Help with October Fest

procure a table and hotels with reasonable rates.

You are correct in thinking for reasonable hotel rates you will have to stay somewhere close to the city, but not in the city. Can't offer specifics, but it was that way for years before covid.

It is usually not necessary to procure (reserve) a table if you go early in the afternoon. The food, music, and beer is the same as the evening and you can visit several tents. The only difference is that it it much less crowded during the early afternoon.

There are quite a few posts about Oktoberfest, here's a link to a few:
https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=1y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Oktoberfest&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Basically, you likely can't, and won't want to reserve a table. Lodging is often reserved a year ahead, so yes, you will probably have to look further out.

We will be at Oktoberfest around the 20th on a repeat trip. I encourage you to look at the official Oktoberfest Munich page for lots of good information about attending. Here is a link to the reservations information page: https://www.oktoberfest.de/en/beer-tents/reservations-at-oktoberfest. As others have said, you don't necessarily need reservations but if you want to go at night, especially on weekends, I would encourage it if you want to avoid waiting. The outside beergardens at the tents are sometimes a good option if things are really busy.

I would look for hotels outside the old town but close to a U-Bahn/S-Bahn station. We've done that a couple of times and it worked well. If you stay to the north of old town and on an S1 or S8 train line it also helps with getting train transport to the airport if you flying to or from Munich. You will still pay at least $150- $200 per night but it will be much less than closer to the weisn. I would check someplace like booking.com on the map view to get an idea of options.

Hope this helps, have a great trip! Prost!