Multi-tabling vs. not
Like many online players, I am used to playing numerous tables at once. Personally, I never go above three tables, but I play against players who are on as many as ten. I can’t comprehend how they manage to do ten tables at once, but that’s beside the point. What I am getting at is that the other day, I decided to play at only one table. I’m not sure why I chose not to play my usual three, but I did for some reason. It was like some sort of epiphany. I seemed to know where I was at in every single hand. Playing at only one table forced me to watch every hand all the way through. I picked up numerous patterns on every single player that I probably would not have otherwise.
An example of this took place on the turn of hand against a relatively tight player. I can usually pick up on whether a player is loose or tight when I’m three-tabling, but usually that is the extent of the reads I pick up. In this case, I had raised from the button with AK and he called from the small blind. The flop came K97 with two hearts. He check-called my pot sized bet. The turn came on off-suit 4. He checked and I made a 2/3 pot bet. Now he raises me all-in for twice the pot. Normally, when I am three-tabling, this is a spot where I would lay down TPTK. A check-call and a check-raise makes TPTK look like air. However, in this case, I remembered a hand that took place a few rounds earlier in which the guy put all his money in on an open-ended straight draw with one card to come. He was perfectly willing to gamble on the turn with a draw.
At this point, I time-banked to think about whether or not he was doing that again. If he did have a set, I would have expected him to bet out and make a flush draw pay to see another card. Would he really check-call the flop with 44? In the end, I called and he did indeed have a flush draw, which bricked out.
Had I been three-tabling, I never would have picked up this player’s propensity to ship it on a draw with one card to come (or at least I don’t expect I would have identified this). Granted, this is an isolated incident from one session, but I feel like my general reads on the entire table were much better while only playing one table.
I have reached a conundrum. Should I forget about three-tabling and focus on one table at a time? I really feel like I was playing better, but it isn’t as if I haven’t been successful three-tabling. I should probably re-evaluate after a few more sessions, but what are your general thoughts on multi-tabling online?
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Comments
So you wanna decide between playing 1 or 3 tables? Play 2 tables! 
j/k it’s all about comfort level, man. Only you know why you play poker and how you feel comfortable.
Great post..same issues. What about playing at the next up..thus keeping your interest.
It is also interesting to me when I find players who multi table - how stale their game is. Its obvious they have very high starting hand requirements and might be set miners. I like playing my little pairs against them cause if I hit I usually get all their chips.
If all that single tabling does for you is find you a spot to call an all in bet with a 75/25 edge (assuming that you are right in your insights every time)… I doubt that would triple your win rate of your three table play.
I usually play 4 tables at once, and though I certainly play better when I play one table (assuming that I don’t end up watching TV or writing e-mails)… I would need to have 4 times the success to keep my hourly rate the same as when I play 4 tables. It is easy enough to figure out…. assuming that you keep decent session records, you should know what your average hourly rate is. Keep playing 1 table until it is clear that your hourly rate is higher or lower than your 3 table play and adjust accordingly.
I don’t multi table for that reason.. but sometimes i might as well be because i get bored and look up stuff online while playing. When online poker has my full attention I make better choices like the example you gave. Try giving yourself a test month or number of hands/sng’s.. to see which way you earn more money.