bankroll for multi-tabling?

[melioris]

I am an advocate of playing within my bankroll. For me, this allows for two things. First, it (hopefully) allows me to continue to play my game and weather out any downswing. Second, it helps me feel comfortable at each table so I am not playing with scared money. I play the standard bankroll recommendations, 300BB for limit and 20 buyins for NL.

I always assumed that multi-tabling required a “proper” bankroll for each table. But recently I have been playing a little above the recommendations, for instance 3 tables at a level at which I only have the bankroll for 2 tables, without any ill effects. Certainly I have satisfied my second criterion of bankroll management, what about the first? I have started to think that multi-tabling might actually temper the bankroll swings that occur. Doesn’t the math mandate that multi-tabling decrease variance? Is this sound logic? I ate really spicy food, drank two bottles of wine, and thought about this while lying in bed listening to my stomach churn all last night, so I might not be thinking about this correct.