It doesn’t take long for most new online poker players to start thinking about multi-tabling. After all, if you can make $5 an hour at one table, you should be able to make $25 an hour at five tables, right? Unfortunately it’s a little more complicated than that. Here are some tips to help you multi-table effectively and maximize your profits.
Find Your Sweet Spot
Generally speaking, the more tables you play at the same time the less money you make at each table. For example, your average table win rate might be $5 an hour when you play one table, $4 an hour when you play two tables and $3 an hour when you play three tables. The reason your average win rate falls is because your attention is increasingly divided.
The trick to profitable multi-tabling is finding your sweet spot. If your average table win rate is $3 an hour when you’re playing three tables and $2 an hour when you’re playing four tables, you’d want to always play with three tables because you make more money (3×3=9 > 2×4=8)
Set An Exit Point
Know when to leave the table. It’s easy to exit when you’re losing. You leave when you go broke. If you’re using proper bankroll management to build your roll, a loss should cost you no more than 5% of your bankroll. Winning is a little more complicated. You should leave a table if the amount of cash you have in front of you exceeds 10% of your bankroll.
Use Software If Possible
While poker software isn’t necessary, it definitely gives you an advantage. There are some programs that will automatically mouse over a table than needs your attention or perform some other task automatically. Those programs annoy me, but I know several player that swear by them.
The kind of software I like to use tracks my opponent’s playing style and displays statistics like VPIP and aggression. Armed with these stats I can tell what style of player I’m up against without having to personally profile every player at five different tables.
Play Tight-Aggressive Poker
Loose-aggressive players can be winners in no-limit Texas Hold’em, but they can’t be winners when multi-tabling. Loose-aggressive players have to rely on their reads to outplay their opponents and it’s too difficult to get reads on 50+ players when you’re multi-tabling.
Tight-Aggressive poker is about playing premium hands to give you an edge. In addition, you fold more frequently preflop when you’re playing tight-aggressive poker so it’s easier to play more tables at once.
Play Full Ring Games
The action is fast in short-handed games. If you have five 6-max tables open, your head will be spinning before you know it. Full ring games move much slower. Fewer hands are won preflop and more hands go to showdown.
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It’s easiest to multi-table when you play tight-aggressive poker at full ring tables. You’ll notice that you only play 1 out of 4 or 5 tables at a time. You’ll fold at the other tables. Multi-tabling is an advanced poker skill, but it can multiply your win rate once you master it.
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