One thing that people love about online poker as opposed to the live version is that you can play multiple cash game tables at once.  And with the ability to play more tables at once comes the ability to make more money during playing sessions.

But this isn’t necessarily a good thing for some players because playing multiple tables at the same time prevents a person from fully focusing on them all.  So it’s definitely worth asking yourself a few questions before choosing to play 10 tables at once.

Will playing more tables make me better?

The obvious goal of poker is to make money.  So if you can play 6 tables at once and make $10 an hour on each one versus making $20 an hour on two different tables then it would make sense to play 6 tables.  After all, you’re making $60 an hour after you average out the winnings from 6 tables.

However, there is such a thing as improvement in poker and those who improve over the course of a few years may find themselves making in excess of $100 an hour or much more.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to make this improvement and move up in limits if you are playing 6 tables at once.  You can’t pay as much attention to the game and you won’t always develop strong reading abilities when multi-tabling.  If your goal is to move up in limits then you are probably better off playing two or three tables.

What Table Amount is right for me?

The next obvious question is how many tables will be right for you.  When answering this question, make sure that you aren’t using someone else as your model for how many tables you should be playing.  Some people have become famous for playing 25 to 30 tables at once which is an insane amount; just stick to what’s right for you in the end.
If you’re losing money then you obviously need to drop some tables.  Even if you’re making money yet feel rushed and don’t have time to make proper decisions then you should cut down on the tables.  Start out small and move up gradually as you gain more multi-tabling experience.

One of the increasingly popular poker strategy methods that is catching fire among everyone is small ball poker.  Ever since Daniel Negreanu coined this phrase and started preaching its worth on seemingly every poker website in the world, many players have taken up the small ball approach.  And with so many people utilizing small ball poker these days, it can be a difficult thing to play against.

Of course there are ways to outplay small ball players just like there is with any other poker strategy and you just have to know how to do it.  The first thing to keep in mind when playing against small ball players is that you have to be able to identify them.  This is easier said than done since there is usually a table full of people that you also need to scout as well.

But identifying the small ball player is made easier once you recognize that they play a wide range of hands aggressively yet only use small bets and raises to control the pot size.  The reason why small ball players only use smaller bets is because they think their skill is enough to win out in the end.  That is why the next part of playing against a small ball player is so effective.

And that next part is using big bets and raises against these players when you’re isolated with them.  Small ballers hate to commit too many of their chips to one pot so if you can throw out big bets or even go all-in on bad flops against them then you’ve got a great chance of stealing a pot.  Just make sure that you don’t get too focused on the small ball player(s) though – especially if there is a whole table full of other people to deal with.