New to Cash Games!? Advice please

Hi I am a fairly good hold em player and am pretty knowledgebale playing tournaments, but I have never really got into playing cash games and would like to. I was wondering where I should start? What do you guys normally start off with chips wise playing in say a 2/4 nl game? Do you vary your play and playing tournaments vs cash games etc etc? Thanks in adavance for any advice

Buy in for the maximum possible. I like to mix tournaments and cash, some people don't.

I made the switch to cash games from almost entirely tourney play.

Some general observations from a average player:

tighten up overall. be patient for situations where you are a favorite. You dont need to put yourself in situations where it is a coinflip or are unsure of the situation.

Also, I have found that psychology plays a little bit larger roll in cash games as your villains and you dont have the gun to your head with the blinds and level clock. take the time to get in their head to understand their thought progression.

Overall I think the play can be better as you can milk weak players and when you get sucked out you can stay at the table and win your money back from the donk.

On the flip side tilt is a larger threat to your game and mentality. With tourneys your buy in is set and wins are bigger but with cash it is less of a sprint and more of a distance run.

Good luck to you and I highly recommend reading and commenting on the cash game hand analysis.

I was an MTT sNg player too, its a difficlt transition. Do not call all ins with just top pair That is sadly a bad play. Most of the time you want a solid hand for a shove to call.

Pot bets are usually weaker players bluffing or semi bluffing, Check raise often when you get your spots, so when you are in a hand again, people will stop betting into you and you get free cards when you need them, or you can steal right away.

Patience is a must. More so than tourneys, in tourneys blinds are the issue, cash, your BR is the issue.

Actually pay attention. Start with the players to your left and right. Get their image, style, then after you got them go to the next 2, and so on. Do not get too into them because players come and go often.

Write a tooooonnnnn of notes! Anything you see that is worth rememberig, Pot betting the river with a great hand, with air ext ext. Remember how many times they do it i like to be like 1/1 times then if i see same play again and its different i go 1/2 if again its still different 1/3 that means it might not be a true play. But if i see the same thing 3/3 times more than likely its a solid read.

Uh.... Thats All i got, I ply mre HU now bc i love to bully players around but hope this helps GL to you, you are going to have the hardest time ajusting. Tourny to cash is hard! hahah

Stick to tournaments if that is what you know, or maybe try some limit cash play where the variables cant be as brutal just to give you a feel for it. I would buy in for whatever the maximum allowed at the table is . this can help prevent from others thinking you have little cash . but if you are not comfortable doing that i would buy in for minimum never a middle amount.

Limit cash games and no limit cash games are totally different games. Experience you gain in limit games is almost useless in no limit games.

I'm still working on my skills but I play exclusively micro NL Hold'em atm. Some observations that I have made are:

when you are new buying in the max amount is NOT always the best way to go, the short stack (less than 100x BB) makes you play tighter so you are less willing to fork money over with marginal hands.

Try to isolate weak passive's and fish, closely observe the ones who raise only when they have strong hands, you'll know to fold when they bet after the flop. In micro's these TAG's rarely bluff with less than top pair and bet proportional to their hand strength.

Ignore the maniacs, most I've seen will play about any hand and raise disproportionately to the pot size, wait for a good hand then dig into them and make some easy money.

Oh and I hate Limit games, it's all raise, re-raise, re-re-raise before the flop till you get sucked out with hands like Big Slick and pocket Q's that get crushed on the flop, and there is always 3 or 4 other players going to the flop. NL usually has only 1 or 2 other players go to the flop if you (or someone else) raises before the flop.

Understand these concepts:

-stack to pot ratio
-implied odds
-value betting
-table and opponent selection
-tilt control

Then go make $10,000 in six weeks.

Based on the 2/4 nl i will assume you are playing live and you want to join the cash games after you bust out of a tournament.
Is 2/4 nl the lowest limit? most of the time these games will have a least one or two really big fish. Pay attention to who is getting involved with weak hands. Identify the weaker players and try to isolate and only play pots with them. Stay out of the way of the nits. When you sit down try to identify who is most likely to take your money and who's stake you want. Watch the table before you join. Make mental notes of playing styles before and after the flop.

POSITION, POSITION. When you have position open your range and go after weaker players. Do not play marginal hands out of position especially against good players.
Value bet: These live lower limit games aren't that sophisticated. You can play ABC poker and be successful.
Don't bluff: Drunk dude doesn't know he should fold middle pair with the third diamond hits on the turn.
Good luck and ask questions.

I REALLY like this thread

palmerd2's cash game strategy, analysis, and study thread

This will probably help you more than anything for cash games.

Good suggestions here. If you know what you are doing and are comfortable - yes buy in at the max. Chips are bullets and you are going to war. If you look down and see AA - how many bullets you want to have to mow em down?

Also - you must focus on getting reads on your table and opponents (2 different things). Unlike a tournament - you can easily be at a table with the same 5 guys for hours on end. They will be getting to know you so you need to do the same. Because of this you also need to be very aware of what you are doing and what info they are getting from you. Change things up on them once in a while so you are not so easy to read.