How to mentally reduce your volume
Jared Tendler joins us to share how to reduce your volume and how to use that extra energy to make better decisions.
One of the more significant changes to happen at PokerStars this year was the reduction of the multi-tabling limit to four cash game tables, down from 24. The GGNetwork have just announced they will be doing the same next month. The reasons behind such a move are numerous, but the main rationale was that mass multitablers were said to be making the poker experience slower and less fun for everybody else.
Whether you agree with that or not, don’t be surprised if such reductions become more widespread across the industry. Not just the operators, at SpinLegends we actually encourage our players to start off on less tables and gradually increase them. We would rather our members learn to crush their limits significantly in order to move up to the next stake, rather than eek out a small profit across a lot of tables. It's a slower start, but we think it's a much more reliable way to climb the ranks and crush the biggest levels. Once they have a grasp of the fundamentals we find our players can move up several stakes in just a few months. The table below shows the rate in which we move our players up the stakes and over tables.
| Stake | evROI | Spins/hour | Rake/hour | Rakeback/hour | Hourly Rate | Monthly Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.25 | 8% | 10 | $0.20 | $0.01 | $0.20 | $21 |
| $1 | 7% | 10 | $0.80 | $0.04 | $0.70 | $74 |
| $3 | 6% | 15 | $3.60 | $0.18 | $2.70 | $288 |
| $7 | 5% | 15 | $7.35 | $0.37 | $5.25 | $562 |
| $15 | 5% | 15 | $13.50 | $0.68 | $11.25 | $1,193 |
| $30 | 4% | 24 | $43.20 | $2.16 | $28.80 | $3,096 |
| $60 | 3.5% | 24 | $72 | $3.60 | $50.40 | $5,400 |
| $100 | 3.5% | 24 | $120 | $6 | $84 | $9,000 |
Dig deep into decision making
If you grinded a lot of tables at PokerStars or the GGNetwork you may understandably now play a second site to make up the shortfall, which is a perfectly fine thing to do. However, I spoke with my good friend and mental game coach Jared Tendler about the benefits of reducing tables and how to approach playing a smaller amount of volume.
I actually think this could be a good thing for grinders given the games continue to get harder. It’s a chance to take the extra time to dig deeper into your decision making and just become a better player. I'm not saying don't also play other sites, but at least consider the idea of becoming a much better player by allowing yourself the time to think through hands the way you know you should.
Whether it is going from eight to four tables, or indeed 24 to four tables, it creates an unusual dynamic for some in that they are going to have to slow down and do less. How does a player go from quantity to quality?
First of all, work on your decision-making process, dig in and think about new things in the hand. It’s all about giving your mind something new to focus on so it doesn’t wander looking for action elsewhere. So if, for example, you have not really spent much time thinking about blockers and card removal, make that where the extra focus will go. Work on these things in your study away from the table, and actively work on integrating them in your game at the table. You have extra time to think between hands, spend that time thinking of something new that your game needs, otherwise you will find it on Twitter or YouTube in the form of a distraction.
Keep the distractions at bay
This brings us to a very important inevitability of reducing tables. We live in an age of multitasking, which is probably why playing 24 tables comes so easily to some players. How do we get rid of the habit of seeking out novelty that multitabling seems to keep at bay?
Start by trying to reduce the amount your mind is overactive outside of poker, especially after poker. So don’t play video games or review hands or browse the web straight after a poker session, your mind will be exhausted. Not only will some scheduled downtime away from tech help you relax it will also get you more used to taking your time and focussing deeply.
If that is really difficult, try and understand what it is that is driving the overactivity in your mind. Is it purely a habit? Is it a distraction because you are avoiding something? Is it the ‘Fear Or Missing Out’? If it really becomes a problem you need to know what is causing the problem before you can start to fix it.
It's understandable why you might not like no longer having the choice how much volume you can put in at a poker site, but it does seem inevitable that more poker rooms will be taking steps to reduce the amount of tables you can play at once. It seems like now would be a good time to put more focus on quality rather than quantity.
Have you reduced your volume as a result of these recent changes? Let us know in the comments:
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