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.

[PShabi]

Playing 1, 2, or 10 tables of a certain limit all require the same bankroll. Playing mroe hands shouldn't affect it. If you play 100 hands on 10 tables each, you've got 1k hands at that limit. If I single table all day and play 1k hands, well, I've still played 1k.

[melioris]

thanks, that is what I thought. Too bad it took getting drunk off of cheap wine and over consumption of ass-burning Indian food for me to figure it out. Or maybe it means I should do that more.

[Boobie Lover]

The only reason why multi-tabling should affect your bankroll requirements is if you see your win rate affected, and most players will probably take years for a substantial sample size to be generated to see if this is true.

[Talking Poker]

I believe that multi-tabling slightly lowers my per hand win rate, but increases my per hour win rate. I suspect the same is true for most people.

As for the original question, pshabi nailed it.

[Tony Cheval]

Exactly, your bankroll is what you have in your account, not what you bring to an individual table.