Multitabling....necessary?

[gildwulf]

Multitabling isn't necessary; you just have to weigh the costs and benefits of single-tabling vs. multi-tabling and pick which one suits you best.

Mutitabling (good):
+Less psychological trauma when you go on bad runs (10k hands 4-tabling is a week at most...that can last much longer single-tabling). In my experience, multi-tabling is a good way to get less emotionally involved with hands.
+More money (duh)
+You will get way more experience with difficult decisions multi-tabling than with single-tabling. You may not always make the correct ones, but you will encounter them more frequently and, I think, this is a great way to learn faster as long as you make an effort to study these hands after the session.

Multitabling (bad)
-single-tabling will make your reads better
-everything that people have said already in this thread

My personal advice is to single-table, go over your sessions, and post on 2+2 until you feel comfortable enough with your game (that could be 100 hands, that could be after 10 thousand hands) and the majority of your decisions become automatic (and hopefully correct). When you feel ready to start multi-tabling, start two-tabling while increasing in limit (up to 5/10). When you feel like you've reached a limit that is appropriate for your skill level, start adding more tables. This will reduce boredom enough so you won't go insane, but also allow you to work on your reads until your decisions become better and automatic.

Also, PAHUD numbers are a surprisingly good substitute for solid reads.

Cheers,
Zach

[gildwulf]

[ QUOTE ]
To the 4 tablers of 6max:

Do you're reads suck? I mean, after 15 minutes play i expect to have atleast 3-4notes made(1each for 4guys or 4on one guy). It takes time to write these shorthanded and check the logs for muckedhands or what happened preflop if i forget.

Can you seriously do this? I can already see windows flashing and annoying beeps going off then the horrid "IM BACK" button appearing having posted your blinds [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img].

Just wondered... I figure you're notes must suck expect for the very experienced players.

[/ QUOTE ]

I 4-table 5/10 and the only time I really make notes is on tricky TAG or if a fish or LAG does something surprising (i.e. if a fish wakes up on the turn consistently with a hand, but never raises the flop; if a fish likes to donk flushdraws, etc.). I would say PAHUD predicts with about 80-90% accuracy how a bad player will act in a certain hand on every street.

[jba]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
To the 4 tablers of 6max:

Do you're reads suck? I mean, after 15 minutes play i expect to have atleast 3-4notes made(1each for 4guys or 4on one guy). It takes time to write these shorthanded and check the logs for muckedhands or what happened preflop if i forget.

Can you seriously do this? I can already see windows flashing and annoying beeps going off then the horrid "IM BACK" button appearing having posted your blinds [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img].

Just wondered... I figure you're notes must suck expect for the very experienced players.

[/ QUOTE ]

I 4-table 5/10 and the only time I really make notes is on tricky TAG or if a fish or LAG does something surprising (i.e. if a fish wakes up on the turn consistently with a hand, but never raises the flop; if a fish likes to donk flushdraws, etc.). I would say PAHUD predicts with about 80-90% accuracy how a bad player will act in a certain hand on every street.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah I'd say I average about 1 note per 100 hands at a 6max table.. I really don't need a 'lmpd Q6o MP clldwn isoraise bttm pr' note on a 60/3/.2 guy

[kidcolin]

I two-table, and I get plenty of notes in, and mine aren't even shorthanded. I'm currently trying to step it up to 3-tables.

Also, I don't take many preflop notes, unless it's something that doesn't typically corellate with the stats. For example, last night a 35/10/~1.0 guy opened in the CO with 33 and popped me on the turn on a non-paint, non-flush, non-paired board. Generally, my preflop notes end up on guys with low PFR stats, because generally I see a lot of interesting hands from low PFR guys who open or 3-bet.

[milesdyson]

playing 4 tables allows you to have 100 bb downswings in about an hour instead of playing 1 or 2 where the downswing will take considerably longer. this is good for me because i would rather die trainwreck style than die senile-man-unable-to-use-his-penis-for-more-than-impersonating-spaghetti-in-his-deathbed style.

The problem for me is that I don't yet have a monitor that handles more than 1280x1024, and multitabling with overlap is a Very Bad Thing.

That said, I still play two 6-max tables at a time, and to clear my Party bonus I added one full ring to the mix.

[imported_stealthcow]

i haven't read any other posts.

some great great players only play 1-2 tables. for hte most part these players are "perfectionists" and want to make sure they are playign every hand as well as possible. fwiw players who do this usually reach a high level of play well before their bankroll is big enough to support them, while a lot of players who 8 table their respective limits get the bankroll for higher limits wellbef ore they have enough skill to play there.

so no its nothing to worry about if you play well and focus on making sure you rae comfortable with all of your decisions. and if 1 table gets boring or you feel really comfortable with it, try adding anotehr and see how that goes.

stealthcow-

[UncleSalty]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm probably worrying for the sake of worrying, it just seems like everybody except me is playing at LEAST 2 tables.

I guess just like full ring, short handed will eventually get easier to me, and I'll slowly be able to add.

[/ QUOTE ]

I felt the same way for a long time when I first started playing 6-max late in the summer. I had read all of the posts saying that if you want to move up to 3/6 or above you HAVE to learn how to play in shorthanded situations. So, I bit the bullet and forced myself to play nothing but 6-max. For a long time I just couldn't adjust. I would go on one or two day winning streaks, and then give it all back in a 2 hour session. It was miserable, but I kept reading posts and applying what I learned, and eventually it started to click.

What worked for me, (and sometimes I still do this if I'm not feeling totally focused yet) is to start each session with only one table. Play for 2 or 3 orbits until you feel comfortable with basic reads of your opponents, and then add one more table. It seems like once your brain has settled into one table then adding another doesn't seem as hectic as adding two or more at once. At my current stage I am starting my sessions with 2 tables and adding a third after 20 minutes or so. It's working pretty well so far.

A few weeks ago, I thought I would sit down and play some 10-max for old times sake. Man, I can't believe how slow and boring it seems now. Trust me, 4 or 5 months of exclusive shorthanded play will make a convert out of you. The only 10-handed games I play now are in NL tournaments.

Good luck.

Edit: For the condensed version, see Trix's post below [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Trix]

Just play one till you get bored with the speed, then try adding another.

[imported_leader]

[ QUOTE ]
The problem for me is that I don't yet have a monitor that handles more than 1280x1024, and multitabling with overlap is a Very Bad Thing.

That said, I still play two 6-max tables at a time, and to clear my Party bonus I added one full ring to the mix.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try party beta. It will get rid of that over lap. Of course, it will also randomly crash. So enjoy.