When you are multi-tabling,...how do you get to know the other players?

Some people recommend to play 4 tables at a time to profit more per hour.

At the same time, some play advices tells you to "get to know the other players" and notice betting patterns.

How in the world you do thast if you are plaing in 4 different tablres??

I am making my move in one table, and almost at the same time I have to make my move in the other, and then in the other,...and so on.....

I almost have no time to see what other players are doing.

What do you recommend?

Cheers!

Chewie.

I don't multitable but what I have always assumed is that you don't get to know them you simply play a set formula and treat most players the same. if you stay on the tables for an extended period of time you may pick up some small notes on aggressive players

Practice. In the beginning its often difficult, but after a while it gets easier.

(Dont overdo it though, like a certain poker pro who was/is famous for multitabling did. He said in an interview, that he played 3 2hr session each day, multi tabling 54 lowstakes tables at once, with a steady profit.
Then one day he tried to just play one or two tables, for fun and realized how much he crushed the opponents when doing this. He then moved up to higher limits, and was surpised how easy it was to win big money on the higher levels (for him it was).
After that he played only 4 tables at once, and could do it much more relaxed and, since he now could manage to steady profit at high stakes, his winnings was much higher than before.
Whats more, he took his skills and tried tournaments, and almost immeadiately won $1,000,000 first price in one tourney.)

PS
Who the unnamed poker pro was? Well funny thing, I dont know, he was one of the commentators on EPTlive when I watched it and he told his story, so I am pretty sure it was one of the current PokerStars pro's.
My guess is Hevad Kahn.

If you multitable (I play 6 tables, many people multitable a lot more than that), you really need a HUD - PokerTracker 3 or HEM are the most popular at the moment.

I end up playing the same regs over and over again - I have over 6K hands with a few regs, and over 1K hands on many regs. The HUD provides you instant information regarding their betting patterns - I can see how frequently they play hands, how frequently they limp, how frequently they check/raise, how frequently they 3bet, etc., all based on the hands we've played together.

These programs also collect all those hands in a database. So, for any regs that I have a tough time playing against and that I see frequently on my tables, I can review the history of hands we've played together and try to figure out a strategy against them. I can also review my own game and look for leaks.

For players that I have little history with, the HUD is still useful after 50 hands or so - playing more hands obviously gives you better insight into the player's betting patterns.

If you're interested, check out the video forum for cc players who are using a HUD, they all describe what their HUD stats represent (HUD's are configurable).

For myself it depends.... it depends on what I feel like doing at the time. Am I wishing to play somewhat robotically... I will play more tables. If I'm choosing to work more on 'playing the players',.. I will play less tables. Personally I play because I like the game, enjoy the competition, etc.,... not just out to take down a higher hourly winrate. Also by playing less tables I believe it gives me more of an oppurtunity to work on improving upon my play. Often times I'll just play two (or 3 max.) games simultaneously and with staggered starts, trying to get reads on opponent's early on.
I find my ROI drops significantly when I add more tables (SNG's),.. but it also depends upon what types of games I'm playing (ie. if it's 45-plyr Turbo SNG's, I can play more tables due to the nature of the game, reg. speed SNG's > less tables).

Take notes! I know it sounds silly but writing down everyones names and then taking notes like that player plays tight or that one plays aggresive and so on. It might not be perfect but it helps a little.

when your multi-tabling and wanting to meet others wouldnt you just tag them or add them as a friend and you can watch them and see how they play ?

i never play more than 2 tables at a time...for this exact reason...playing only two allows me to gather info on players

I agree take notes - Aggressive players, players capable of folding to re-raises, players that call with 55 to the river, etc.

I also find that when I'm playing 4 tables there are going to be 3 or may be 4 same players on at least two of the tables I'm playing, which makes things easier. As an example DonkeyKong52 might be on 3 of the tables I'm playing and slicker4city might be on all 4. Generally, the same player exhibits the same characterisitics - though this can change between the tables if he/she has low chips on one and a huge stack on another, or there are table specific issues (table dynamics) affecting he/she's play.

HEM or PT3 is pretty mandatory if you're gonna multitable imo. You simply can't follow all the action at 16+ tables simultaneously and develop solid reads.

If you're at 4 or less, then yeah you can just watch the action.

For me (and most multi-tablers) poker tracking software keeps track of the action while you're busy with other hands. You can replay hands, see what people mucked at showdown, etc. Plus you get specific numbers on what they've been doing. So you're playing the guy's stats instead of everything that you've made a personal mental note of.

...and stats aren't wrong, whereas your observations could be biased/skewed.

thanks for your responses Guys.

What poker trackers are legal for Pacific Poker?

PokerTracker 3 I know works on Pacific, I'm sure HEM does as well.

These tools are not banned by reputable sites (though they don't work on all of the smaller sites). There are software tools that are banned by sites, but not the HUD/HH database tools (i.e., PT3, HEM, and PokerOffice).

And what is the best software?

You can run free trials w both PT3 and HEM and try them out before deciding. I think more people on this site use HEM than PT3, but they're both good (I use PT3). I don't know anything about PokerOffice.

I installed yesterday PokerTracker3 But I understand very little.....I will try to figure out many things....

Cheers!

Skim this article - 10k post: micro stakes full ring guide [long] - it'll help orient you a bit. Don't worry if it seems hard to understand, takes practice.

There are more targeted threads on HUD stats/self-analysis here as well, I just don't remember exactly where they are.

I agree, you can't keep track of all the players on 16 tables. When poker tracking software is used for this purpose, it is allowing you to accomplish something that is not humanly possible. Is that not the definition of cheating in poker? That said... if the pokersite allows it, then you have every right to do it. However, in my opinion, it is cheating and is degrading the quality of online poker.