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Cash game or tournament poker

The_Don90The_Don90 Member Posts: 9,814
edited March 2010 in Poker Chat

This is a question ive always woundered. Can you truly be a tournament and a cash player, being sucsessful at both?

I find myself as a tournament player, this is where i will make any profit and its also where i enjoy myself the most, im not exactly patient enough to sit and wait for a hand in a cash game. 

So are you a tournament or a cash player.

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Comments

  • elsadogelsadog Member Posts: 5,677
    edited March 2010
    I'm tournament only. I percivere with the early stages of a tournament because I love the end game. I admire the guys who can grind it day after day in the cash arena, but it's not for me. I play for entertainment and the thrill of taking a tourney down.

    If I was looking to make a living from poker though, it would be cash and the occasional tourney thrown in as a treat. Making a living at mtt's would be very hit and miss and even at the top level the hit rate is only about 16% of tourneys to cash. Hit a bad patch and earnings could be zero for a long time. To put it into perspective my total profit from tournaments on Sky over the last 6 months is less than half my monthly salary so I won't be giving up the day job.

    It all depends on what you want or need to get from your poker I think. Cash tables to make a living, tourneys for entertainment.

  • ACESOVER8sACESOVER8s Member Posts: 1,307
    edited March 2010
    I mainly play tournaments but venture to cash when I can't find a tourney I like. I've made money at both but i'm not great at either. I have fun and to be honest as long as i'm doing that i'll play whatever takes my interest at the time.

    As the saying goes Cash for Dough & Tournaments For Show!!
  • Ads2kukAds2kuk Member Posts: 582
    edited March 2010
    Im a tournament player too. I've lost so much money playing cash tables. I just have no idea when it comes to them. Confidence with cash is so so low at the moment.
  • acebarry10acebarry10 Member Posts: 7,556
    edited March 2010
    I very, very rarely play cash, find it too boring, and must admit, do not like it all that much either, give me a MTT, or STT any day :)
  • DOHHHHHHHDOHHHHHHH Member Posts: 17,929
    edited March 2010

    Cash games are what you make them!!

    If your winning lots of pennies - Unless ur already loaded, I'm pretty sure you will be having fun ;)
  • DTWBANDITDTWBANDIT Member Posts: 6,451
    edited March 2010



       started playing cash tables 4 weeks ago & have found that its helped my tournament game 2 fold so on that basis i would have to say yes you could be successful in both


       dtw
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 169,783
    edited March 2010

    The wonderful Post by elsadog sums up my views.

    Can we be good at both? Unlikely, very few - vey few indeed - excel at both.

    I cannot think of a single Pro player, or major "name", who is very good at both. Even at the very top, guys like Hellmuth are great tourney players & suck at cash, & Mr Dwan is the abso-nuts at Cash, but has never shown a shred of ability in tourneys.
     
    What is better? Subjective. For recreational players, Tourneys are terrific fun, & good value, but if you want to make a living at the game, forget Tourneys - 99.5% of us are not good enough, but most of us could eke out a living playing cash.
  • ACESOVER8sACESOVER8s Member Posts: 1,307
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    The wonderful Post by elsadog sums up my views. Can we be good at both? Unlikely, very few - vey few indeed - excel at both. I cannot think of a single Pro player, or major "name", who is very good at both. Even at the very top, guys like Hellmuth are great tourney players & suck at cash, & Mr Dwan is the abso-nuts at Cash, but has never shown a shred of ability in tourneys.   What is better? Subjective. For recreational players, Tourneys are terrific fun, & good value, but if you want to make a living at the game, forget Tourneys - 99.5% of us are not good enough, but most of us could eke out a living playing cash.
    Posted by Tikay10
    At which format do you excel Tikay???? (not a sarcastic comment either lol)

    I would of thought you love of being deepstacked and folding a vast percentage of hands may lend itself quite well to cash and tourneys
  • DOHHHHHHHDOHHHHHHH Member Posts: 17,929
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    The wonderful Post by elsadog sums up my views. Can we be good at both? Unlikely, very few - vey few indeed - excel at both. I cannot think of a single Pro player, or major "name", who is very good at both. Even at the very top, guys like Hellmuth are great tourney players & suck at cash, & Mr Dwan is the abso-nuts at Cash, but has never shown a shred of ability in tourneys.   What is better? Subjective. For recreational players, Tourneys are terrific fun, & good value, but if you want to make a living at the game, forget Tourneys - 99.5% of us are not good enough, but most of us could eke out a living playing cash.
    Posted by Tikay10
    Im not sure about this......You go on to talk about pro players, and well recognised , superstar names. But on a smaller scale, such as sky poker, you can definitely excel in both disciplines. 

    If you look at the tourny stats of Gbabe, Sbite, Dan etc, guys who regularly crush the cash tables - its clear that they have great ROI's in tournys too....

    James, who plays NL1000 - won a live tourny or something for 55k? - He must excel at both to be able to this....???

    I know what you are saying at the top top level, but for guys who wanna make proper money on sky poker - I'm positive they can do this by playing both disciplines. :)

    DOHH


  • elsadogelsadog Member Posts: 5,677
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker : Im not sure about this......You go on to talk about pro players, and well recognised , superstar names. But on a smaller scale, such as sky poker, you can definitely excel in both disciplines.  If you look at the tourny stats of Gbabe, Sbite, Dan etc, guys who regularly crush the cash tables - its clear that they have great ROI's in tournys too.... James, who plays NL1000 - won a live tourny or something for 55k? - He must excel at both to be able to this....??? I know what you are saying at the top top level, but for guys who wanna make proper money on sky poker - I'm positive they can do this by playing both disciplines. :) DOHH
    Posted by DOHHHHHHH
    I don't think he said 'nobody' can do it. He said 99.5% can't do it.

