When Hollywood depicts a game of poker on our screens, it’s usually a head-to-head showdown between two players via which directors look to build the tension.
But in tournament play in particular it’s very rare that you will tackle a rival in one-on-one fashion; in fact, it’s very rare indeed until the field starts to thin out and the numbers seated at each table are reduced.
More common, then, is the need to be able to play multiway pots successfully.
What is Multiway in Poker?
Quite simply, any round of poker that has three or more players live with active hands is considered a multiway set-up.
You may find yourself seated at a table of between six to eight players in an online tournament, and by the very nature of low stakes poker on the web, players tend to operate with an expansive range of hands – that is, they’re more eager to play weaker combinations than they might be in high stakes or in-person events.
So the absolute majority of poker hands you will play in tournaments will be multiway. Conversely, in cash games, you will play more heads-up hands. That’s because the games are typically smaller in size, with the action faster paced – meaning that individuals will blow their chip stack much quicker, on average.
It goes without saying that your percentage chance of winning multiway hands, with medium strength cards at least, is lower – more players equals a higher probability that you will be beaten. On the flipside, when you land a strong hand, you will have more opponents available to juice for as many chips as possible.
Being able to outfox an opponent by playing the percentages – and successfully bluffing from time to time, is vital in multiway poker. In fact, it can be the difference between being profitable and otherwise on the felt in the long run.
Multiway Poker Strategies
The first thing to note about multiway poker is that you need to be aggressive in order to beat at least twice as many opponents.
That’s not to say you should play recklessly from a wider range of hands, but instead when you do find yourself with strong cards and the pot odds are in your favour, you need to go hard in order to maximise your advantage.
It’s crucial too that you take care in certain situations. If you have the ability to check in to a pot against multiple opponents, it’s usually smart to do so unless a) you are very confident you have the best hand, and b) you sense that others will call or raise into the pot if you bet.
When others are trying to bully the table with big raises, consider your relative position – they may or may not have a strong hand, but even if you call their bluff with a mediocre hand yourself you will still have others active in the round to beat as well.
One of the mistakes that newcomers to poker make in multiway pots is to bluff as a pure psychological weapon – remember, the more players that are at the table, the more likely you are to face a call or raise. In multiway games, you should only really bluff when you have some kind of equity in your hand, where it’s not impossible that you could land a winning combo with the turn or river if luck is on your side.
All told, the key to success in multiway poker is to be more circumspect in your range of hands and in your staking – but when you do have the edge, it’s imperative that you take your opponents for as many chips as possible.
Know Thy Enemy
One of the other complications of multiway pots is that you’re trying to get a read on multiple opponents, rather than just one rival.
It’s in these poker games where studying your opponents becomes so important, because not only are you trying to analyse their behaviour in response to decisions that you take, but you’re also keen to find their tells in how they react to moves that other players at the table are making.
Take the time to study their hand ranges. Even if you have folded earlier in the action, don’t switch off – be sure to make a note, on paper, of each player’s range of hands and how they play them. This is one of the perks of playing online poker remotely!
Although the best poker players know that they need to mix up their tactics in order to avoid becoming predictable, in low stakes tournaments it’s amazing how often a player will simply revert to type – whether they are a strong-armed bluffer or a more conservative type that only plays with strong hands.
Knowing how an opponent plays gives you a read, and it might also help you to identify new and recreational players – these often play loosely with weak hands, simply because they don’t really understand concepts like EV (more on that in a moment) and value betting.
When playing multiway, knowing exactly what – and who – you’re up against is essential.
Understanding EV in Poker
Another key principle of playing multiway pots is understanding expected value (EV).
You may have heard about things like value betting and pot odds in poker, and those are topics that can help you to improve your game.
But an even easier method to instantly improve your multiway play is to calculate your EV in the midst of a hand, which will help you to decide on the right next step to take.
The EV calculation is simple enough to remember:
(win probability x potential profit) + (loss probability x potential loss)
So, simply put, you’re assessing your potential upside against the possible downside of betting on or folding.
Clearly, this calculation is more important in multiway poker because your win probability is typically lower against multiple opponents, but your potential win is higher because more players are throwing chips into the pot – getting on the right side of this quick bit of math is of extreme significance.