I made about $25 after an hour of play last night. Not too bad at the stakes I play, I was doing pretty good at both tables I was at. Multi-tabling is definitely where it's at. I tend to lose small amounts of money most of the time when I'm playing, but occasionally get a big win. Those wins cover all my losses, and then some, which is how I've kept my bankroll growing. By having two tables going at once, I get a few benefits:
1. More chances to get a big win during a play session.
2. Less boredom while waiting for good cards.
3. Easier for me to figure out how to adjust to a specific table.
There are players out there that multi-table anywhere from 4 to 10 tables at once, but that's a bit too much for me to handle. Plus, I can only have two tables open on my screen without overlap. Two tables fit nicely, while still letting me focus on the individual opponents.
The players I'm up against really aren't all that good. I'd say I'm only about a mediocre player myself, but there's a poker saying: “You can be the 10th best player in the world, but if you're at a table with the other 9, you're going to lose.” It works in reverse, too. As long as I play with worse players, I can show a profit in the long run. Most of my strategy is to just play strait forward, I bet my good hands and fold the bad ones. I pretty much just wait until one of the other players makes an expensive mistake.
Last night, each table was making different mistakes. At one, the players were aggressive. They'd bet the flop just about every time if no one else did, but usually folded if I bet. I capitalized on this by checking my strong hands, letting them throw that automatic bet in, then I'd raise them. It let me squeeze out a few extra bets. The other table was simply calling too much, so I just bet every made hand and gave them a chance to call me down. That's the third good benefit of multi-tabling; it's easy to get the feel for a specific table when you can compare two side by side.
Tonight should be a lot of fun. Friday nights tend to be my most profitable, there are just a ton of players online who have no idea what they're doing. I don't know if they're trying it out for the first time, are getting drunk, or what, but they just make mistake after mistake. All I have to do is sit around and wait for someone to throw their money at me. Good times.