    5000 players on sky x one half of one percent = more players than you just named.

    The answer is correct for the vast majority.
  • DeuceAK_47DeuceAK_47 Member Posts: 381
    edited March 2010

    I would be very suprised if anyone beating nl50+ cash games could not make a profit at small mmts and sngs over a large sample.

  • elsadogelsadog Member Posts: 5,677
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    I would be very suprised if anyone beating nl50+ cash games could not make a profit at small mmts and sngs over a large sample.
    Posted by DeuceAK-47

    True but why would you want to? If we are talking about making a living then that doesn't seem to add up with regard to small mtt's.
  • penguin7penguin7 Member Posts: 1,095
    edited March 2010
    Having played tournaments with reasonable success over the last few years, I have been trying quite hard to improve my cash game, and regularly play on 40/50p nl tables.
    There are obviously players who are very successful here but I cant seem to crack it. I try to be selective in which tables I play, avoiding those with known strong players.
    I find playing one cash table very tedious, so usually play 3. It usually works out that I will make a steady profit on 2 tables but will have an accident on the other which will wipe out any real gains. So maybe after an hour I will have a profit of £20 or so for which I have put £150 at risk.
    How do I stop these accidents happening ? A typical situation from yesterday was holding KQ on a Q high flop and facing a shove for a whole BI. I knew I was in front and made the call and lost to QJ on the river.
    I will persevere but would appreciate any tips.
    But at the end of the day I dont think anything will beat the buzz of a good final table in a tournament.

  • offshootoffshoot Member Posts: 1,049
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    The wonderful Post by elsadog sums up my views. Can we be good at both? Unlikely, very few - vey few indeed - excel at both. I cannot think of a single Pro player, or major "name", who is very good at both. Even at the very top, guys like Hellmuth are great tourney players & suck at cash, & Mr Dwan is the abso-nuts at Cash, but has never shown a shred of ability in tourneys.   What is better? Subjective. For recreational players, Tourneys are terrific fun, & good value, but if you want to make a living at the game, forget Tourneys - 99.5% of us are not good enough, but most of us could eke out a living playing cash.
    Posted by Tikay10
    you forgot about Ivey.
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 169,783
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker : you forgot about Ivey.
    Posted by offshoot
    I did!

    To be fair, he's the exception which proves the rule.
  • elsadogelsadog Member Posts: 5,677
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    But at the end of the day I dont think anything will beat the buzz of a good final table in a tournament.
    Posted by penguin7

    Absolutely
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 169,783
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker : At which format do you excel Tikay???? (not a sarcastic comment either lol) I would of thought you love of being deepstacked and folding a vast percentage of hands may lend itself quite well to cash and tourneys
    Posted by ACESOVER8s
    Neither!

    But I adore well structured &/or deep-stacked Tourneys, & I have an extremely high "in the cash" strike rate in such events in "Live poker", balanced by an extremely low "outright win" rate.

    To be honest, I almost never play cash games by choice - the buzz I get from going deep in  Tourney beats any drug, or alcohol induced euphoria. If I do play cash, by choice, I always play Omaha or Dealers Choice, the latter in particular being the most fun I can have at a poker Table - except going deep in Tourneys.

    And it does not help that I'm pretty hopeless at NLH Cash. I rarely lose much money, if any, as I'm so tight, but I'll never be a big winner at it, as the new breed are so good, & fearless. I don't want to play ANY TP-ers at Cash, trust me, though I'd give them a good fight in a well-structured Tourney.
     
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 169,783
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    Having played tournaments with reasonable success over the last few years, I have been trying quite hard to improve my cash game, and regularly play on 40/50p nl tables. There are obviously players who are very successful here but I cant seem to crack it. I try to be selective in which tables I play, avoiding those with known strong players. I find playing one cash table very tedious, so usually play 3. It usually works out that I will make a steady profit on 2 tables but will have an accident on the other which will wipe out any real gains. So maybe after an hour I will have a profit of £20 or so for which I have put £150 at risk. How do I stop these accidents happening ? A typical situation from yesterday was holding KQ on a Q high flop and facing a shove for a whole BI. I knew I was in front and made the call and lost to QJ on the river. I will persevere but would appreciate any tips. But at the end of the day I dont think anything will beat the buzz of a good final table in a tournament.
    Posted by penguin7
    This. For me, that's the thrill of poker. Especially if I've been card-dead or short-stacked throughout, but ducked & dived to get there.
  • dylan12dylan12 Member Posts: 2,343
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker : This. For me, that's the thrill of poker. Especially if I've been card-dead or short-stacked throughout, but ducked & dived to get there.
    Posted by Tikay10
    This has now been re-named the "Tikay Special" and an important part of tournament play imo :)
  • elsadogelsadog Member Posts: 5,677
    edited March 2010
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker:
    In Response to Re: Cash game or tournament poker : This. For me, that's the thrill of poker. Especially if I've been card-dead or short-stacked throughout, but ducked & dived to get there.
    Posted by Tikay10

    Believe me this is THE best way to win. I've led from the front and won, I've had a comfortable ride to the line, but ........ playing short stacked, making life or death decisions, getting to the H2H as the underdog and then taking it down is the nuts.  Happy days.
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