Tables stealing focus for split second

[SaT_Admin]

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.

Well, if only one table will pop in front of you in the stack, the symptom is that the table is slow to come to the top, causing you to misclick.

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.

We must be misunderstanding each other based on terminology, because what you described is backwards to me.

If you are using dedicated slots for New tables and Old tables, then those slots will act as stacks. So you may be trying to buy in on a New Table, and then another New Table that just opened (from a pre-registered tournamnet, etc) will pop in front causing you difficulty.

If you instead put both into the grid, then no tables can pop in front of them, because each grid slot only allows 1 table in it. Those slots do not act as stacks. They hold 1 table only. So nothing can pop in front of them. Did you mean 'steal focus' instead of 'pop in front' ?

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).

This is certainly one alternative. Basically you are moving tables back to the stack mid-hand.

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.

Did you turn off "Left mouse click detection" in Advanced Options? Because when that option is on, any mouse click on the Fold button is supposed to send the table from the grid back into the stack. If that's not working then something is definitely wrong.

However, noticing that you are talking about "fast fold"ing, I guess you are playing zoom/rush whatever, and this is also something that could affect things

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.

Yeah, that is SaT's option to give each table focus as action is required. You can try turning it off and see if that suits your play better.

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.

Again, it depends on what you mean by "done". That option that you mentioned is used to automatically send tables back to the stack when the hand is over, either by going to showdown or by everyone else folding to your bet. However, I don't think it will work on zoom/rush tables, although I haven't tested it.

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.

The most common hotkey is to use the "Fold+Stack" hotkey, which will click fold and move the table back to the stack. Does this not accomplish what you're after?

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

For the first, it should definitely be happening when you click Fold with the mouse, as long as "Left mouse click detection" is enabled in Advanced Options. Alternatively, the "Fold+Stack" hotkey should do it.

For the second, when a hand 'ends', you'd need to enable the "Send table to stack at End of Hand" in advanced options. Although in my opinion this isn't that big of a deal, because even when the hand ends, you'll have a new hand and a new decision within seconds.