Questions after 4-tabling for the first time

Etric · #1 01-07-2005, 09:29 PM

Having recently purchased a new computer, I decided to try my hand at playing four tables at the same time. I played 2-3 tables previous to this. I scratched down some brief questions/comments that I would like to present.

1. I found myself playing hands prefop without thinking. Rather, I would just check the box of the action I wished to perform without thinking hard about it. i.e. KK raise any, TT raise (1), 76s in SB call. Sometimes I would change what I entered after glancing at the table i.e. A7s from LP when no one is in, raise instead of call, but for the most part I was playing the hands automatically. Is this normally the case with others?

2. I also tended to play my hands post flop automatically. I didn't figure out my exact number of outs, it was more like "I have middle pair and a flush draw. I think I'll bet", or "I have a gutshot draw and an overcard on a rainbow board. I think I'll call getting 8.5 to one. I used to be able to calculate the exact number of outs I had, but I didn't seem to have time. Is this style of playing costing me money?

3. I felt like I was missing a lot while playing. I didn't take any notes on anyone at all, and I only had time to review a few hands in the hand history that I was interested in seeing. I feel that if I had been able to study them, it would have been more beneficial to my game. i.e. "Wow, this guy keeps calling down any pair vs a preflop raiser irregardless of the board; I'll make sure not to miss any value bets against him". I didn't even know if any of the tables I was playing contained any of the same players. This made me feel as if I wasn't playing the best poker I could possibly have played. Does the extra table compensate for not being able to play as well as I could if I were only playing two tables, or do other people find a way to play their top game against four full tables?

4. Somewhat related to the last observation, I didn't know how much money I had in front of me at any table for most of the time. I occasionally saw that I was doing well or poorly, but I didn't have time to obsess about if I was up or down or if I was getting a bunch of bad beats or whatnot. It was quite refreshing just playing the cards.

Anyway, I managed to have a winning session; my results were +32.5bb, +6bb, +3bb, and -12.5bb at each of my tables. I will sum this post up by posing a central question: Is it normal when playing four or more tables to miss a lot of details (that you would catch if you were playing fewer tables), and if so, do the additional hands per hour compensate for this?

mrjim · #2 01-07-2005, 09:45 PM

Have you ever played more than 1 table? It's probably best to build up gradually, i.e. start with 2 instead of 4 if that's the case. I think that would resolve almost all of your concerns. Congrats on a winning session though.

Edit: Using the Auto-export notes on PokerTracker would resolve a lot of your notes and observation problems too.

Etric · #3 01-07-2005, 09:56 PM

I've played 2 tables frequently and have played 3 tables a couple of times. I literally just bought Poker Tracker and am in the process of setting it up and figuring it out. (New computer has a 200gb hd; much better than my old 8gb one [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )

mrjim · #4 01-07-2005, 10:05 PM

Get PT going and start datamining. That will help your reads a lot.

Edit: In case you don't have this link, you'll want it.
Bison's notes

raccon · #5 01-07-2005, 11:39 PM

Start using Playerview .

LImitPlayer · #6 01-08-2005, 02:37 AM

1) Preflop For the most part yes, however In certian situations I will leave the box unchecked until the action comes to me, KJ offsuit in LP for example. I may raise here instead of callong if it is folded to me or if there is a weak limper, or I may fold it. I also never precheck premium hands as I figure that is to much of a tell.
Afte the flop I never use the boxes unless I am folding.

2) Always calculate your pot odds every move you make. If you don't its costing you money. If you don't have the time to figure this out then you are playing to many tables.

3) You wont get as many reads on players when you multitable, you need to get Ptracker if you plan on multitabling. The extra amount of hands that you play will make more than make up for the loss of reads, assuming you are a winning player

The more you multi-table the better you will get at it. You will get quicker over time. When I first started multitabling I couldn't do more than 2 without being lost. now I can do 8 comfortably and probably add another table or two in there.

Chicanist · #7 01-08-2005, 05:06 AM

[ QUOTE ]

1. I found myself playing hands prefop without thinking. Rather, I would just check the box of the action I wished to perform without thinking hard about it. i.e. KK raise any, TT raise (1), 76s in SB call. Sometimes I would change what I entered after glancing at the table i.e. A7s from LP when no one is in, raise instead of call, but for the most part I was playing the hands automatically. Is this normally the case with others?

[/ QUOTE ]

I tend to never use the checkbox buttons except when I want to fold preflop, but pf does tend to be fairly automatic...I hate using any other boxes though since it lets me get a view of the PF action in a hand I know I want to be involved in. Also, every once in a while situations will come up when you want to vary your PF action based on the situation (ie even at low limits it will get folded to you on the button when you have a marginal hand, but definitely a steal candidate, etc)

[ QUOTE ]

2. I also tended to play my hands post flop automatically. I didn't figure out my exact number of outs, it was more like "I have middle pair and a flush draw. I think I'll bet", or "I have a gutshot draw and an overcard on a rainbow board. I think I'll call getting 8.5 to one. I used to be able to calculate the exact number of outs I had, but I didn't seem to have time. Is this style of playing costing me money?

[/ QUOTE ]

It is...you probably get better with this at time also. Like someone else said, you may want to start at 2 tables instead of 4 -- you're not very likely to have to make hard decisions on both tables at once. It still happens fairly rarely with 4 tables too, but might as well ease into it [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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3. I felt like I was missing a lot while playing. I didn't take any notes on anyone at all, and I only had time to review a few hands in the hand history that I was interested in seeing. I feel that if I had been able to study them, it would have been more beneficial to my game. i.e. "Wow, this guy keeps calling down any pair vs a preflop raiser irregardless of the board; I'll make sure not to miss any value bets against him". I didn't even know if any of the tables I was playing contained any of the same players. This made me feel as if I wasn't playing the best poker I could possibly have played. Does the extra table compensate for not being able to play as well as I could if I were only playing two tables, or do other people find a way to play their top game against four full tables?

[/ QUOTE ]

PokerTracker (and the addins that take realtime stats from the PT database) is the solution here ... the info obviously isn't as good as if you'd been paying attention to 1 table the whole time. Then again, online play also has a much higher turnover rate than live play so you still lose out on the information part when playing online.

This factor (along with the occasional dumb decision when you do have 2+ hands that require thinking going on at once) is probably the biggest thing that makes your earn rate/100 go down ... of course the sheer # of hands means your earn/hr goes up overall.