Why I stopped 4-tabling constantly

[jskills]

Really good post. I just noticed the same thing while trying to 4 table .50/1 to make a bonus. Playing on autopilot is still ok financially, but I can't imagine doing it at higher levels. I've recently cut back to two tables and found it much easier to get reads and make decisions.

[OrianasDaad]

I've come to the same/similar conclusions. I believe that I'm making less money/hr (based on avg hands per hour) with 4 tables than I am with 3. I just miss way too much playing 4 tables. I'm a devoted PT and PV user, and am very stats oriented - but I also am heavily dependant on opponent reads through observing play.

Unfortunately for the majority of us here, we are in a fold and forget mode when we get garbage hands, and move on to watch hands where the action is going on for us - or watch tables where we are getting ready to have cards again. We just don't watch enough hands to completion. It's like running to the store during the middle of a TV show. You have an "idea" of what happened while you were gone, but probably don't comprehend it fully.

I'm not satisfied with just winning when I sit down. I want to play perfect poker - every hand, even if that means playing less hands. Not better than average poker and maximizing the number of hands I need to play. I'm actually less concerned about maximizing the money I make right now through multitabling - but perfecting the process.

There's a formula in there somewhere, but I don't doubt that a dedicated player who plays the required number of hands to determine an accurate winrate could sustain 5BB/100 with 1 table play at 1/2 or .5/1 on Party. It's just "intuition" for me, but I tend to think that you lose some of your potential winrate with each table you add. Somewhere this falls off and you are making less $/hr.

Ack - this has gotten (typically) long. I'm not saying that 4-tabling is wrong, just that the alternatives need to be examined. I just recently have begun examining this myself, and may have missed some crucial peice of information in my considerations. Up to a couple of days ago, I was a dedicated 4-tabler - and a dedicated 5-tabler at the site I came from.

I'll just finish by saying that I'm happy to be single-tabling at a table where other tight players are playing 4 tables (I check this). My winrate versus them is typically positive.

[Zeke]

And you know another real benefit of putting yourself into a situation where you are devoted to a single table, is that it can help train you for both higher levels and live play as well. I know that my first few trips to a live card room, I had trouble really focusing 100% on the action at hand, especially once I had folded. I think this can at least partially (if not mostly) be attributed to my 4-tabling syndrome. Thus, when I single table I do my best to stay fully engrossed in the game. It has really surprised me the subtle reads I've been able to pick up, and how much better I've felt I've been playing each time I decide to do it. I try and take detailed notes about each player, and really hone in on my opponents tendencies. It allows me to think on a level that I can't reach when I'm juggling multiple tables. Funny enough, I usually feel like it's more difficult honing in with all my attention on that single table, than it is plowing through the mania of 4 tabling.

[weevil]

This is a good time to ask this.. are all of you guys multitabling using stat overlay programs like gametime+? I had always wondered how people could keep all their reads of 30+ players in their heads at one time. I just found gt+ tonight, and I'm blown away. I used to just go on basic head reads of players, and if it was close, I'd head to PT to check. Now I have everything staring me in the face, and four tables looks like it'd be cake. This thing is beautiful. But it made me wonder the exact thing that zeke brings up. How much do multi-tabling and stat programs like these cripple our games? I know initially these stat programs make us more aware of how we should be reading players. But maybe we loose our grasp of the subtle nuances of player reading, like how their postflop aggression breaks down. Or maybe that doesn't matter. I'm just amazed at this little program :0

[LotusBoy]

When multi-tabling, I tighten up a lot PF and will let go some marginal situation post-flop if short-handed. I just keep waiting for the very profitable multi-way actions. When it's close decision and pot is not big, I will just tell myself to wait for next better situation.

Multi-tabling is good for people want to play more hands but still remain tight, single table is good for people can play marginal situation well.

[DavidC]

Great post, Zeke.

Thank you.