I recently got a
Logitech MX Revolution mouse, which has made it much easier to open and close a large number of webpages. It has a total of 11 buttons, and the SetPoint software lets you add customized keystrokes for different applications. My current setup is:
=Middle Click (Scroll Wheel) - force opening links in a new window in IE or Chrome
=Scroll Wheel Sweep Left - switch tabs (move left one tab)
=Scroll Wheel Sweep Right - switch tabs (move right one tab)
=Jog Dial Back - go back (same as browser back button)
=Jog Dial Forward - go forward (same as browser forward button)
=Jog Dial Click - close the current tab or active window (ctrl+w or alt+F4 depending on active program)
=Touch to Search button - re-open the last closed tab in Chrome using Ctrl+Shift+T (I LOVE THIS FEATURE!!!)
This makes it a breeze to open a bunch of new tabs and then flip through and close the ones you don't care about.