General Multi-tabling Discussion

[Biggenx]

Listen, I know this issue has probably been beaten to death, but i'm hoping there will be some friendly twoplustwoer's willing to share their wisdom.

First off, i'm playing at a Prima skin, and have built up a large enough bankroll to play the $20 or $50 tables,($1000+)

I started with just the $10 no deposit bonus, and have made nearly my entire bankroll from multi-tabling the $10 tables. I've been mostly six tabling, and have only had about one or two break even days since i started a month ago.

i've never played limits this low before and kinda just had to adjusted my play as i went along.

Since i moved up to the $20 tables, i've been having problems with hand selection, and keep getting confused about whether i have pot equity to show down a hand.

I know alot of you will suggest that i get a book, and i know which ones to get, but i have to order them and i plan to continue playing until i get them. This is why i could use some additional help.

* At the $10 tables i had pot equity to put anyone all in if i had an edge, more often than not they'd call with an even money flush draw, or top pair- horrible kicker. Now at the $20 tables i feel like i can't push with top pair 2nd nut kicker, and find myself giving up too many pots.

* I keep getting the feeling i'm playing too tight, possibly even too passive. I think i'm not getting the value out of my hands that i should because my focus is too narrowed on getting huge hands/pots. Since i started playing the $20 tables, i've really started to notice a huge (or at least seems huge) leak coming from lost blinds.

* i'm getting poker office and PT registered asap, i might not even get more than one more book because i think these programs will help me help myself more than having too many books.


Anyway, i have more, but i don't want this to be too long. I'm running pretty bad right now at the $20 tables, the deck has been brutely cold to me, and the suckouts haven't let up either. Hard to say exactly how well i'm playing at this limit since i've only been playing it for a few days now.


A cold deck at the end of a long break even suck-out session, i can't think of anything worse. Cry for me will you?

[Biggenx]

Is this subject really that overdone?

[imported_anacardo]

i don't think I even understand your question/ concern. Like - "When will the pain end?" That's largely between you and the poker gods. Read Harrington on Hold'Em again, post some hands, and let the spirit move you. What's multitabling have to do with this? And, no, largely speaking, you shouldn't be playing for all your chips with TP2K or TPTK very often, unless you specifically know that your man is that loose.

[Biggenx]

What about the issue of having too much money blinded off, I realized i should be taking more stabs at pots that i raised preflop in postion, but is it just a matter of not catching cards?

the tiny .2 cent blinds seem to really add up when i call a few raises or god forbid i see the turn card. When i played higher stakes i had notes on all the players and studied their habits, but at these limits with this many tables is it really possible to keep track of all the donks? (without poker office of course)

this is my second long day of break even poker, i'll post back tomarrow, hopefully the deck will warm up and the suckouts won't suck so hard.

[imported_anacardo]

Gametime+, m'man, Gametime+. An essential tool of the serious multitabler.

I'm not sure what you mean by "blinded off." You mean things like check-folding a missed AK? I have an idea for a "quick-n-easy continuation betting by player type" chart that I'm going to present to a stunned world one of these days.

Basically: Tend to continuation bet more heads-up and less multiway. Continuation bet more against the very tight (who will tell you where you're at in a hurry) and the very loose (whose range you're probably still well ahead of, even with AK or AQ high.) Continuation bet less against more aggressive players, but consider throwing in the occasional check-raise, as a continuation bet as well as with a good piece of the board, especially against LAGs who will often try to steal pots at any sign of weakness. Against passive, weak players that are also very tight, do less continuation betting and be very careful about firing a second barrel on a blank turn, since these are often "matador" - type players who extract with made hands by calling down the over-aggressive.

[Biggenx]

it'll be much easier for me to know exactly which player type my opponent is when i get my Poker Offic registered,(and i'll look into Gametime before i do that),

Before i was a strict one tabler, .5-1 & .25-.5, but since i've seen the M-T'n light, i can't possibly imagine going back to one table, i can hardly stand the thought of it.

As for continuation bluffing/betting, it seems to have only been working 50/50, and nearly everytime i get called down, my read was dead on and i'm floored that they'd call down my perfectly executed bets with a pair of K's with a 3 kicker (out of position of course, and not in the blinds)

I put them on a weak hand and they call it down like there's a glitch with their mouse. Maybe .1-.2 isn't a large enough limit to bluff at all? I had much bettor results with well executed bluffs at .5,

Is it all in my head or what, cause i never once bluffed a single hand playing .05-.1, you know?

[mattw]

a few thoughts:

first, you really need to get some books. do a search for the recommended ones. even if you are not a "book" person, the info learned will come much quicker and at a cheaper price than learning by playing. i am sure you will come across ideas where you say "why didnt i think of that?"

second, i think your sample size is way too small. two days of break-even poker is nothing. wait till it happens for three weeks or worse yet, three straight losing weeks. it will happen if you play long enough.

i hope this helps alittle and gl.

ps: as another poster stated, the title of your post may not be the best. i find the more specific the title, the better the responses.

[GreedyGecko]

Multi-tabling really is an animal all to itself. A lot of people recommend books, but they won't directly address the style of play that you are going for. The reason being that there will always be some reliance placed on opponent reads.

The way I learned to successfully multi-table was trial and error with many different strategies until I found one that worked - playing as many as 10 tables simultaneously at limits even higher than the ones you are currently at.

You can read about my multi-table play on my blog linked below - even learn my specific strategies. If you go at it alone, my best advice would be keep accurate data of your play and utilize PT to really assess your play and your results with various hands. You may find it useful to maintain different databases for each different strategy that you experiment with.

I wish you the best of luck!

The Greedy Gecko
PokerGreed Blog (http://www.pokergreed.com)

[Biggenx]

The way i learn most things in life is by trial and error, i always seem to have to learn things the hard way.

The problem with poker is, when you seemed to have erred, it doesn't mean you did anything wrong. When you seem to have succeeded, it doesn't mean you did anything right.

Granted, the long run of poker does show itself much quicker multitabling, but the short run downswings can get insane. I tend to lose all confidence in my strategy and imediatly want to fix whatever it is thats causing trouble in my game.

I don't believe that the month i played the $10 tables without a losing day was a "good run", the only reason i was able to break even some days was because the other players were just so unbelievably bad at poker. It was as if they didn't like their money and decided to put it to good use by giving it to me. Some days i had to play nearly ten hours to overcome the bad beats and cold deck.

I will never play losing poker for one straight week, If i have to go back down to the $10 tables, then so be it, but i won't play losing poker at a higher limit just because i think i can win.

Thanks for your post Gecko, i'll be visiting your site shortly.

[PokerCat69]

Tight play is all you need.