I'm an amateur MTT poker player who generally plays one table at a time. I've been told that if i'm a winning player this minimizes my profitability, but i think one of the greatest strengths of my game is read dependent play. Obviously not physical reads, but betting patterns and intense observations on everyone at the table.
This lead me to wonder how winning multi-tablers can make great plays on people without intensely focusing on their game. I realized that the great players have an arsenal of situational plays that far excel anything HoH can teach. For a classic example, if we're on the button and call a raise from the cut-off and the flop comes down 5-5-3 it might be a correct situational strategy to often float or raise a CB (with overs let's say), but usually i will depend on my notes, and if this guy just moved to the table I will let it go more often than optimal, thus losing EV.
In contrast if the flop is 5-7-K and we have 5-6 and a note that this guy can double barrel with absolutely nothing, it might be a good read dependent play to call two barrels, where as situationally (against the average player) it wouldn't.
So anyway, the discussion is, can multi-tablers make exceptional read dependent plays without 100% focus (assuming they didn't know the player before the tourney began), and is it ever right to make a situational play that might go against your notes? furthermore, which is harder to learn? I would argue situational play, since all you have to do to get reads is pay attention.
Lastly, to become a winning multi-tabler should i focus more on improving my situational game, or try and take my read dependent game to the next level.
Anything else you want to talk about is welcome, including the obvious P5 insults and clever remarks. Thanks.
MICDIDDY