Anyone Else Tilt Less When Multi-Tabling Tournaments?

The best of us tilt - yep, even you! - and I find long tournaments tilt me more than cash games do. I've found recently, however, that I'll stick to much more of a solid game-plan if I'm applying it to two or three tables at once, I think purely because getting to play more hands in a shorter amount of time is more stimulating and less mind-numbing as far as discipline goes; whereas I get impatient, and get knocked off my game plan more frequently, when I'm only playing one table.

Obviously multi-tabling is a bad idea without fundamentals, but beyond that point I feel it is actually easier regarding tilt to multi-table than it is to focus on just the one.

Thoughts?

This is all about patience and discipline. I think you're on the money with your assessment. With multiple tables open, you are playing a different game altogether. You're executing a much simpler strategy. The multi-table strategy involves far less info about individuals playing and is much more "in the now" poker.

When you're focussing on one game, it can be too easy to get a poor run of cards and then play a hand simply because you "came to play poker" rather than "to make money". With 8 tables up, you're going to be trying to keep up with folding and not accidentally running your clock down. There is no time to get bored and play a crap hand from a poor position.

Cheers,
ObbleeXY

When I play just one table, always have Twitch/Youtube open to have something to do during waiting time. When I play only one table I'm to focused on money and what I do and tilt faster.

There is definitely something to this, also because the success of the session is then not entirely dependent on, what happen in a single tournament. Here in CC forum we regularly see posts from people, who are really frustrated, because they waited the whole week to play for instance the Sunday Storm on pokerstars, and then after 2-3 hours they went out on some bad beat.

Volume is the way to overcome variance, and the best way to get volume is to play a reasonable amount of tables simultaneously. I usually start with 4 or sometimes 5 tournaments but then tend to let the number drop, if I get near a final table. At that point I prefer to be able to fully focus, especially if its a tournament near the upper limit of my buyin span. The final table is also a more tactical game, whereas the early phase especially can often be played a little bit on auto-pilot.

I also tilt less and feel I'm more patient playing less hands i shouldn't.

fundiver199 said:

There is definitely something to this, also because the success of the session is then not entirely dependent on, what happen in a single tournament. Here in CC forum we regularly see posts from people, who are really frustrated, because they waited the whole week to play for instance the Sunday Storm on PokerStars, and then after 2-3 hours they went out on some bad beat.

Volume is the way to overcome variance, and the best way to get volume is to play a reasonable amount of tables simultaneously. I usually start with 4 or sometimes 5 tournaments but then tend to let the number drop, if I get near a final table. At that point I prefer to be able to fully focus, especially if its a tournament near the upper limit of my buyin span. The final table is also a more tactical game, whereas the early phase especially can often be played a little bit on auto-pilot.

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This is spot on. When a single tournament can define whether your day week or month has gone, you're bound to place more value and therefore emotion on that game. Playing well in half a dozen games means that the pain of busting one or two is diluted by the fact you're still in the others.

I do a similar thing of starting with 4 tournaments, maybe adding a couple later and then as I bust some, I can then focus more on the remaining ones as I get nearer the money.

I also tend to be more rational than emotional when I'm playing more tables simultaneously. Agree what was said about sharing the risk with more tournaments is better for decision taking

Downside is missing out on good hands because folded fast or time running out

I agree, multi-tabling means less tilt, but some of the excitement is also taken away when you win but you don't necessarily see the whole hand play out, cause you are busy playing on other tables.

The more tables I have going the less time I have to dwell on a bad beat.

I tilt more in CG, generally i try to avoid CG.
Tourneys are okay, - even tilt happens there too - except one case, when I sit in with some idiots, I can't use more polite words for those kind of players, whose cheating, slowing the game, even in the money, but way too far from FT. 99% of these situations, nobody from the table reach the final table, as the blinds eat up everybody, meantime other tables going well, so when they re-seat to an other table, everybody become the total shorts stack, and just huge luck can fix it....

I just do not get it, 1K+ reg tourney, we are in the money, what the hell difference it makes for 5-6 players at the table, that they win 2,5x or 4x times the buyin costs, but they definitely wont have chance to reach the final table, and win big....
In this case I can go tilt pretty fast, - especially, if I had a good stack, when it starts, and without losing it, my stack worth 80% less by the time, because they do not want to play -, as it is nonsense, annoying, and it happens more often then i thought...

The fact is that tournaments take a lot of time and a cash game or CIS is more promising if you work somewhere and poker is not the main type of activity.