Cash Games Vs Tournament (HOLD'EM)

[The Prawn]

What I'm stuck on understanding is... how much does your playing strategy change? I mean, in a no limit tournament i feel better raising than i do in a cash game..

And in tournaments, do you adjust how loose/tight and aggressive/passive you play as according to your opponents? Just like you would in a cash game? E.G. --- if you opponent were VERY passive in a cash game you could afford to limp in to see flops from middle position and sometimes UTG?

Cheers,

The Prawn

[Gelford]

In cashgames you have got all the time in the world, while in tourneys you have to survice facing rising blinds (and antes)

So in later stages of tourneys you might be forced to push any two cards (reapetedly), which you'd never do in a cashgames

Early stages tourney can be played like a cashgame .. or you can play much more loose and aggresive and use the treat of eliminating opponent from tourney to apply pressure .. one shot is all you get in a tourney (Using this strategy ofcourse demands, that you are not afraid to bust out early yourself)

In a cashgame if you lose a buyin, you just reload and continue playing (unless you have busted your bankroll)

[The Prawn]

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In cashgames you have got all the time in the world, while in tourneys you have to survice facing rising blinds (and antes)

So in later stages of tourneys you might be forced to push any two cards (reapetedly), which you'd never do in a cashgames

Early stages tourney can be played like a cashgame .. or you can play much more loose and aggresive and use the treat of eliminating opponent from tourney to apply pressure .. one shot is all you get in a tourney (Using this strategy ofcourse demands, that you are not afraid to bust out early yourself)

In a cashgame if you lose a buyin, you just reload and continue playing (unless you have busted your bankroll)

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I am aware of this. What I mean is how much will it affect your playing strategy? I mean, I find in tournaments I feel a lot easier raising because it's just chips. I might raise with A-Qos UTG in a 10 handed table, but in a no limit cash game i might pass it... is this wrong

[AliasMrJones]

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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.

[The Prawn]

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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?

[pzhon]

The main theoretical difference between NL tournaments and NL cash games is that the stacks are typically much deeper in cash games. In tournaments, it is not uncommon for the table average to be under 10 times the big blind. In cash games, the table average can be over 100 times the big blind.

Blinds are always worth attacking, whether the blinds are tiny or large in relation to your stack. However, the way to can attack the blinds effectively changes, as do the hands you can play profitably.

When the stacks are deeper, it is more valuable to play hands that will give you an information advantage on later streets, or can make big hands. When the stacks are short, your all-in equity is more important, and that means playing for high pairs, or even ace-high.

In practice, many people have easily exploitable weaknesses such as overvaluing survival in tournaments or overdefending their blinds in cash games. Particularly when you play against weak players, exploiting these tendencies may be more important than playing anything close to the game-theoretic optimum.

[Abbaddabba]

Deeper stacks, and bubble play.


The whole "you gotta play aggressive in tournaments" mentality is only applicable around the bubble. That's because people are more inclined to fold when you force action. In cash games, people will generally be risk neutral for chips (since they are valued exactly proportionate to their face value). In tournaments, the payout structures imply that you prefer certain to uncertain outcomes. Being aggressive exploits this fact.

Early in a MTT you should be playing identical to how you would in a cash game.


If the payout structure was such that first place received 100% of the pool, you should be playing it exactly like you would a cash game all the way through, absent of irrational tendencies on the part of your opponents.

[AliasMrJones]

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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.

[PeteN]

Take a look at some of the good tournament books, How to Win No Limit Holdem Tournaments, Harrngton's book(s) and for an opposing view How to make the final table by Erick Lindgren, Sklanky's books. Play some tournaments online or casino. I think a big key is adjusting your strategy to the rate of the blind increases, ie if they go up fast play looser vs slow.

[pa3lsvt]

Tourney adds the management of a limited resource, which in itself is the only means to acquire more of said resource (chips). Absent from a cash game, but utmost in priority in a tourney is the need to constantly gather more chips and to minimize risk that they all become lost in the process.

But you obvisouly realize that.

Kamakazie play is required at the point at which you are about to lose the ability to threaten your opponent's stack, moves that would never occur in a cash game, because you are only another buy in from being able to wipe somebody out so the threat won't pass. Use it or lose it. Literally you are looking for an opportunity to acquire small sums of dead money with the weight of your whole stack, behind any two cards.

Being in an assigned seat (that can be changed without warning) is also absent regular cash game strategy. All the time you just spent observing your opponent's styles goes for naught when you get moved, and you become an unknown. In a cash game, you almost never sit down with a completely new table of players, unless you are starting your session or opening a table. The players cycle in and out, but not 9 at one time. Thus the required ability to adapt to a new playing environment as quickly as possible, because that blind clock won't slow so you can get your reads straight.

I'd say 80+% of the game is the same as a cash game, until you get to the point where every player is short stacked. Then it resembles nothing like a cash game, and this is where you go from loser to winner to big winner so it is a very important aspect to master.