Four Table Trial Run

I busted out of an 18 man tourney tonight in about a dozen hands. Pocket Jacks, of course. Someone minraised, and a bad player cold-called. I raised LARGE, and the bad player cold-called again.

The flop came with a Queen. I was in position, and decided I would shove if he checked or bet small. He bet small (like 100 into 700), I shoved - AQ. Lovely. A major donkey tilt-off by me.

I thought maybe this was a sign that I should try something different. I have been meaning to give multi-tabling a try, so I fired up four simultaneous 5.50+.50 SNGs, arranged them so I could see them all on my monitor, and off I went.

I think I played ok. I made one mechanical mistake - folding my hand at the upper left table when I thought I was acting on the lower right table. (there should be no mistaking this - a thick red outline borders the table with current focus). This wasn't a big deal as the hand I ended up accidentally folding was unplayable, anyway.

As for finishes, I finished second, eighth, and two fourth-place bubbles. A net loss of $8.50.

In the eighth place tourney, I lost a third my stack early with pocket jacks (yet again), then my cards went away and I just held on. I was second to bust out but the blinds were 80/160, so I lasted as long as I could there.

It's pretty hard to analyze my play at these tables because of all the suckouts, both for and against me. I got it in with A3 and 7 blinds, was called by A2, and the board came K22. Egads. While three handed, an aggressive guy raised my big blind, and I shoved over him with AQ. He called... with AK. Christ, that's bad luck, a super-aggro player winding up with AK when I have AQ, three handed. That luck is almost as bad as my hitting a Queen on the flop and doubling up against him.

When heads up, I got it in with A8 against his KJ. He hit a jack on the flop, but running 8-8 on the turn and river gave me the win. Ridiculous. Our final hand was exactly the same - my A8 vs. his KJ. This time, he hit QT for an open ender and then a nine for the 2-1-odds-against straight.

One more - I played a blind vs. blind hand where I bet my K4 after hitting my four as bottom pair, he called. The turn gave me trip fours, I bet again, this time bigger, he called. I was going to win a big pot...

The river paired the top card on the board, a queen, and my opponent shoved. Ugh. With a board of Q544Q, Any queen beats me. He could be shoving a pocket pair or a missed straight draw, but that's a real donkey move considering I have bet the flop and turn so far, and the river gives a queen a boat. I fold a full house and lose 560 chips.

Actually, this hand is a good example of my ability to continue paying attention even though I was multi-tabling. I was able to see the board, follow the betting action, and put him on a range of hands (as well as my skill set currently allows) that told me it there weren't many hands except pure bluffs that I could beat with my one card underboat.

I made some other reads, as well. I was at three of the four tables with a decent player - and on two of those tables, he was in late position during my blinds. He was blind stealing often (I both noticed this and my HUD confirmed it), but stealing with a 2x raise. At one point, when we were both fairly low in chips, I reraise-shoved over him with a mediocre QJo and got him to fold.

In the final analysis, I think I did ok. The big question for me was whether I liked it or not. Is playing a bunch of tables at the same time fun, or is it more like work? Not sure I know the answer to that question yet. Perhaps as I get more comfortable, it will be just like playing one table. We'll leave that last question open. I have tons of vacation coming up in the next three months, and it looks like I'll be getting in more multi-table practice.