zinzir
Legend
Silver Level
We all see it happening at micro stakes. Different tables occupied mostly by the same players. And if you look at the money in front of them, you routinely notice that some are overall losing, being ahead at one table, but behind at two.
Also, according to SharkScope the same are also losing tournament players.
So my question is: why would a losing player play multiple tables? It makes no sense to me, and here is why:
It is a fallacy to think that one can shoot two birds at once by having the opportunity of playing stronger starting hands per hour on average, while maintaining a high level of entertainment through instant gratification.
In reality, starting hand selection is a function of player's discipline and style, and is independent of the number of tables played at the same time.
If one craves instant gratification and marginal hands look good to him while playing one table, expect multi-tabling to exacerbate these problems, not solve them.
On the other hand, if one's goal is to become more disciplined and patient, it only makes sense to practice that approach at only one table at a time.
With every additional table, the amount of attention payed at each table proportionally decreases, and as a direct result, the amount of mistakes proportionally increases. Misclicks, missed clues, monster starting hands not noticed because one is involved in a hand at another table and so on.
Because one's attention is scattered, he learns less from playing 10 tables at a time than playing only 1 table, despite of 10X more hands happening on the screen. Joey Ingram has a Youtube video of him playing 50K hands in one day to beat a record, how much do you think he actually learned from those hands?
Some players purchase a HUD to compensate for their inability to keep up with the increased number of tables they are playing at a time. While for winning players that may be understandable, for a losing player it makes no sense because the cost of HUD only adds to his financial losses.
A HUD will never transform a losing player into a winning one, only experience can do that.
Even winning players, semi pros and pros win less money per table while multi-tabling. They increase their hourly rate though, but not in a proportional way, meaning playing 2 tables at a time is more profitable than playing only one table, but not twice as profitable, and so on, winning a little more per hour with each additional table up to a certain point.
But as a losing player, one is expected to lose more money with each additional table in at least a proportional ratio, meaning that by playing 2 tables at once one is expected to lose at least twice as much, likely even more.
So, if you are one of us, the vast majority of CC members who are losing players, be smart and ideally only play money tables and freerolls, and if from time to time you want to test yourself at the real money tables and buy-in tournaments only play one table at a time.
Don't be the ideal online poker room customer aka bottom of the food chain and the foundation upon which rake is generated.
What do you think about all the above? What is your opinion about multi-tabling in general, and about multi-tabling as a losing player in particular?
PS: I apologize for the lack of spacing between certain paragraphs to increase readability, somehow I wasn't able to insert them on this post, not exactly sure why.
Also, according to SharkScope the same are also losing tournament players.
So my question is: why would a losing player play multiple tables? It makes no sense to me, and here is why:
It is a fallacy to think that one can shoot two birds at once by having the opportunity of playing stronger starting hands per hour on average, while maintaining a high level of entertainment through instant gratification.
In reality, starting hand selection is a function of player's discipline and style, and is independent of the number of tables played at the same time.
If one craves instant gratification and marginal hands look good to him while playing one table, expect multi-tabling to exacerbate these problems, not solve them.
On the other hand, if one's goal is to become more disciplined and patient, it only makes sense to practice that approach at only one table at a time.
With every additional table, the amount of attention payed at each table proportionally decreases, and as a direct result, the amount of mistakes proportionally increases. Misclicks, missed clues, monster starting hands not noticed because one is involved in a hand at another table and so on.
Because one's attention is scattered, he learns less from playing 10 tables at a time than playing only 1 table, despite of 10X more hands happening on the screen. Joey Ingram has a Youtube video of him playing 50K hands in one day to beat a record, how much do you think he actually learned from those hands?
Some players purchase a HUD to compensate for their inability to keep up with the increased number of tables they are playing at a time. While for winning players that may be understandable, for a losing player it makes no sense because the cost of HUD only adds to his financial losses.
A HUD will never transform a losing player into a winning one, only experience can do that.
Even winning players, semi pros and pros win less money per table while multi-tabling. They increase their hourly rate though, but not in a proportional way, meaning playing 2 tables at a time is more profitable than playing only one table, but not twice as profitable, and so on, winning a little more per hour with each additional table up to a certain point.
But as a losing player, one is expected to lose more money with each additional table in at least a proportional ratio, meaning that by playing 2 tables at once one is expected to lose at least twice as much, likely even more.
So, if you are one of us, the vast majority of CC members who are losing players, be smart and ideally only play money tables and freerolls, and if from time to time you want to test yourself at the real money tables and buy-in tournaments only play one table at a time.
Don't be the ideal online poker room customer aka bottom of the food chain and the foundation upon which rake is generated.
What do you think about all the above? What is your opinion about multi-tabling in general, and about multi-tabling as a losing player in particular?
PS: I apologize for the lack of spacing between certain paragraphs to increase readability, somehow I wasn't able to insert them on this post, not exactly sure why.