Tables stealing focus for split second

[Insideman]

Now, SaT 'simulates' bringing the table to the top of the stack, by instead sending all the other tables to the bottom. This gives the effect of the table coming to the top, without explicitly giving it focus, because we don't want to potentially steal focus from another table in the grid. This MAY be the reason for the slight lag you notice. Another reason could be if SaT and iPoker are fighting to activate/focus a table. As mentioned on the iPoker help page, do you have these options turned off in your client?
http://www.stackandtile.com/sat/help/ipoker
http://www.stackandtile.com/sat/ipoker-focus.png

iPoker wasn't stealing focus, I had that feature turned off in the client. I don't notice any lag, not sure what I wrote that gave that impression.

I like to think of the tables in the 'grid' as those that need my attention for any reason (action required, new table buyin, old table sitting out). Thats why I prefer to put New and Old tables into the 'grid' instead of into a specific slot #. New Tables will spawn in the grid, where you can buyin and then send it to the stack. Old Tables will pop into the next free gridslot, where you can see whats going on and sit back in. This would allow you to have slots #2,3,4 all as play slots, which will give you more room to play in. Right now, all of your play would happen in slot #2, but because slot #2 will likely always be full, then you would end up playing out of the stack out of necessity.

This is the way I had it originally, but if I do that then I have a lot of trouble buying in and sitting back in. This is because I constantly have tables popping up in front of the tables I am trying to buy in to or sit back in on. It's much easier if the tables are in a dedicated slot, because then no tables that require action can pop up in front of them. I can probably just put old and new tables in slot #4 though.

I mean if an old table is sent to the grid and there are more than 3 other tables that require action, then those will pop up over the table I am trying to sit back in on, so I guess it's sort of a race against those tables if I want to sit back in or buy in.

Since you are currently doing most of your play out of the stack, I would imagine that you are probably using a 'Send table to bottom' hotkey to allow you to "cycle" through the tables in the stack. This does work, however, this could also be causing your problem, because you are manually cycling through, then attempting to use your 'fold' hotkey, but then at the same type SaT is attempting to automatically pop a different table to the top of the stack.

I am not using a hotkey to "cycle" through the stack. Just completing whatever action was required from the table on top of the stack and this is when a table would pop up in-between.

I did however just play a session where I tried not to play out of the stack, as I realized that that probably isn't how Stack and Tile is supposed to be used when stacking and tiling. I achieved this by binding a 'Stack table' hotkey so that I wouldn't have to wait for the action to end on the table or to bring up a more urgent table, since I have Stack and Tile set to show me a table once cards are dealt. This might be an issue with just 4 table slots (especially with two reserved just for buying in and sitting back in), because I am basically trying to make things very similar to tiling, while not having enough screen real estate to pull that off.

Btw, while playing just out of the grid, I never saw a table flash in-between the current active table. It seems to solely be related to playing out of the stack (which I don't have to do).

By default, tables only move from the grid back to the stack when you either click Fold with your mouse, or you send a "Stack Table" hotkey. If you can clarify exactly what you mean by 'no longer require attention' then we can try to set it up how you want it.

I just tested this in play money to be sure but when I fold, the table is not moved back to the stack and I folded when action was required, not using the "fast fold" button.

What would happen if I turned off "Activate table when action required"? Would that change anything? The idea is whether or not I can prevent Stack and Tile from stealing focus or is that unavoidable? It's just highly impractical to take any sort of note right now or tag a player for example.

I also notice that "Sent table to stack at end of hand" is unticked in advanced options. Maybe this also has something to do with tables not moving back to the stack when I am "done" with them.

Basically, I wanted to be able to fold ahead of time, which is why I set Stack and Tile to show me a table when cards are dealt, but a lot of the time I can't make a fold or no-fold decision based on just my holding when there is still action before me. In my last session I used the 'Stack table' hotkey to mitigate this, but I was using it a lot and I feel that my usage of it is very inefficient, so maybe I'll change tables to only pop up when an action is required in the future.

I feel like when my hand is folded or when a hand ends, the table should definitely be going back into the stack.

Hope this clarifies my issues and thanks for your help so far, much appreciated.