cash or tourny?

[pocketkings27]

Hi guys, I had an opinion question. I am really trying to make a living from poker, but have been

having trouble finding "my game". I tried cash, up down up down then completely broke. I tried

sit&gos, but slow money. How do you feel about this? Are cash games better or sit&go's??

Thanks people,
Best Regards!

[Mike Gallo]

First. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Quicksilvre]

The better game is the one you enjoy the most.

May I ask what kind of money you're playing with and what stakes you're playing at?

[Terremoto]

[ QUOTE ]
First. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
I lolled... but clearly the correct answer is "it depends".



To answer your question, Quick is on the right track. Consider the old saying that if you love your job, you'll never work a day in your life. Play what you enjoy, and don't worry about supporting yourself with poker income. That will come naturally, if it works out.

btw, happy birthday Quicksilvre.

[RemyXO]

A HEALTHY DOSE OF BOTH.
Grinding cash games gets boring, I switch to SNGs and MTTs for a little, then go back.

[rspaterson]

I like to switch it up a bit like Remy. I love cash games because my play isn't dictated by my stack size (I like the flexibility), but they do get boring. On the other hand, online sngs can get frustrating because your starting M is usually only around 30 (not much time to get reads).

[kayaker]

OK, since no one else has explicitly stated it yet...

Do not try to earn a living at poker when you are not yet a winning player. You are obviously new (or relatively new) to poker, as you are not able to sustain yourself as a winner. Play for a while and get to where you can win. Then build your bankroll over time to a level where you can peel off a little (not your full expenses, just a little) each week/month and keep your roll intact. Play like this for a little while until you can do it and still build your bank.

Once you get to the point where you're at a level where you can build your bank and still peel off enough to cover your expenses, you're getting close. Get to where you can peel off 120% (or more) of your expenses and still build your roll some. At that point, you can build your roll, have enough to live off of and a little more for side investments to save up for the inevitable bad run. A bad run happens to everyone eventually. By having a solid bankroll and other investments to help, you can make it through the down swings and get back to winning without hurting too much.


As to which is more profitable, cash or tourneys, it really is up to you. Both, when done well and in the right situations, can be very profitable. They can also both be very costly if you don't play well or have a bad run.

[phydaux]

You can lose money a lot faster playing cash games, so I recommend you play those. I play cash games on Stars, BTW, so I also recommend you play there.[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Seriously, though - Play the game you prefer. I only play cash games because I prefer cash games. I have a friend named Maggie who makes a ton of money playing SnGs. But neither one of us will have the giant paydays that the MTT players get. Although the MTTers will sometimes go months between paydays, while Maggie rarely has a losing week, and I rarely have a losing day.

And don't count on being able to make a living off poker until you've got around five years of play under your belt. Polish your game, grow your roll, pay off all your debt, sock away six months of living expenses in your saving account, and then when you are routinely winning three times your total monthly expenses every month, then you can think about being a full time pro.

And remember to pay your taxes. Tax screw-ups have sunk more people's bankrolls that any bad beat.

[Quicksilvre]

[ QUOTE ]
btw, happy birthday Quicksilvre.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you! [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

For what it's worth, I enjoy pretty much any form of poker. Over the last two days I've played both SNGs and cash games, as well as LHE, NLHE and Stud-8. To an extent you play what you're best at, since that is the one that produces the most cash, and winning money is always fun, but there's no reason to force yourself to play something you don't like, even if your earnings are higher in the other game.

Of course, that's easy for me to say, since I don't try to make a living from poker and I don't expect to try, certainly not in the short term.

[RemyXO]

Oh yeah, just notices the cake [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Congrats and happy b-day!
Log out and go get drunk, will ya? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]