Your Optimal Number of Online Tables

My optimal number of online tables is three.

This is not based on some sort of feeling or guess. I’ve kept careful records while playing at varying numbers of tables. For several years, I played only two tables, more out of habit than anything else, and my profits were steady but not spectacular. I began adding a third table, and my overall profit increased significantly — which was sweet.

I added a fourth table, confident that I’d have no trouble with it. And while I was able to follow the action pretty easily, I was surprised to find that my overall profit dropped slightly.

Just to test the waters, I continued adding tables to see how many I could handle. I found that I could manage five and six tables reasonably well, although my profits continued to dip. And finally it was the seventh table that brought me to the point where I became a losing player. At five tables or more, I didn’t really play enough hands for my results to be significant, but I could feel my game management clearly slip away with the addition of the seventh table.

So, for now, I play three tables half the time, and during the other half, I drop down slightly in limits and add a fourth table. I will continue to do that until my profits increase with four tables. Then, I will work toward adding a fifth. In the event that, for whatever reason, I just can’t get it done with four tables, I’ll stick with three and maybe try four again sometime down the road.

So, even though you probably didn’t care too much, you have my online poker story. Now, my question is: What’s yours?

Do you know your optimal number of tables? If not, wouldn’t it be worth finding out? Without a doubt, one of the great advantages of online play is the ability to multitable [play several tables at once], but that advantage can easily be nullified when you overdo it. I’m just guessing, but I believe that at least one-third of online players play more than their optimal number of tables. I’ve heard many players give their reasons (excuses) for doing so, and none of them satisfy me. Here are a few I’ve heard:

1. “I average $4 profit per hour per table (PH/PT), so the more tables I play, the more I can expect to earn.”

This statement is nonsensical. Your average profit PH/PT has to be correlated to a certain number of tables. If you average $4 PH/PT while playing four tables, it’s guaranteed that the same does not hold true while playing eight tables. Now, if you can average more than $2 PH/PT while playing eight, adding the extra tables is worthwhile, since your overall profit will be greater than the $16 per hour that you were making at four tables.

But if you think that you can add a table and expect the per-table profit to remain the same, you should start keeping records right away. It’s easy to fool yourself into thinking that one extra table shouldn’t change anything. There’s a small chance that it won’t. But for the vast majority of players, it does, and it’s often enough of a difference to drive down your total profits.

2. “I tend to play too many hands if I have too few tables open. I need more tables in order to stay patient.”

This player always needs to be in action. That’s a pretty destructive attitude, no matter how many tables he plays. His gambling problems run deeper than just trying to maximize profits. But in terms of his poker skills, he’s going to suffer because he can’t bear to be the observer. You need to observe your opponents while you’re in a hand, but it’s just as important to watch them when you’re out of a hand. If you’re playing so many tables that you’re always in action, you’re costing yourself the important downtime that will help you learn about your opposition, and you will damage your bottom line as a result.

3. “I belong to a rakeback program, so the more tables I play, the greater my rakeback. I need to play as many hands as possible to maximize my rakeback profit.”

This argument doesn’t hold water, either. Earning more rakeback, in and of itself, doesn’t translate to greater profits. People seem to forget that earning more rakeback involves (duh) paying more rake! It’s not some secret path to riches.

Let’s say that you can play four tables and break even. The rakeback would represent your profit. What if you could play three tables and come out ahead by an amount greater than the amount of rakeback you could potentially be making at a fourth table? In that case, you’re hurting yourself by adding the fourth table, even though your rakeback goes up.

Rakeback earners want to keep adding more and more tables, but doing so almost certainly does not maximize their overall profits. Sooner or later, they will reach the point where adding an extra table is counterproductive. They should vary their number of tables, keep records, and try to find their optimal number of tables while taking the rakeback into account.

4. “I want to test my limits and see how many tables I can follow at one time.”
That’s valid, but only as a one-time experiment. Just because you can follow the action at 12 tables, it doesn’t mean you can manage them well. If you find that you can follow 20 tables, congratulations. Now come back to reality and find the number of tables that you can follow well; that is, well enough that you not only can profit from them, but can profit more than if you removed one or more tables.

It’s astonishing how many players tell me that they play as many as 16 games at a time. I admire their ability to multitask, but I know they are fooling themselves. By nature, almost all poker players overestimate their abilities. Nowhere is this more apparent than when players overestimate their ability to play more tables than they should.

If you are serious about maximizing your profits, get real. Keep records, find your optimal number of online tables, and stick with it. That number may increase over time, but it will do so slowly. Don’t rush it. Quality of play will always outperform quantity of play.

You can never go wrong by playing too few tables, but you can sure mess yourself up by playing too many.

Matt Lessinger is the author of The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker, available everywhere. You can find other articles of his at www.CardPlayer.com.