[Collin Moshman]

Art, before multi-tabling, you should: (a) Be confident you are indeed a winning player (otherwise you'll just be losing more per hour!), and (b) Be able to play your game almost as well while making decisions more rapidly. What I recommend when starting to multi-table is wait until your first game reach mid-high blind play, then starting a 2nd table. This approach allows you to build tables at a comfortable pace.

youbobaa, one excellent low-stakes rake deal right now is the Stars $15+$1 turbos. You don't get such a nice rake again until you hit the $215s.

DMC0627, specific hands like that are good ones to analyze with ICM-based programs like SNGWizard. But in general, if you are getting 2:1 odds or better you need a very compelling reason not to call an allin. (I go into this in much more detail in pp. 168-175 of SNG Strategy.) In the case you give above, you're getting 8:3 on your money, and if you decline this manifestly chip-winning gamble, you could easily bubble out anyway. So while it depends on your hand and how widely you think your opponent will shove, most likely you've got a call there.


MrX and Poker Clif, regardless of payout structure, there are certain absolutes. The most important of these is that players will tighten up right before the money, since everyone wants to cash. Solid long-term winning strategy is to exploit this tendency by becoming super-aggressive and accumulating as many chips as possible during these bubble situations, be they with 4 players left or 6. You rarely want to adapt a "cruise-into-the-money" strategy because of the enormous potential for chip accumulation when nobody wants to call raises near the money.

Kav, you should play an aggressive style with 3 players left, regardless of the blinds. Raise your button widely, and if called, tend to make a continuation bet of roughly 2/3 the pot if your opponent checks, even if you miss the flop. Wait for a hand with decent value before getting involved in pots out of position. AJs is a monster during 3-way play, but earlier on you are not looking to play large pots with AJs or AQ. Consider folding or limping UTG during 9-handed play, and make a standard 3BB or so raise from mid-late position.

Keep up the good work at the tables guys!
-- Collin