The Previously Unseen Joy of Cascading Tables

January has sucked. Cash has sucked. Tournaments have sucked. I will save the real whinging for the monthly review. After three weeks of epic run bad I decided it was time to change tact and to do something I haven't done in a long while... that is to go bonus whoring. There are some good offers out there right now with people still trying to capitalise on the fall of Full Tilt. It is also January, the traditional month of poker sites trying to reactivate old accounts and gain new custom. So to that end I have a shiny new poker account that offered me a 400% match bonus up to a maximum bonus of $2,000. The rake requirements seem a little steep but once you factor in the VIP system of the site you can quickly envisage it as the equivalent of 35% - 50% rake back for the period of the bonus. Which is tasty.

Now I didn't deposit more than I needed to so I will have to spin up a roll to get the most out of it. To this aim I have been wanting to play a lot of tables at low stakes to get me started. Now traditionally I have always been a fan of tiling when multi-tabling, probably because I spend so much time on PKR. Even if playing 12 tournaments on Stars I prefer to have the tables tiled across my two screens. Except on some networks the software is just hideous for trying to play this way. When a table doesn't start flashing or beeping madly when your clock hits 5 seconds, and you have no time bank, you are going to end up folding a lot of hands without realising it.  A lot of hands. So for the first time ever I have really got my teeth into cascading the tables. The Ipoker software is clearly better built for this. Basically all your tables overlap slightly and it brings up tables to the foreground in order of the decisions you need to make. I'm now wondering why I never really did this before because I am finding a whole new world of benefits to this process. I have been 16 tabling, the maximum you can open, and I have been playing it comfortably.

Mmmmm... 16 tables :)

Clearly this is always going to be a slightly mechanical process. You cannot spend more than one second on a general decision or more than one second glancing at HUD stats. Clearly this would leave you open to being exploited at mid to high stakes unless you had 'mad skills'. You are not going to be aware of the general trends of what a fish at the table is doing unless the HUD makes it obvious. Beyond this though the benefits are huge. Firstly the sheer number of hands you are seeing instantly tightens your pre-flop range up.  It stops you getting bored and playing 10 5 suited in a spot you know you really shouldn't be.  It doesn't stop you bluffing but it does make you have a set of rules in your head for finding spots to attempt this.  I have been getting in 1,000 hands an hour with ease, this allows for some monster monthly volume figures should you wish to generate them. 

The best benefits for me are the following two.  The speed allows for a real zone of zen poker.  The first reason for this is that you rarely ever see the outcome of a hand during the session unless you specifically pull it up on HEM.  Think about this.  The number one fault most poker players have is that they are too results orientated.  They get bothered about losing a hand and it upsets their concentration.  If you cannot see the outcome all the time suddenly you are being focused on what you should be focused on... the decision making process.  Playing like this you are merely making decision after decision after decision and you are doing it in an emotionally neutral fashion.  There is also the added benefit of this process forcing you to spend more time reviewing your session afterwards.  Once you have finished the playing you can then review your decisions without the emotional attachment of the moment.  It makes it easier to be objective and easier to learn from your mistakes.  This has been a very liberating experience.  I will be focused on clearing the bonus for at least the next month, it will be interesting if my feelings about playing cash games on different sites have been permanently altered by the end of this experience.