Online Action Poker

Multi-Table No-Limit Hold’em

If you are playing a lot of no-limit Texas Holdem and going to begin looking at your poker like a business then you need to know one very important thing and this is that your occupation of the table is the most important thing that you will have. There are numerous knock on factors behind this statement that may or may not be readily apparent. For example there is a huge difference between dollars won and high quality poker play. It is only recently that I have been reading the poker blogs of two respected poker players who in 2008 and 2009 both did amazingly well.

In 2010 however they struggled so badly that both of them are now working in conventional day jobs again. Do not get me wrong here, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a conventional job and playing poker. Having the security of a day job is great bankroll management in my opinion as it takes the pressure off having to make money playing poker. Dovetailing a career and poker is the best way forward unless poker is your career of course and you have some other form of income derived from poker.

But what these two guys were doing was playing middle limits at NL400 and NL600. The level of play at those limits is very strong now and so much so that it is often difficult to find value and especially in six max. But in full-ring with a good rake deal then occupying the table can be a great advantage. This means that you can fold a J-10s if it has been folded to you on the button if you feel pressured by being involved in a couple of big decisions elsewhere. If playing too many big pots is detrimental if you get flustered then you could fold the J-10s which in that instance is good bankroll management even if the play is suspect in terms of EV when you play the individual hand in a vacuum. Better players however may be able to play fast enough so that they can incorporate all of the decisions.

However players mistake the concept of EV because they only look at hand strength and nothing else. What you have to remember is that poker is not played by computer programs and PokerStove but by real people. A hand that was +EV for someone else may be –EV for someone with less skill or in tougher games. I know countless players whose pulse quickens every time they get dealt the hand that they had been hoping for which is aces only to then horribly misplay them in a deep stacked situation. If the stacks were deep enough and the skill difference were wide enough then aces could be –EV in the wrong hands when you factor in post flop play and implied odds.

There is a huge skill attached to multi-tabling a lot of poker tables and this was something that wasn’t apparent to me some years ago. So remember that strategic folds can be very powerful in no-limit when you are multi-tabling if you are involved in numerous other tables and it is wrong to look at poker hands in a vacuum without looking at many other complex variables. Many very strong technical players are busting out of poker whilst others are making $100k or more with less technical ability……makes you think.