If you want to be a serious online poker player, then you need to be able to play at several different tables at once. We’ve covered this topic in the past in varying detail regarding money management aspects, but let’s step back and look at some of the basic tenets of multi-tabling.
First off, all online poker rooms offer multi-tabling options (if they don’t, you shouldn’t be playing on that site!). Most offer at least 4 tables, and many will let you play on at least 10 tables simultaneously, some as many as 16. With the efficiency of most poker software programs these days this shouldn’t be a problem for most computers to handle, but you might want to build up from 3 or 4 tables slowly to ensure that you are not overloading your PC. Also, a second monitor (as large as possible) is a definite asset if you play to play over 5 tables at once.
Game settings are very important. Carefully review your options and think about what will help you analyze your hand and the current situation most quickly. For example, 4-colour decks are strongly suggested since they avoid potential confusion on
flush draw hands (i.e, your eyes will quickly tell you if you have a flush draw, rather than having to digest the hand and waste valuable time). Similarly, turning on alerts that bring tables to the foreground when it’s your turn to play, and enabling sounds to prompt you are a big help. Auto-posting is also a must.
After that, it’s all about keeping up with the pace of games. If you play a relatively tight game, you should be able monitor your games fairly easily if you can ensure that you place each table in such a manner that you can clearly see your hole cards, and some or most of the board. That way, you don’t need to wait for the prompt to consider you next play, you’ll have an idea of whether you are going to fold, or have a playable hand. Normally, even if you are playing 6 or 7 tables, you won’t actively be playing more than 2 or 3 hands, so you should be able to digest what’s going on at all active tables and make informed decisions. If not, it’s time to consider scaling back the number of tables you are playing.
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