There are several differences between cash games and tournament poker, all of which will impact how you approach the game. 💷 Let’s take a look at what those are.
Real Cash
Cash game chips represent real money. Every bet and call you make 💷 has a real-world impact on your wallet. It’s not like a tournament where you pay a set amount at the 💷 start, and that’s all you risk; you’re risking your money with every decision you make in a cash game.
For some 💷 people, this is hard to adjust to, and when pots get big, it’s easy to get overawed by the money 💷 and not think about the hand. The best way to adjust to this is to think of the hand in 💷 terms of chips – or even better, big blinds. It’s much easier to remain analytical if you’re thinking of what 💷 to do against a 150bb bet instead of aR$750 bet.
Flexibility
One of the great things about playing cash games is that 💷 you’re free to come and go as you please. There’s no minimum or maximum playing time, so you can play 💷 sessions that are as long or as short as you like. For example, in tournaments you can be locked into 💷 playing for 8 hours+, whereas cash games allow you to pick up and leave after 10 minutes if you want! 💷 This makes it a lot easier to play your A-game because as soon as you feel your focus start to 💷 slip, you can get up, take a break, reset, and sit back down when you’re ready to play again.
Despite this 💷 flexibility, not enough people take advantage of it. People will choose to play for hours and hours at a time 💷 without taking any breaks. It’s incredibly hard to play long sessions without losing focus and discipline, so whenever you feel 💷 your level start to dip, stand up and take a break. Players will talk themselves into staying because “the game 💷 is so good I can’t afford to take a break.” Just remember that there will always be another game, and 💷 playing in a good game when you’ve lost focus won’t be as profitable as playing in an average game while 💷 fully focused.
Consistent Blind Levels
Contrary to tournament poker, the blind levels never increase in a cash game – unless the whole 💷 table agrees to increase the stakes. There are also no antes in a cash game, so you’re punished less for 💷 folding a lot of hands. In tournaments, the increasing blind levels necessitate the need for aggressiveness; after a couple of 💷 hours, the blind levels can more than halve your effective stack size, whereas cash games don’t have this problem. The 💷 combination of these two things means that you can afford to sit around and wait for good hands. Now, this 💷 doesn’t mean you can fold everything but aces, but you’re not forced into playing weak hands just to get chips 💷 to survive.
As the blind levels stay constant, you have more control over your stack size. You can play as shallow 💷 or as deep as you like (as long as it complies with the table minimum and maximum), and you’re not 💷 forced into playing short-stack poker if you don’t want to. You’re free to add on as often as you’d like 💷 during a cash game to keep yourself at a certain stack level. The only thing you’re not allowed to do 💷 in a cash game is to take chips off your stack. This is known as “going south,” and it is 💷 against the rules in every casino/poker site.
Deep Stacks
Cash games will frequently play deeper stacked than tournaments, and the stacks stay 💷 deep because of the consistent blind levels. Most people tend to buy into a cash game for 100bb, whereas the 💷 average tournament stack size is around 10-20bb, especially in the latter stages.. When you play deep stacked, you have to 💷 be more conservative with the hands you get it in with. You can’t shove A5s over a raise when you’re 💷 100bb deep, but it’s a perfectly fine thing to do with 20bb in a tournament.
You also need to be aware 💷 of how deep stacks affect postflop play. The deeper you are, the more likely it is you’re going to see 💷 all three streets. When you get to the latter stages of a tournament, you often don’t have enough chips to 💷 make bets on all three streets, so river play isn’t as significant. However, in cash games, the river is the 💷 most important street in the game, as that’s where the decisions for the most money are made.
