Cash Games Vs Tournament (HOLD'EM)

[Jshuttlesworth]

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I mean, I find in tournaments I feel a lot easier raising because it's just chips. ... is this wrong

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Yes.

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I would appreciate some feedback/advice?

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Do not think "it's only chips, not real money." If anything, tournament chips are more valuable than real money in a cash game because you can't reload if you go bust in a tournament.

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Your conclusion is true, but not for your reasons. True, you can't "reload," but you can use the money you would reload with to buy into another (identical) tourney, which is basically the same.

The reason that tourney chips are more valuable than cash game chips are that in cash games, chip EV = money EV, while in tournaments, chip EV |= (prize) money EV. For example, doubling up in a tournament does NOT double your expected prize payout. You can try to grasp this intuitively, or you can take my word for it, or you can use an ICM calculator. The implication of this fact is that tournament chips are subject to drastic diminishing marginal returns. For this reason, you should be less willing to enter into marginally (chip) pos ev situations where variance is large, because you will actually be getting negative utility ev. (Does that make sense?)
Therefore, hands such as AQo from UTG, which I raise in cash (with MARGINAL pos ev), I fold in tourneys, because even though my chip ev is (basically) the same as in cash, I am not willing to risk losing X number of chips to gain Y number of chips, even if Y is slightly > X, because LOSING x # of chips is much more devastating for prize money ev than winning Y chips is. (I know the idea that you could only win and lose fixed amounts is inaccurate, but it is close enough to reality to demonstrate the concept.) If you are a winning cash game player, and you grasp this idea, you will do very, very well in low-level SnGs.

Your Welcome.
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[mrjetguy]

I don't think it's a matter of placing certain value on the actual chips, rather you are focused on a goal. What you are willing to risk to achieve that goal is often higher in a tournament depending on the situation.

[frsdchts]

Because of the rising blinds and reality that you cannot rebuy in a tournament, there is an extra pressure put on players. This allows you to bluff a bit more or steal blinds more effectively since your opponents will usually be more apprehensive in putting in their chips. In cash games you're more likely to run into a "Well, I just wanna see what you have... Call!" Generally speaking, the added pressure in tournaments will force your opponents to make mistakes they wouldn't necessarily make in a deep-stack, more comfortable cash game.