Cash Games Or Tournaments: What To Do, What To Do?

By Author: Ray S. publishes articles to help people learn < a
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Should we play in a poker tournament or should we choose cash games? On the surface, it may seem that Hold ‘Em is one game, with one objective reached by strategies varying slightly from player to player. This is true, as far as it goes. But it doesn't go far enough.

If there are two guidelines that will carry even the beginner toward Hold ‘Em Poker success they are: Make good decisions and fold more poker hands than you play. These simple rules will work quite well in a ring game for cash or in a tournament.
Some of the poker experts play only for cash or play only tournaments. Others play a majority of one type or the other. Why? Because the two games are different animals that should be prepared for and played in different ways.

In fact, players as accomplished as Dan Harrington and others have written entire books on one type of game or another. For the readers among us, it would be wise to take a close look at the cover of Harrington on Hold ‘Em - Volume 1: Strategic Play. There is another part of the title that might be overlooked. This first volume provides Expert Strategy ...
... for No-Limit Tournaments.

This is not only a key piece of information, it is crucial to understanding what he presents in the volume. We have mentioned Mr. Harrington before when considering how people look, what appearance they give at the table and the very-important presence of opponents. But in this case we are concerned with something more general than the specifics of table presence and tells.

Some players who are very strong Hold ‘Em players might be able to win consistently at both cash games and tournaments. It's certainly not impossible. But a player with a huge bankroll and ultra-aggressive play who hammers opponents in cash games might find it more difficult to win in a tournament setting. The key factor that this type of player might not possess: patience.

A number of pros, from Ted Forrest to Chris Ferguson, not only possess the ability to understand card odds, pot odds and positive expectations they can also fold questionable hands and wait patiently for the rare moments when they can add to their chip stack and cripple or eliminate an opponent.

This is not meant as advice against aggression, by any means. In fact, some of the greats of poker over the past couple of decades consider aggressive play their style, in cash games and tournaments. However, short-term goals in tournaments should include survival.

In a recent 70-player local tournament, one fellow was overheard saying that the main reason he made it to the final two tables was that he kept pushing his marginal hands to the dealer and jumped on an all in by another player at just the right time. Between his hand and the flop he had a nut-flush draw and a pair of Aces that gave him enough chips to play for several hours. He only played four hands in the first 90 minutes and he played these cautiously. While keeping in mind the ever-increasing blinds, he employed a tournament strategy that might not be suitable for the action of cash games.