Do you multi-table when playing online poker?
If you don’t, you’re probably doing yourself an injustice. When online poker rooms made playing more than one table at the same time a completely normal thing to do it succeeded in hitting home a fundamental difference between the ‘new’ hi-tech version of poker and its older, more limited bricks and mortar offering. There were already obvious advantages for the poker fan in being able to play at home, whenever they liked and, importantly, more than just a couple of dozen hands an hour. Giving players the facility to simply open up another two, three, four or more tables was one of the features that helped establish the online poker boom.
As it turned out, the internet poker explosion ultimately led to the same happening in ‘live’ poker, with the two worlds coming together to give players the chance to qualify for big money festivals around the globe, the unreal numbers in the WSOP indicative of the game’s popularity.
Multi-tabling means multi-rakeback!
Nowadays, multi-tabling is less of a party trick and more an acceptable pastime for the average online poker enthusiast. Technology means that we no longer need a wall of monitors to play several tables at the same time – it can now be done on a phone!
Presumably, the very fact you’re reading this article on the YourPokerDream website indicates that you want to get the most out of your time playing online poker; and you couldn’t have found a better place, as YPD is awash with great rakeback deals and other exclusive offers, including VIP rakeback! Given that rakeback is a must – otherwise, you’re denying yourself free cash! – it follows that if you could increase your volume in terms of hands played per hour, for example, then of course you would. And that’s where multi-tabling comes in.
To help you on your way to successful multi-tabling – and multi-rakeback – here are some thoughts worth considering regarding how you might want to adjust your game. It might be surprising, given that adding tables, in turn, adds to the overall task, to learn that there are even practical advantages to be had…
First, we should be realistic and remember that becoming a winning player on just one table can be a difficult enough task. If we haven’t reached that point yet, then it would be foolhardy to take on the challenge of spinning plates in the shape of two, three or four tables. First master one table before stepping up a gear.
Keep it simple
The ability to get reads on the opposition and analyse how hands (including those we’re not involved in) play out obviously diminishes as the number of tables increases. This is only natural, of course, regardless of ability, but rather than present an insurmountable obstacle, it instead requires a different fundamental strategy. With this in mind, multi-tabling necessitates a shift in emphasis to a more straightforward, so-called ABC approach. Keep it simple. For example, with less information (and less thinking time!) there’s less justification in bluffing.
Remove distractions
Not surprisingly, concentration is key if we’re playing, for instance, four tables. If we’re used to watching TV or surfing the web while we play, then these potentially bad habits need nipping in the bud.
Meanwhile… One important piece of good news is that playing two, three or four tables simultaneously isn’t two, three or four times more difficult than focusing exclusively on just a single table. Indeed, the task of multi-tabling can be a big help in focusing better than we might ever have managed before. For example, starting hand selection tends to narrow when multi-tabling. We can stop wasting money with those ill-advised speculative plays with weaker holdings that are well outside our range but which we go with occasionally – often through impatience at having to wait around. There won’t be any more waiting with multiple tables on the go – there’ll be no time to be bored!
Whether we want to tighten up or it’s forced upon us, the result is nevertheless the same – our being prudent and selective creates confidence and streamlined concentration when we find ourselves properly in contention in a hand. No more poor pre-flop play that places us in awkward post-flop situations.
Conclusion about multi tabling
Every online poker player should always be on the lookout to maximise their time at the tables, and multi-tabling provides the opportunity to do just that by increasing our ability to optimally generate rakeback. The rewards are simply too great to ignore, so it’s absolutely worth thinking about and giving it a try. Even if one extra table is as comfortable as it gets, that’s still twice as much rakeback! It might even tighten up your game…
Have fun!
