Playing Multiple Tables of Low-Limit Holdem - Chris "Fox" Wallace

Playing multiple tables at the lower limits can have some serious advantages, and is one of the easiest ways to make a solid long term income from poker.

Playing 4 tables of 3/6 has the same win rate for me as playing one table of 10/20, but the variance is much lower. I haven't had an hour where I lose $300 at 4 tables of 3/6, but at a 10/20 table this can happen easily. Not only does this make things easier on your psyche, but it requires a smaller bankroll as well. For bonus whores, being able to multi table is an absolutely necessity if you want to make a reasonable hourly rate. At 4 tables of 3/6, I actually collect raked hands for my bonuses about 6 times as fast as playing one table of 10/20, because many hands at a 10/20 table don't see a flop, and therefore don't get raked.

It's also nice to have hands popping up every few seconds demanding a decision. Not only is it very good for my game to see so many hands, but it keeps me from getting bored. I see aces about once every 45 minutes playing 4 tables, and a playable hand or an unraised blind every minute or two, so there's always something to do, and it's easy to stay real tight and solid.

My first piece of advice is to play a level that you know you can beat without knowing a great deal about the individual players. There are certainly people who beat the 5/10 NL games while playing 4 at a time, but I wouldn't try it until I was steadily beating those games one at a time. You'll want to try two tables for awhile before you go any higher and keep accurate records so that you know you are beating two tables before you go to three or four tables.

One of the best ways to keep those accurate records, and also get some information about your opponents, is tracking software like pokertracker or pokeroffice. I use pokertracker and PAHUD, which gives me a fairly good idea of what a player is like in the heads up display once I have a significant number of hands on them. Within 30 or 40 hands you get an idea about some players, and within 100 hands you have a fairly reliable picture of how most of the people at your table play. Check out the software reviews section for some of the tools I use.

It is important to always keep records as you add to the number of tables you are playing, so that you find out quickly if you are a winning player at two tables but losing money at four tables. Playing solid "ABC Poker," as we call it, should get the money at anything below 4/8 on most sites. I know it does at Party Poker. I recommend cutting the stakes you are playing by about 2/3 when you start playing multiple tables. If you are playing 3/6 now and beating it steadily over a long period of time, try playing two tables of 1/2 for a few days and see how it works out before you move up.

I highly recommend Small Stakes Hold Em from twoplustwo publishing for beating these small games; it's the best book I have found for beating the lower limits. Also read Lou Krieger's books and maybe Lee Jones "Winning Low Limit Hold", but play tighter than those books advise when you are playing multiple tables. Stay tight, solid, and aggressive, but don't get tricky--the boneheads at these levels aren't good enough to be tricked.

I play about 17% of my hands preflop at the 3/6 level, and that is the generally accepted correct number if you ask the poker nerds on the twoplustwo forums as well. Check your stats in pokertracker once you get a few hundred hands logged and see how you're doing. In a multi table setting I like to see 17% VP$IP, 6%PR, 55% (or higher) W$SD, and winning about 2 BB/100 hands. You won't have any idea what that means until you are used to pokertracker and gametime+ or playerview, but it will make sense once you are familiar with the software.

Good luck with your adventures in multi-tabling, it isn't the most exciting way to make a living, but it beats working at the gas station, and it's a great way to build up a bankroll while working on your game.

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