[deception5]

There is definitely a tradeoff.

Advantages of multi-tabling:
- See more hands. The more you see the more decisions that become second nature. There's a huge difference between playing 5k hands of shorthanded and 10-20k hands. You'll also be exposed to more new situations by the sheer volume of hands you are playing.
- Make more money. Assuming you're more than a marginal winner it can be more profitable to play more tables.
- Less boredom. There's only so much you can do when you get 86, 34, Q2, etc for your first 20 hands at the table. Boredom can lead to mistakes when you finally get a decent hand.

Advantages of single-tabling:
- Better reads. No question. You can take more advantage of your opponents. Better notes, more opportunities to work on reads.
- More focused play. You can really think through every angle when difficult decisions come around.
- Less chance of getting overwhelmed/timing out. Especially when switching from full to shorthanded, you will face a ton of situations you have rarely been in before where you will need time to think (especially if you play full ring somewhere where most pots are 3+ to the flop).

Personally, I started off single-tabling for a long time but now 2 is the absolute lowest I will go and 3-4 is preferred. I only play 1 table when I'm at a new limit or about to log out.