Cash Game & Tournament Differences

[SuperUberBob]

The biggest difference between tournament and cash poker is that you can win money in tournament poker by folding and having other players bust out before you. The only way to win money in cash games is to play hands. If you don't, the blinds/ante will eat your stack and you'll lose money.

[ShowUthExit]

im good at tourneys and i suck at cash games

[sharkscopeaholic]

Well in tournaments you have to play until all the chips belong to one person obviously so you need to be skilled at more than one form of poker. You play deep stacked at the begginng short stacked at the middle and end and short handed if you go deep. The most stressful time for me is when you get ddown to aobut 10-14 players no one has a huge stack compared to blinds and the table is short handed.

I think there is more alot more strategy too. Pay jumps and getting in the money influence your decisions and affect the way you play/should play. Its alot easeir to push on your 1% edge in cash game than in a tourney one bad hand can ruin you.

[billybeartku]

simply put, tournament players over value their tp/mp. Cash players proceed w/ tp/mp cautiously.

[JammyDodga]

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simply put, tournament players over value their tp/mp. Cash players proceed w/ tp/mp cautiously.

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So does this mean tournament players are worse? Or is there something intrinsic about tournaments which mean it is right to value tp more?

[Dalek]

Tournaments require skills in all areas - deep stack, short stack, full table, short handed, heads up, etc.

Also, with cash games you should take all +Ev bets. In tournaments sometimes you shouldn't (near bubble, keep short stack alive, etc). This is my opinion and others may disagree.

[Pokerfarian]

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simply put, tournament players over value their tp/mp. Cash players proceed w/ tp/mp cautiously.

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So does this mean tournament players are worse? Or is there something intrinsic about tournaments which mean it is right to value tp more?

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I see two reasons for people stacking off with TP more. Firstly, in a cash game it's rarely correct because a lot of the time it's 100BB+ stacks when you very rarely should. In tourneys, a lot of time is played with stacks, though not considered "short", short enough for felting TP to be correct/nearly correct.
Secondly, if one plays "an average small stakes tourney" we're talking say $10. "small stakes NL cash" tends to be say $100NL. So it's no real surprise tourneys players are worse/stack off with TP wrongly more

[Sherman]

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simply put, tournament players over value their tp/mp. Cash players proceed w/ tp/mp cautiously.

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So does this mean tournament players are worse? Or is there something intrinsic about tournaments which mean it is right to value tp more?

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IMO, yes. Tournament players are way worse on average than cash game players and it's not even close.

[SuperUberBob]

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IMO, yes. Tournament players are way worse on average than cash game players and it's not even close.

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A very bad assessment.

Tournament and cash poker are two different breeds of poker and each one of them requires a different approach. In cash games, you can afford to lay down big hands because you're not facing escalating blinds/ante. You're grinding it out at the same levels against generally speaking the same opponents.

In tournaments, you're moved from table to table and have to constantly adjust your game to the different table conditions. Players come and go real fast and you have to get quick reads on them before you get involved in a big pot with them. Since the blinds and ante eventually catch up to your stack, you can't afford to fold TPTK if the situation is correct. Eventually, the blinds and ante will consume you and you'll stack off if you grind it out the way cash players do.

In other words, cash players are basically playing one neverending session of poker. Tournament players have to play for a fixed amount of time and have to make the most of what they have during that short session.

Tournaments and cash games are only similar in the early stages of tournaments where the blinds and ante are deep relative to your stack size and you can afford to grind it out for a while. But that only lasts for the first 3-4 blind levels in online play.

[Sherman]

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simply put, tournament players over value their tp/mp. Cash players proceed w/ tp/mp cautiously.

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And I still have no idea why I expect a tournament player to ever fold a TPTK type of hand:

PokerStars Game #11775617337: Tournament #59099144, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/08/30 - 14:02:24 (ET)
Table '59099144 50' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: the_govau (1340 in chips)
Seat 2: Raw Kat (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: jeffrey jack (1730 in chips)
Seat 4: CoachWhitey (1540 in chips)
Seat 5: MathMagic1 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: BigIbsen (1460 in chips)
Seat 7: teamarf (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: citizenben (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: rhe041 (1500 in chips)
CoachWhitey: posts small blind 10
MathMagic1: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MathMagic1 [Kc Tc]
BigIbsen has timed out
BigIbsen: folds
BigIbsen is sitting out
teamarf: folds
citizenben: folds
rhe041: folds
the_govau: folds
Raw Kat: folds
jeffrey jack: folds
CoachWhitey: raises 60 to 80
MathMagic1: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [Ts 6s 7c]
CoachWhitey: bets 200
MathMagic1: calls 200
*** TURN *** [Ts 6s 7c] [5h]
CoachWhitey: bets 300
MathMagic1: raises 920 to 1220 and is all-in
CoachWhitey: calls 920
*** RIVER *** [Ts 6s 7c 5h] [3s]
MathMagic1 said, "wp"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CoachWhitey: shows [Ad Td] (a pair of Tens)
MathMagic1: shows [Kc Tc] (a pair of Tens - lower kicker)
MathMagic1 said, "gg"
CoachWhitey collected 3000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3000 | Rake 0
Board [Ts 6s 7c 5h 3s]
Seat 1: the_govau folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Raw Kat folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: jeffrey jack (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: CoachWhitey (small blind) showed [Ad Td] and won (3000) with a pair of Tens
Seat 5: MathMagic1 (big blind) showed [Kc Tc] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 6: BigIbsen folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: teamarf folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: citizenben folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: rhe041 folded before Flop (didn't bet)