mtt or cash table

I can't seem to change my game if playing cash tables I'll do good then when I go to mtt I take a while get in the mind set. I play less hands in cash games but I see the same mistakes good or bad like AK holding on to hand to long after flop. Then you have AA getting crushed 64 and asked why it suited. I've read few books and played a lot on line but the books don't say how to keep you cool. If it's me I don't play high stakes, so it's easy to walk away. My dad told me years ago no matter what you are playing or who just win with grace lose with honor.

Your dad's advice is priceless especially online. I always try to maintain my composure after beats, I usually will post nice hand in the chat box when I get sucked out on, it helps me to let off some of the steam and lets the table know that I am not going to go bonkers after a beat. Some people are terrible at this aspect of the game and begin swearing and name-calling and those people are usually coming unhinged and can be played with much easier since their mental state is all FUBAR.

As for changing gears between cash and tournament I like to completely separate the two when I am playing online. I will multi-table tournaments and sit and goes or multi-table cash games but never both. Since the skill sets required for each are so different I like to only play one or the other at any given time. I feel much more comfortable playing tournaments but sometimes want to splash around in a ring game but I always make sure to only play one type of session at a time to allow my thinking to be easier.

Make no mistake - they are two completely different games for one, and only one reason - sudden death. You lose all your chips in a cash game, you re-up. Lose them all in a non-rebuy or after the re-buy period MTT, you are gone. That's it. So, when in an MTT you have to take this into consideration. Some of the biggest killers in an MTT are:

1. Playing to many hands.
2. Chasing draws - especially gut shots with only 4 outs. Even if you have a four flush, it is a big, big risk early on. NOTE: When short stacked, this can be a different story.
3. Over valuing small holdings, like one or two pairs. These are gamekillers for certain, unless you are in with a weak player. It's going to take a set or better early on to beat many who play often enough to know better.
4. Forgetting you are in an MTT, not a cash game.
5. Confusing good and aggressive play with that of lose and over aggressive play, becoming first an open book - ie;we all know when you got AA/KK, (and therefore, when you don't!!.), then becoming the tables main ATM.

That's not to say cash game strategy is no good in an MTT, just not until the right time. That is almost entirely after the money bubble, and rises as you get closer to the final table. You want to win, you start taking chances - good ones, like trying to get it all in with 14 outs or more, among others. Early in a game I probably will pass on a weak draw if it's too much $$ (bad pot odds) to call and chase. Later, however, I might shove with the exact same hand - maybe.

In the end, it depends on your own goal. Is it only to make some $$? Is it to win it all?

In live MTT's I make the most from weak players and guys who mostly play cash games and cannot adjust. Uber aggressive cash players can get a big stack early on, yet often go out short of the money because they just cannot adjust. Often the raise they make is directly related to the strength of the hand they have. That's a very good way to get snookered right out of the MTT! If I have the stack and an 89 suited and I know your raise size = a range of connected big cards, I may well call. Because if the flop comes without paint and I connect...you are toast, Mr Cashman. There are soooo many players who will call decent size bets right into showdown with only ace high. It's amazing. And when they do hit that ace, well, it's only one pair. Still, they will call sizable bets with only one pair - just like they would in a cash game!. They forget that they will not have 10 more chances to eventually come out ahead.

Remember, in a cash game you sometimes call off all of your chips because the times you win will out $$ the times you lose - if you lose 100$ ten times (1k lost total), but win 2k just once in the same situation, you come out ahead in the long run - this just will not work in any MTT. Total loss in cash is only total if you cannot re-chip. Often, and eventually in any MTT, you are just out.

At brick and mortar joints, there are always cash game players who think nothing of getting into a MTT and play it the same as cash. Next to weak fish, they are the ones you most likely will make the most off of.