Cash Games Vs Tournaments

Cash Games Vs Tournaments - Which Is Better?

No Limit Texas Holdem cash games and tournaments share the same cards, flops and betting structure – yet many of the skills and strategies differ. This article looks at some of those skills and compares their use in tournaments to those in cash games. These include position play, blind defense, implied odds and short-stacked poker play.

In poker cash games position is key – profitable players will widen their range of hands from the dealer button, from where aggressive play can steal many small pots and build big pots when they have a strong hand.

Position is equally important in the early stages of poker tournaments, however as the blinds increase relative to the stack size the advantage of position diminishes. This is because the benefits of acting last accumulate over the flop, turn and river betting rounds. The ability to read your opponent’s hand over many streets is improved by being last to act. In a tournament setting there may not be enough chips for bets on all of the streets. This means that the player in position does not have the same amount of information before they are committed to the pot.

In cash game poker defending your blinds is not usually a high priority. With stacks over 100 blinds deep the blind money is only a very small proportion of your stack. Cash players must defend their blinds sometimes – otherwise observant opponents will steal them at every opportunity.

 

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Tournament poker is different in this aspect – blind defense (as well as stealing blinds) quickly becomes a critical strategy as the blind levels increase. You will not be dealt a strong hand often enough to chip-up adequately, and so need to steal some blinds and small pots to keep your stack healthy. Defending your blinds early in a poker tournament can send a message to your opponents that you are not an easy target.

Implied odds concepts lie at the very heart of no-limit Texas Holdem cash games. Seeing cheap flops with hopeful holdings that can quickly turn into monster hands on the right flop is a profitable strategy when used correctly.

Again tournament games differ, a tournament player needs a sound understanding of implied odds strategy for the early stages only. Once the stack sizes begin to get shallow this aspect of the game diminishes. A skill in tournament play is to assess which of your opponents do and which do not understand this and to adjust your play accordingly.

Short-stacked play involves many seemingly simple all-in or re-steal ‘moves’. To someone used to cash game poker it can seem like the intricate skills of hand reading and subtle bluffs have gone from the game – to be replaced by a ‘crapshoot’. Yet the successful tournament players play short-stack poker expertly, accurately assessing the ranges and tendencies of their opponents and keeping the pressure high at precisely the right times.

To summarize, while there are many similarities between tournament and cash game poker there are also several contrasts. Position becomes less important as the tournament progresses, while blind defense becomes more important in a tournament setting. Implied-odds concepts are used only in the early stages of poker tournaments, while short stacked poker skills come to the fore later in these games.