folds
Vinas: raises $8 to $13 and is all-in
Laeelin: raises $8 to $21
rebellious1: calls $16
*** FLOP *** [9d Ks 6d]
Laeelin: bets $20
rebellious1: calls $19.10 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [9d Ks 6d] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [9d Ks 6d 3d] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Laeelin: shows [Ac As] (a pair of Aces)
rebellious1: shows [Qd Td] (a flush, Queen high)
rebellious1 collected $53.20 from side pot
Vinas: shows [Ad Kc] (a flush, Ace high)
Vinas collected $38.50 from main pot


Seat 1: goliazone ($98.50 in chips)
Seat 8: Laeelin ($101 in chips)
Laeelin: posts small blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Laeelin [Ad As]
goliazone: raises $3 to $4
Laeelin: raises $6 to $10
goliazone: calls $6
*** FLOP *** [9s 7c 7d]
Laeelin: bets $10
goliazone: calls $10
*** TURN *** [9s 7c 7d] [Jc]
Laeelin: bets $19
goliazone: raises $59.50 to $78.50 and is all-in
Laeelin: calls $59.50
*** RIVER *** [9s 7c 7d Jc] [Qc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Laeelin: shows [Ad As] (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
goliazone: shows [8c Tc] (a flush, Queen high)
goliazone collected $195 from pot