If you are considering getting into multi-tabling in your online poker games (for example on a site like 389poker), should you? If so, what are the pros and cons of multi-tabling before you decide if it is a good practice for you?
Pros of multi-tabling include the following:
Making money faster — If you are good at poker, you have a good chance of winning much more often than you do while playing just one hand. That means, as long as you can keep an eye on all the hands you have in play, and make smart decisions, you can win more often in a shorter period of time.
Absorbing losses — As you are playing multiple hands, it is usually easier to absorb the losses you will inevitably have simply because the winning hands will usually be more than the losing ones. Particularly if you are playing big hands.
Not getting bored — Playing one hand of poker can become boring for some people as they sit there waiting for others to make their decisions. Keeping more than one hand in play at any given time, however, makes things move a little faster and can easily get rid of the boredom you may occasionally feel.
It is challenging — Getting into multi-tabling also makes playing poker a lot more challenging. If you like a challenge, this can be a good way to get it and can make your whole experience a lot more exciting.
There are cons to multi-tabling in online poker, however, and some of them can be quite serious.
Losing more money — If you are not keeping a close eye on what is happening in all your hands, you can lose money very quickly. That can often mean, over a shorter period of time, you can lose more money than you would if you played one hand for a much longer period of time.
Cannot read your opponents — Part of the success of online poker is in watching what your opponents are doing, and reading body language and facial expressions. When you are concentrating on more than one hand, however, you cannot do that so that help is often lost.
More bad decisions — While some players are very good at multi-tabling in online poker, and can make smart decisions while playing two, three or four hands, others are not.
If you are not able to think fast and decide fast, while also weighing up all the pros and cons, you could find yourself making more bad decisions than with just one hand and, thus, losing more money.
One bad beat can throw you off your game on all hands — If you get one bad beat with one hand, it can often force you to think about that long after it is over, and to the detriment of other hands you are playing.
If you do decide to get into multi-tabling in online poker, make sure you do not allow one bad beat to throw you off your game on all hands, but instead just deal with it and quickly move on.