Multiple Table SNG Strategy

Spread your risk and increase your winnings at the same time

Once you've locked down the basic SNG strategy and feel that you've got a solid game, you may want to consider playing more than one table at a time. There are many advantages to this strategy including:

• Seeing more hands per hour If you get bored easily this is a great way to stay focused and keep your adrenaline level high. Play four tables simultaneously and you see 4X as many hands, it's simple math.
• Mitigating the risk to your bankroll by spreading your buy in across multiple tables Instead of playing a single $40 SNG, play four $10 SNG's, this will help reduce variance and protect your bankroll. In other words, your pocket Aces can get cracked anytime and if $40.00 of your bankroll is tied up at one SNG table, that money is now long gone. However, if you're playing 4 $10 tables you still have three active tables running and can recover that amount by cashing in the remaining SNG's.
• Better manage your sessions and your time Most of the top SNG players in the world play more than one table at a time. It's a simple time vs. money proposition; if you're spending two hours in a single session it makes sense to play as many tables/hands as possible. This applies to cash games as well.

Tactical strategies to playing multi-table SNG’s

There are a few tactical issues to address before you dive in and play more than a single table on any online poker site, the first being whether you're more comfortable cascading or tiling your tables. It's best to try this using play money to better accommodate your new style of play. While it's not a one size fits all proposition, most players prefer to tile their tables because it allows you to see the action of every table. Cascading them will hide most of the action with the exception of the active table that you're playing at that time.

The next challenge is keeping pace and ensuring you don't click the wrong action button. Again, tiling the tables helps with this because the tables are static and not dynamic. In other words, when the tables are cascaded the table where your action is required will often "pop" over your existing table. If the action buttons are in the same spot, you may click fold when you meant to call or raise. If that happens you may be prone to tilt a little (especially if you just folded pocket Kings!). Starting out with play money tables means there is no risk to your cash bankroll as you get familiar with this new layout. By tiling the tables you can also resize them at room like Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, allowing you to play at least four tables via tiling on most monitors.

Another option is using multiple monitors to play up 8, 16, or even 24 tables at the same time. Of course, the latter is only recommended for the most experienced player but it can be done! Check out "multi table poker" on YouTube for a few videos of players like Hevad Khan playing up to 26 SNG's simultaneously. A good rule of thumb is to have enough winnings in your poker bankroll to pay for the extra monitor(s) before doing so. At that point, your game is likely ready for the increased load of playing the extra tables.