Multi-tabling Online Poker - Multi Table while Playing Online Poker

How Many Online Poker Tables Should I Play at One Time?

When I first started playing online poker I’d been playing regularly in casinos for four years and the idea of playing more than one online poker table at a time seemed outrageous. With no one shuffling the cards, and dealing them out taking no time at all, even one online game seemed like plenty at first. But after I got a feel for the software and figured out how it all worked I decided to try two online poker games at a time. While it took a little getting used to, before I knew it two tables at a time (and multi tabling) seemed like no trouble at all.

Shortly after that I moved up to three games at a time, which on the website I was playing on in January of 2004 was the most they would allow you to play at once. Eventually they lifted that restriction and that very day was the first time I tried four games at once. I remember it requiring so much focus and mental energy that I’d have to remind people not to talk to me while I was playing because if I was listening to them for even a few seconds, I wouldn’t have a clue what was going on in my games. Since then it’s gotten much easier for me to manage multiple games and there are several factors to consider when deciding how many games you should be playing at a time.

The first thing you want to do is take ego out of the picture. Don’t worry how many games your friends are playing at once and forget about the fact that your cousin’s roommate’s uncle is playing 18 games at a time. Your goal should be to win as much money as you can, not to play in as many games as you can.

Along those lines it’s important to realize that the maximum number of games you can manage is probably not the number of games that will return the most dollars. Playing at one table will allow you to return the most per game. You only have to worry about paying attention to one game’s worth of opponents and you can watch all of the action without being distracted. Of course, there’s plenty of down time while just playing one game, so why not fill that down time with more hands at other tables?

For every game you add, however, you’ll lose some of your edge in each individual game. Not only will you have to worry about more opponents, as you add more and more games you’ll have less and less time to think about each decision. It’s not hard when you’re getting dealt garbage like 8-5 and 9-4, but when you find yourself going to the flop and beyond on more than one table, and you face tough decisions, having more time to consider all the possibilities will help and being rushed because you have to act at other tables will hurt.

As a result, you’ll win more per game playing in two games than you will in three and more per game in three games than you will in four and so on. Your overall hourly rate may continue to increase as you add games (even though you’re per game rate will drop), but at some point you’ll cross a threshold where you’re playing so many games that you’re per game rate has dropped enough that you’d have a better overall hourly rate with fewer games.

Let’s look at an example to help explain this important point. Imagine a player who can win $10 an hour playing in one $5/$10 hold ‘em game. If he plays in two games, he loses a little of his edge since his focus is divided and now he has to worry about remembering the tendencies of 16 other players instead of 8 (he likes 9 handed games). He’s still one of the best players and finds he can make $8 per game if he plays two at a time. After further experimentation he finds he can make $7 per game in three games at once, $6 per game in four at once, $4 per game in five at once, $2 per game in six at once and at 7 or more he becomes a losing player. How many games should he play in at once to make the most money in a given amount of time?

Notice that even though he’s making less money per game in two games at once than he was in one game, he’s making $16 an hour instead of $10 an hour. When he plays three games he’s making $21 an hour and at four games he’s making $24 an hour. So far, so good. More games equals more money, right? The problem comes when he jumps into five games at once. All of a sudden his hourly rate drops to $20 an hour. Not only would he be better off playing four games at once, even though he’s still winning and beating the other players significantly, he’d even make more money overall playing three games at once!

One thing to remember when you’re thinking about your per game rates and how many games you should play is any bonuses you’re earning. Almost every website will give you some kind of frequent player points, but the value of those points varies greatly. If you’re playing on a site where you get one point for every hand you play and it takes you 100,000 points to get a free toaster then don’t worry about it. But if you’re racking up Ipods, DVD players and hundred of dollars in tournament entries then you need to factor that additional value into your decision making process.

Another thing to keep in mind is your level of expertise in the particular form of poker that you’re playing. If all you ever play is no limit hold’em sit-n-gos then you should figure out how many games is right for you and stick with it. But if you almost always play pot limit Omaha cash games, and sometimes you play limit hold’em SNG’s and on occasion you play no limit hold’em multi-tables you need to adjust your number of games based on what type of games or combination of games you’re playing.

Maybe you can play five Omaha games at once, because you’ve played a million Omaha hands in your life and it’s only going to take you two seconds to decide what you’re going to do in almost every conceivable situation. On the other hand, maybe you’ve only been playing hold’em for a few months and so you need to think more about each individual decision. If that’s the case then maybe you should stick to two or three hold’em games at once, even though you’re used to playing five Omaha games at a time.

Something else to consider is the level of mental fatigue that comes along with adding extra games. More games means more decisions which will require more mental energy. If you’re the kind of player who can handle three games at a time for 4 hours a day, but adding that fourth game means after an hour and a half you’re ready to call it quits, you’ll almost certainly make more money in a less labor intensive way if you stick with three games.

When I first started playing online I bought a book about internet poker in which the author claimed that anyone playing in more than one game wasn’t “serious about poker” and should be “an easy target.” This is blatant nonsense. If you’re going to maximize your time and earning potential, playing in multiple games is a must. Maybe two games is right for you and maybe running twenty games on four monitors operating mice with both hands and both feet is the way you can win the most. The important thing is to think hard and make a good decision about how many games is right for you. And by the way, if you’re going to play while simultaneously writing long winded e-mails, cooking dinner for 10 people, and talking to your mother on the phone maybe you should cut out a game or two.

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