If you plan on "STACKING" your poker tables you will probably need to understand some of Hold'em Watchers features a little better. One of the biggest things you need to understand is HOW Hold'em Watcher works. It has to see the poker tables on the screen to read the cards and action at the table.
This is why you will see the tables popping up once you have several of them "Cascaded" or "Stacked". Hold'em Watcher is very fast at doing this and if you are "Stacking" your poker tables you will see and hear alot of visual and audio action, tables will be popping up one on top of another constantly.
DO NOT be worried, this is the way Hold'em Watcher is designed to work. It can be a little confusing and intimidating at first but once you understand what you are to be looking for specifically, you can then basically ignore all the other action and tables popping up.
Below I have written a few suggestions to help you in setting up for "stacking", "tiling" and "cascading" that will make the performance much smoother while multi-tabling and will noticeably shorten the learning curve.
- #1 Make sure that you set up your pre-flop starting "Hand Configurations" under the
tab on the "New Welcome Window" before you actually begin your poker session. If you plan on multi-tabling you should only be playing premium starting hands. If you are playing any more than 4 tables you should only be playing premium starting hands and you should only be playing those starting hands from the best/correct starting positions. This will eliminate many marginal hands that would normally require your attention, it will help to limit the amount of "ALERTS" you receive from Hold'em Watcher. As you may know your best concentration is required when multi-tabling, so you do not want to be distracted anymore than necessary.

- #2 Make sure that you go to the “New Welcome Window” and under the
tab click on the "Hand Configurations" settings. This will open up the following screen:

Now look down on the far right hand bottom side and you will see "Other Settings"

“Other Settings” is where you should “ENABLE” the "Put me back in if I am found sitting out" setting. You will find that at some point during your play because of all the action and the amount of time it takes to make good decisions, that the poker client may sit you out on a table. If you “ENABLE” this setting you will “AUTOMATICALLY” be put back in if you are found sitting out.
This is one less thing that you should not have to think about. In addition, you want to make sure that you have set the "Put me back in if I am found sitting out" setting for the correct GAME OPTIONS that you are playing. At the top of the screen below you will see on the left hand side this button click on it and then you will see "Load Saved Options"

Make sure that you have set the "put me back in if I am found setting out" setting for the correct "Game/Load Saved Options" you are going to be playing. If this is not set correctly it will show up while you are playing, so make sure that you have these settings correct.
- #3 You will also need to go back to the "Program Settings" screen

Which is on the “New Welcome Window” and find the "Table Markers-Colors" settings

This is where you will set your "Table Markers-Colors". The most important setting you need to “SET & REMEMBER” is the "Time To Act Color". I personally have this set to "Green" because the green that is used is LIME GREEN and to me this color is very noticeable and means it's time to GO! This is the color that you should be concerned about and watching for the most while Multi-Tabling. You also need to listen for your "Alert Time To Act" sound.
The poker tables that pop up with your "Time To Act Color" are the tables that need your immediate attention and are waiting for you to make a play. When these tables are marked/lighting up with your "Time To Act Color" and you hear your "Alert Time To Act" sound, it is YOUR TURN at that very moment to make a play.
The table that is marked with your "Time To Act Color" will stay lit up and will stay on top of the stack until you make your play. While you are making a play all your action on any other poker tables will be suspended until you are done. So this is the most important moment that needs your undivided attention.
As soon as you make your play the other poker tables will pop back up to the front of the stack to be read by Hold’em Watcher and the poker table that your are still involved in a hand with will be marked/highlighted by the color of your choosing, it will then go back into the stacks until it is your turn to act again. Rinse and repeat, this will happen over and over again.
The other table markers colors are important also and you should also set them but the "Time To Act Color" is the most important of them all. I would also set your "Table Markers" sized to large. I suggest turning off all sounds from Hold'em Watcher and your poker client software, just keep the sounds and alerts that you feel you need the most to play your best.
- #4 The “Auto-Fold” settings will need to be adjusted and turned on. You can do this from the "Program Settings" tab and you will also need to set the "Randomize muck delay" to probably no more than 5 seconds. Remember that sometimes Hold'em Watcher will be delayed from mucking your hand or checking your hand because you are making a play on the poker table which is up front. This will block Hold'em Watcher from seeing the action of all the other poker tables, which delays the software from taking the appropriate actions you have programmed it to do. If you just make your plays in a timely fashion, Hold'em Watcher will easily catch up to all the action on all the poker tables quickly after you finish making your play.
If for some reason you need to pay very close attention to the table you are involved in, just pull that specific poker table out of the stack and separate it from the rest of the other tables until you are done, then just simply put it back into the stack.
I know that this is alot of instruction/information to follow and it may need to be read twice but I believe this will help take some of the intimidation out of using this program.
Stacking, Cascading and Tiling Poker Tables
There are basically two different ways to arrange your poker tables when you are multi-tabling. You can either "Tile" or "Stack" your poker tables. "Tiling" means to lay out all your poker tables flush next to each other in rows. When you do this you should be able to see all of your poker tables at the same time and you should have no overlaps of your tables. This is very common but takes up alot of space on your screen and the players who multi-table this way will need usually more than one poker screen if the play more than four tables. It really depends on how small they can get their tables re-sized and still see clear enough to make game-time decisions. Tiling your tables helps those players who want to be able to watch the action on any specific table. It will take a very, very quick and concentrated mind to do this properly, especially with more than four poker tables going at the same time.
The other way to multi-table is called "Stacking". This is a very popular way to multi-table for those who play alot of poker tables at once. I have seen people successfully play upto 18 tables at once and have heard of players playing many more. In order to stack your tables you basically need to stack them one on top of another. The great thing about stacking is that if you get your poker client settings set properly, you will be sitting in the same seat on every poker table. This means that you only have to look at the same seat all the time and that all of your mouse clicks will be in the same place on every table. This alone saves alot of time on eye movement and moving your curser around. Basically it will look as if you are playing on just one table, except that the table names/players, chip counts and cards will be different all the time.
Poker sites usually give you the option in their table settings to have your table pop-up to the front when it is your turn to act. This setting should be enabled/turned on, you also should know that when your are making a play on your table that is up-front, that all the other tables will be waiting until after you have made your play, then the next table in order that requires your attention will pop-up to the front. One thing I suggest that you should definitely do if you plan on playing multiple tables is to go through all of your poker client settings and turn off all the sounds and alerts that you do not need and look for any way to make your tables easier to read. I also suggest that you make sure that the area in your home where you are playing is very organized and clean, it really helps you to keep focused and not be distracted when you have a good clean playing environment.
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