Multi Table Tournaments and Leaks in Your Ring Game
For many poker players, multi table tournaments are the ‘fun’ side of poker - invest a small buy-in, play a lot of hands, and shoot for a big score. But if you’re progressing more towards serious poker, it’s important to realize that playing multis on a regular basis can open up a lot of leaks in your regular game. Some trouble spots:
1) Emotional swings: few things feel worse than getting knocked out of a large multi - and the later you go, the worse it feels. Right out of the money is bad, right off the final table is terrible, and fourth place … oooof. It’s funny, but you will lose $30 pots in 3-6 games all the time and NEVER feel anything like you do when you get knocked out of a $30 buy-in multi. Problem is, those feelings just don’t disappear, and when you carry them back to your ring game, they can undermine your discipline and concentration.
2) Moving from game to game: a lot players play limit for their ring game but prefer NL for tournaments. Even for experienced players, trying to play two wildly different games in the same day [let alone at the same time while online] is tough. Your brain is flexible, but until you’ve really developed your separate limit and NL ‘identities’, asking mr./mrs. gray matter to do both can be impossible and result in overly loose / tight play that works well in one game but not the other.
3) It can wreak havoc with your bankroll which can in turn wreak havoc with your confidence and game. See our brief article on this issue.
4) It hurts your game selection ability by breeding an overly inflated [or deflated] perception of your playing abilities. Multis involve more luck than ring, bottom line. Do well in one; you might think you’re ready to go pro, the next world champ. Do poorly in a few; you might consider giving up poker. Ring poker requires that you know exactly where you are at against your opponents - not just in terms of hands but more importantly in skill. Let multis swing your ego one way or the other and you’ll find the quality of your ring game selection will decrease.
So have fun but handle with care. If your ring game starts to fall off, give the multis a rest and refocus.
