What Is Multi-Tabling and Should You Do It?

Playing poker is very exciting both on the web and in land-based casinos.

Ultimately, it’s up to players to decide what they like more. Some players don’t enjoy playing online poker, while others have never visited land-based venues.

Moreover, some people like to combine both versions.

Every version of this card game has some features that players could rely on in order to gain favour. In “land-based” poker, for example, we have an opportunity to study the faces of our opponents and try to predict their steps. In fact, reading faces has always been an integral part of playing this game. However, everything changed with the introduction of an online version of the game.

Online players can only analyse the actions of their opponents as they are not really able to see their faces when playing on the web. However, they found another way to get the most out of playing online poker by using a method which is known as multi-tabling.

Let’s explore what it is and whether you should use it if you are an online poker player.

What Is Multi-Tabling?

Essentially, multi-tabling means playing at several tables at the same time, which is one of the biggest advantages of playing poker on the web. Online players simply attend several tables and play on all of them at once. If you don’t have any online poker experience, you probably wonder — how is that even possible?

I already said that online poker takes out the opportunity to read the faces of your opponents. If we assume that actions take time, and some players are so good that they can analyse actions in seconds, they will get quite bored if the pace of a game is not good enough for them. That’s why they usually open a couple more windows and simultaneously play several poker games.

My Experience in Multi-Tabling

When I first found out about this, I was taken aback by the sole idea to participate in several games at the same time.

It’s something that the older generation of poker players would despise, but I loved it. Players would basically embrace all that technology has to offer, improving their online poker experience by far.

I admit it — it took me some time to get accustomed to the idea reminds of something from Minority Report, but I eventually mastered playing poker this way. In fact, I bought two huge monitors and connected them to my PC, and even organised poker windows so that I could easily switch between games. I became so good that I was able to play on up to 20 tables at the same time. It’s a bit too much, isn’t it?

Some platforms allowed more, others less, and I aimed for the maximum possible number of tables at every online poker platform. Next thing you know — I bought a business package from my network provider. My download speed was 100 Mbps, which was the highest speed back in the day, and I used all of it for multi-tabling at several poker platforms at once.

Poker was not my hobby anymore. In fact, it suddenly became my full-time job. I was a regular at all poker platforms I knew, and I took part in various online tournaments offered by them.

When it comes to money, I earned a decent wage by playing poker, but I was a far cry from calling myself a pro, so I did not actually make the most out of multi-tabling. It was enough to pay the bills and live a decent life.

But then I realized that perhaps multi-tabling is not the only way to go when it comes to online poker, which leads us to the next part of this article.

How to Arrange Your Tables to Optimize Your Multi-Tabling Experience

In order to multi-table successfully, you must learn how to efficiently optimize your poker tables. The two ways of doing that are:

• Tiling — This popular way of multi-tabling involves arranging your windows similarly to tiles on the wall — place them adjacent to each other so that there is no overlapping, and you can see each table completely. Additionally, most poker sites feature resizable windows, so you can adjust them to any dimension that suits you. The main benefit here is that you can see everything going on across all tables at a glance and study your opponents even when you are not involved in a hand. However, tiling your tables may also be inconvenient because it takes up a lot of your screen space. Mass multi-tabling will make your windows drastically smaller, so this solution works best for 2–6 tables.
• Stacking — This method is perfect for those who like to play a high number of tables simultaneously, as it allows you to manage more windows than tiling does. This way, the tables are placed on top of one another, allowing you to see the top part of each. So, whenever it’s your turn to play a hand, a new window will pop up to the front. Compared to tiling, the main downside of this approach is that you can’t closely monitor what’s going on at other tables before or once you make your move, as the window will be pushed to the back.

Is Multi-Tabling for You?

The reason why I stopped playing many tables at once is that I didn’t want poker to become something that I don’t enjoy at all. It felt like work, and it was supposed to be fun. Don’t get me wrong — many people manage to multi-table and still enjoy every bit of it; it’s just that my heart wasn’t in it at one point.

So, if you are looking for online poker platforms to play some poker, have fun, and possibly earn some money along the way, you should avoid considering this option. Playing at one table is very exciting, especially if you are new to online poker. You get to:

• Hang out with other poker enthusiasts
• Improve your skills
• Study their actions
• Have fun along the way

You will also meet new people and have an opportunity to chat with them, and even learn a thing or two. Being a part of any online poker community is a great feeling, and I still enjoy hanging out with some friends I have made on the web along the way.

On the other hand, if you want to make online poker your full-time job and all you think about is winning, then you should consider the multi-tabling option. However, you always need to start with one table and master your skill. Only when you are 100% sure that you are good enough for playing on more tables should you add one more.

The same pattern should be applied to two tables. You need to practice as long as it takes to become confident in your play before you can expand the number of tables.

Is Multi-Tabling Legal?

Legally speaking, there is nothing wrong with playing at several tables at once.

It’s definitely not cheating as long as you don’t use any additional pieces of software that improve your multi-tabling experience.

This leads us to the not-so-legal part of multi-tabling.

Many experienced poker players use additional software which automatically analyses tables and their players. When this computer program calculates where the possibility of winning is the highest, it would add the experienced multi-tabler to that table. In other words, the program would find a table where players seem new and inexperienced and cannot pose a real threat to the player who uses multi-tabling.

Almost all legal online poker platforms frown upon using these “scripts” and work hard against discovering and banning them. You definitely don’t want some professional multi-table players to join your amateur game and reap all rewards. It’s simply not fair towards other players.

There are several other scripts that could affect the gameplay. They are not illegal, and they cannot help you cheat in the classical sense. However, they can help you circumvent some of the unwritten rules and increase your chances of winning.

How Many Tables Should You Play on?

Many online poker platforms are working hard on lowering the total number of tables you can play on. The majority will not allow you to play on more than three to five tables at once. Truth be told, you don’t need to play on more than five tables at the same time, no matter how experienced you are. More than that will just make poker feel like work.

Can You Win More if You Multi-Table?

Yes and no. Poker is considered a game of skill, but the element of luck is always there. You have to be really good at this game in order to make the skill part count on all the tables that you play.

No matter how good you are, you are still going to lower your chances of winning if you increase the number of tables. However, it’s not all about skills and luck. In fact, there’s some math that can help you calculate your chances and probabilities when playing at several tables at once, but that’s a topic for another article.