Using Poker Software to Add More Tables

Everybody wants to make more money at the tables - it's the most common request I hear from students and the answer is usually not what they expect. Most winning players got where they are by studying strategy and learning to read their opponents, so when they are looking to make more money, their thoughts go right to increasing their skills. I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from working on their game, but if you are already a solid winning player, there are a lot of better ways to increase your hourly rate than buying another book.

Finding the right stakes for your skill level is vital. A breakeven player in a $1/$2 No Limit game will be a big winner in a $0.10/$0.25 game and a player who is crushing $1/$2 might make more money moving up a level or two. Most players assume that making more money requires moving up in stakes, but I find that many players benefit from moving down to games they are sure they can beat easily. Playing a game that is easy to beat with your current skills will also allow you to do many of the little extras that I recommend in the following paragraphs.

Table selection is also vital for many cash game players. Sometimes this means getting table selection software and it may also mean moving to a site where the games are softer or more widely available. Some players find an increase of as much as 15% in their win rate from one site to another. If you also move to a site with a good rakeback percentage, you may double that increase when you include rakeback.

Using the right software is also a huge help, but that would be a series of articles in itself. Hunt around here on PokerSoftware.com for software that works well in the games you play and helps increase your win rate in a multitude of ways.

Increasing your skill level will increase your win rate as long as you don't move up in levels with your new skills until you are at a point where you are a breakeven player. Joining a poker training site, buying a few good books, or taking some lessons can definitely increase your income and that increase will stay with you for the rest of your poker career. It's easier to get a raise as a poker player than almost any other profession.

Once you have found games that you beat consistently and you have educated yourself to beat them for as much money as possible, the best way to increase your hourly rate is to add more tables. If you can play another table or two, you add to your hourly rate without dealing with tougher games, moving to a new site, or spending time working on your game. And the increase can be very large if the increase in tables is significant.

It might seem like playing more tables would increase your stress level and take up too much time. Many players find that playing too many tables at once causes them to mis-click, make mistakes, and miss opportunities for great plays, but adding a few tables doesn't have to be a source of stress. If you automate some of the tasks that have been eating up your time and brain power at the tables, you may find that you can double the number of tables you play and still have more than enough time to consider each decision.

If you play on PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker, Table Ninja is by far the best program to help you automate simple tasks and free up time for more tables while preventing mis-clicks and tendonitis. There are a few AHK scripts for some of the smaller sites that perform similar functions, although none of them do the job as well as Table Ninja.

From setting your pre-flop raise amount so that all you have to do is click a button to opening up new tables with a keystroke, Table Ninja will make life easier. The decisions are still yours, but it takes a lot less work to make them. With a programmable mouse, you can set every option to various mouse buttons and never have to do anything but pick a table and an action.

Let's look at the amount of increase a typical player might see in their income just from following a few of these tips. This is without any increase in skill, just some adjustments that increase income.

We'll look at a fairly typical player, someone playing $50 No Limit Rush Poker on Full Tilt and winning two big blinds per 100 hands. Because this player only plays one table, he sees about 250 hands per hour and his win rate is about $2.50 per hour. His rakeback is around $3 per hour, so he is grinding along making $5.50 per hour. It's not time for this guy to quit his day job.

Now, let's assume that this player downloads TableNinjaFT and buys PokerTracker 3 because of the instant HUD for Rush games. After a few weeks, he has a large sample of hands in his PokerTracker database and takes a one-hour lesson from a coach for $100.

The first noticeable change will be that TableNinjaFT makes everything much easier and he is able to add a table without hurting his win rate. He might even see an increase in his win rate because of fewer mis-clicks or more time to consider his decisions, but we'll assume it simply allows him to add a table and not significantly alter his win rate.

Adding PokerTracker to the mix gives him valuable information on his opponents and when used correctly, will definitely increase his win rate. We'll be very cautious and assume that he only increases his win rate by half a big blind per 100 hands using the information from PokerTracker.

The second effect that PokerTracker has is that it allows him to have a very productive lesson with his new coach. The coach can sort through his database and find specific mistakes as well as general tendencies and large holes in his game. With a week or two to do the homework his coach gives him and implement some changes in his game, a typical player at this level should increase his win rate by half a big blind per 100 hands.

Now that he plays two tables, our player is seeing 500 hands per hour. He is now beating the game at a rate of three big blinds per 100 hands, so he is making $7.50 per hour in winnings. His rakeback has doubled to $6 per hour, bringing him up to $13.50 per hour. He's not going to get rich at this rate, but it's a significant increase for a month of work and an investment of less than $200. If he can do something similar again and bump himself up to $20 per hour, he can afford to pay for a lesson once in awhile, buy any book he likes, join a poker training site for $25 a month, or just save up some of that cash and build his bankroll up high enough to try the $0.50/$1 games for a few weeks and see how it goes.