Don’t Let Rakeback Or MultiTabling Effect Your Growth As A Poker Player
As poker players we have a lot of different goals when we play poker. Some of us play strictly for the fun of it. These players’ goal when they sit down at a poker table is to have a good time and share some laughs with their friends. They may have a couple of beers and a cigar and be completely happy if they walk away losing a few bucks. That’s OK as long as that’s the reason you play poker. Some of us play for money. These players’ sole purpose for playing the game of poker is to turn a profit. In reality most of us are some sort of combination of the two.
If, like me, you play strictly for the money than there are a few things that you should always be focused on. Moving up to the next limit and continually getting better at poker. If you continue to improve your game, your bankroll should continue to grow. With your increased skill and a bloated bankroll you should have no problem steadily moving up from limit to limit until you reach the big games. For online players there are some traps. I often see promising low limit poker players get caught up with focusing on the wrong things and they never make it out of the micro limits. Remember that the big money is in the big games and that’s where you want to be.
Most online players play more than one table at a time. This is fine as long as you keep in under control. A lot of online poker players find that they can double their win rate by playing 2 table at once. Why not quadruple your win rate and play on 4 tables at a time? This is probably fine too but some players take it way too far. There are players who play 16 table at once at the micro limits and make decent money. The only problem is they never seem to get any better. This what I call “The MultiTable Trap”. Your bankroll will grow but you will not continue to learn and improve as a poker player. This means that when your bankroll is ready to move up to the next limit you probably will not be. Players who fall into this trap often spend years bouncing between the micros and small stakes getting pounded every time they try to move up to the tougher games. This is a tough place to be and in the long run you will probably find that you’ll make more money if you focus on becoming a better poker player.
A similar pit fall is what I refer to as “The Rakeback Trap”. This is when a player focuses on how he can earn the most rakeback rather than trying to get better. This often involves playing too many tables or playing short handed poker. Rakeback is a great way to pad your bankroll and anyone serious about online poker has to be taking advantage of it. Just make sure that you treat rakeback as what it is. Something extra. This trap is especially tempting when you get to the 5/10 games. You can easily make a decent living playing break even poker and collecting rakeback at these levels if you play a few thousand hands per day. Focus on getting better and rakeback will simply become and after thought to what can be made in the high stakes games.
If you continue to learn and grow as a player you should be able to continue to move up the ladder to the big games. Rakeback will be a great boost to your bankroll but you should be thinking about winning at the tables first and foremost. Don’t let this important point slip by. You may find yourself playing 16 tables at the micro limits for the rest of your career.
The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Interpoker Rakeback as well as Absolute Rakeback.
categories: rakeback,online poker,poker,gambling,casino,games,recreation,entertainment,hobbies
