HU structures
 

I wondered if anyone had tried a lot of HU matches at 2 with 2 or more tables. I've just been sticking with one match at a time but wonder if this is optimal in terms of profitability.

I drew up a table that translates win-rate into ROI and (no doubt counter-factually) assumes constant win-rate for all games--e.g., if you win 55% of HU matches, I'm assuming you have 55% chance both at the first table and the second table of a 2-table match. This obviously isn't quite right.

Anyhow, the results were basically that you do save money on the rake.

The results could even be interpreted to mean that even losing players lose more slowly if I figured it right. For example, if you have a 45% win-rate, then your 1-table ROI is -15% and your 2-table ROI is -24%. Now, if you assume 2 matches for the 2-table structure, you've lost less than you did in 2 one-table matches. But this player gets to final table less than average, so in actuality really is losing more money.

Where it gets interesting is for winning players. For example, if your win-rate is 55%, then your 1-table ROI is 5%, but your 2-table ROI is (theoretically) 16% or 3.2 times your win-rate for 1-table. So, when you do play 2 matches, your winings are more than what you would have earned playing 2 single-table matches.

Anyhow, I've only played a few of these things and do have a nice ROI on the 2-table, but it's definitely not statistically relevant.

I think a big factor is going to be how well your game holds up against stronger players, since at the second table, you're likely to be playing against one.

I guess the main thing I was wondering, though, was if anyone has played quite a few 2-table HU matches and has actual data on comparative winnings. Basically, is your ROI at least double what it would be for a 1-table? (it takes twice as much time to win, although the times you bust first round can make it shorter). I think my conclusion is that it should theoretically be better for a winning HU player, but that presumably won't be the case if all the stronger HU players congregate to 2-table matches...

Also, one tidbit I recently discovered and found rather consoling: I had been worried for ever so long that I have never been able to hit 60% or better win-rate over any large chunk of HU matches. Well, I found a list of the biggest HU winners online of anyone, and, guess what? They had win-rates in the 55-57% range! And that's about where I am, but they had just played WAY more matches, so many as to mean that they must be multi-tabling pretty heavily.