Optimizing your multi-tabling
Find the right number of tables to maximize your hourly earnings.
Gandalf
Co-founder of Poker Sciences
Knowing how much you earn per hour based on the number of tables you play is one of the most valuable pieces of data a Spin player can have. And yet almost no tracker computes it properly.
With Poker Spin Tracker, it's the opposite: two dedicated charts answer this question directly, and reading them correctly is probably the simplest way to optimize your hourly earnings.
These two charts don't have the same accuracy. The first is an indicator to take with a grain of salt, the second is your real decision-making tool. This chapter explains how the tracker computes them, why they differ, and how to use them.
1. How the tracker detects your table count
Before we talk about charts, one basic point: each tournament you play is associated with a number of tables played simultaneously (for example 3 tables or 6 tables).
Good news: the tracker doesn't ask anything of you. It deduces this from the exact time at which each of your hands was played.
Understanding the exact mechanics of this calculation is optional, so if you want to know more, expand the section below. Otherwise, skip straight ahead!
2. The CEV by table count chart
First chart available: in the Stats tab of the Dashboard, you can select "CEV by number of tables played" in the dropdown of the main chart. It displays one bar per label value (1, 2, 3, 4... tables) with the average CEV and its 90% confidence interval.
Minimum 100 Spins per bucket for a bar to display. A rare value (e.g. 8 tables played a few times) therefore won't appear until it has reached this threshold.
How to read this chart without getting it wrong
Naturally, your CEV drops as you add tables: your attention is divided, you make poorer decisions on each hand. That's expected, and it's even useful to see. But this drop is not a bad sign in itself.
The more tables you play, the more CEV you can afford to lose, because the quality you lose per hand is offset by the number of hands played per hour.
That's why this chart, taken in isolation, is almost impossible to interpret correctly. You have two options: either cross-reference it with an EV simulator (such as SwongSim) to translate each CEV variation into hourly earnings, or skip directly to the next chart, which answers the real question head-on: how much do I earn per hour based on the number of tables?
It's much simpler, and that's exactly the focus of the next section.
3. The €/h by table count chart
The real decision-making tool is in the Results card of the Stats tab. Click on the €/h/tables tab: you'll get one bar per table count, in euros earned per hour. That's the number that answers the real question.
How much do I really earn based on the number of tables I play?
The chart automatically switches to EV Profit (purple): that's the mode that neutralizes multiplier variance to fairly compare different table counts.
EV Profit is enough here, because this chart is mainly used to compare configurations against each other. The goal is to identify the table count where your hourly earnings are best, not to analyze each bar as an isolated estimate down to the cent.
The part right below is again optional. So if you'd like to understand how time is allocated to each bucket, dive in, otherwise skip ahead!
4. The Smoothing button
The Smoothing button, in the top right of the chart, weights each bar by its reliability (number of tournaments) and pulls it toward the overall trend. This prevents a rarely-played bucket from displaying an extreme €/h that's only due to chance, and you see the general shape of your bell curve more clearly.
Bars with lots of data barely move and those with little data are pulled toward the average of their neighbors.
5. How to find your optimal table count
If you're comfortable with your game at your current table count, the real question becomes:
Could you earn more by playing one more table?
Or conversely, one less? The €/h by table count chart is designed to answer this, but only if you give it the means to do so.
🧪Experiment and accumulate volume
The goal is to make a bell curve appear. Your €/h goes up as you add tables, reaches a peak, then drops back down when your attention degrades too much. This peak corresponds to your optimal table count.
To find this bell, you have to experiment. Add a table for a few thousand Spins, then test one more, or go back. A bar displays starting at 100 Spins per bucket, but it takes much more volume to draw a real conclusion.
If you're already winning at your current table count, the right move is to push the volume to the maximum on the bucket just above. Accumulating several thousand Spins isn't always easy depending on your usual volume, but it's the only way to get a reliable answer from the chart. And anyway, as long as you don't feel like you're losing the thread during the session, you're not going to suddenly become a losing player with one more table. At worst your €/h stays stable, at best it goes up.
Optimizing your multi-tabling comes after mastering the game. At first, the priority is still to progress technically; volume comes later. Looking for your optimal table count only really makes sense once the basics are solid.
📉Watch out for variance
As long as the volume is limited, the bars swing wildly. A good run of 150 Spins at 6 tables can push that bar up to 30 €/h, and then a downswing on the next 150 can drop it back to 10 €/h. Don't draw any hasty conclusions about a bucket with little volume.
Typically, you need more like 500 to 1000 Spins per bucket to start seeing a reliable trend, and often a lot more for narrow gaps. Activate Smoothing to reduce the noise from low-volume buckets and better see the general shape of the bell curve.
Finding your optimum isn't a setting you adjust once. It's a process: you experiment, you accumulate volume, the bell curve takes shape little by little. Once the bell curve is well established, the peak tells you your most profitable table count, and you can adjust your setup accordingly.
6. The trap of feel
I feel like I'm playing worse at 6 tables.
It's often true on the CEV side: your attention is divided, you miss spots. That's what the first chart confirms. But that's not the question.
Imagine: at 4 tables, you run at 75 CEV and earn 15 €/h. At 6 tables, your CEV drops to 50, but you play 50% more tournaments in the same hour: your €/h can rise to 18 €/h. You play worse per hand, but you earn more per hour. In this case, feel is leading you in the wrong direction.
Of course the opposite also exists. At 10 tables, your CEV may drop so much that hourly volume no longer compensates. There again, only the €/h chart tells you, not feel.
Don't drive your multi-tabling by feel. A player who thinks they're "playing well" at 4 tables but earning 12 €/h there is leaving money on the table if they could pull in 18 €/h at 6.
And conversely, a player who forces 8 tables out of pride but caps out at 14 €/h when they would do 20 at 5 tables is losing money every hour. The €/h/tables chart settles the debate.
Key takeaways
Multi-tabling is a trade-off between per-hand quality of play (CEV) and hourly volume. Only the second chart measures what really matters: what you earn per hour.
• CEV by tables chart: indicative only. Ignores hourly volume, don't make decisions with it.
• €/h by tables chart: the decision-making tool.
• 100 Spins minimum per bucket to display a bar.
• Smoothing: enable it to better see the bell curve when volume is limited.
• Don't drive by feel. €/h decides, not feel.
