Cash game mentality vs. tournament mentality

depends on how good you are playing poker for money on hand is always quicker both to win and to lose, and the tournaments are for those who want to move forward slowly and / or when they lose losing very little of the cash, obviously in tournaments can also jump when we are at the top because many times we take our commitment to complete a one of the first places

CASH GAME puts more emotional that tournament, at least for me, you play with your money and not with chips it makes you lose $ 1 and want? Back as fast as possible to its original money or double logo
MTT and quieter so you pay your Enrolment and is there battling for first place with a giant profit

Tournament play and ring play are totally different skill sets in my opinion.

vinsanity said:

Tournament play and ring play are totally different skill sets in my opinion.

Click to expand...

Theyre actually not as different as most people think. Its all big blinds. Optimal plays are pretty similar whether its cash or mtt.

limpnfold88 said:

Theyre actually not as different as most people think. Its all big blinds. Optimal plays are pretty similar whether its cash or mtt.

Click to expand...

Well, yes and no.

First off something like ICM and the non-linearity of CValue doesn't exist at all in cash game play, so that's a difference. Maybe not one that reveals itself till the bubble and when there are steep ladder payout differences, but it's definitely a difference.

There there is the simple fact that MOST (no, not all) tournament play is done at or below 30BB effectively. In a cash game you MAY CHOOSE to play that shallow but often you're playing much much deeper.

While it's soothing to the MTT player to think they are just two different things, the reality is playing more deeply is more complex both pre and post, and that is just an unescapable truth no one who is serious about the game can ignore. You can learn fairly close to optimal preflop play with 20BB or 10bb or 5bb in a matter of a week with the right resources. To learn even preflop play that's technically sound and takes into account game flow and table dynamics at 300BB is something that can/does take yrs for people, if there is even an optimal way to play a stack that large preflop right now that is known.

I enjoy both and both are challenging, but the simple fact is MTT players are GENERALLY weaker poker players, and that's a good thing for me bc I like to win.

Sometimes, when I read these post, I think that we get caught playing math instead of playing poker. We all know how to win at poker...play premium hands, play tight and aggressive, quit chasing cards, quit bluffing, etc. I feel that it is good to learn new things in poker, but when it comes down to it, the most profitable poker, is the way that we all know how to play. Poker is about making good decisions, if you're a losing player...well, you're making bad decisions, and playing to many hands.

chloebrand said:

Sometimes, when I read these post, I think that we get caught playing math instead of playing poker. We all know how to win at poker...play premium hands, play tight and aggressive, quit chasing cards, quit bluffing, etc. I feel that it is good to learn new things in poker, but when it comes down to it, the most profitable poker, is the way that we all know how to play. Poker is about making good decisions, if you're a losing player...well, you're making bad decisions, and playing to many hands.

Click to expand...

Well most of your decisions should be mathetatical, so you should be playing math

This is what i need to learn and practice, that MTT's are far different in Cash games.. After i play long hours in MTT's 3 to 4 tables and i dont even realize my play is wrong when i transfer in cash game tables bec. When my opponent raise i will still force my self to see the flop and thats why i loose a lot and the saddest part is when i dnt raise a good cards and flop comes and my opponents set of three of a kind..
That wiil be a lesson for me and many more lesson to come.. thats why i continue searching and reading about poker cash games and tournament if i have my time.. goodluck guys..

chloebrand said:

Sometimes, when I read these post, I think that we get caught playing math instead of playing poker. We all know how to win at poker...play premium hands, play tight and aggressive, quit chasing cards, quit bluffing, etc. I feel that it is good to learn new things in poker, but when it comes down to it, the most profitable poker, is the way that we all know how to play. Poker is about making good decisions, if you're a losing player...well, you're making bad decisions, and playing to many hands.

Click to expand...

That was a great way to beat live cash game poker in 2005.

Things have changed quite a bit since then....

i find it very hard to change mentality from MTT's and SnG's -> Cash Games. Any Recommendations?

I have the same problem, if i join to a cash table with 100 euro in a half of a hour or one hour i make 400, 500 after that i'm going down... i don't know what's the problem...

Mitch_snell92 said:

i find it very hard to change mentality from MTT's and SnG's -> Cash Games. Any Recommendations?

Click to expand...

Well, there isn't all that much of a difference between cash and MTTs pre antes, but post antes in tournaments you should be looking for spots constantly where you can just take down blinds and antes without much of a fight or blinds antes and an open raise (you would be 3betting here) without playing a huge pot.

Tournaments is basically a battle for the blinds and antes, cash games are not. You can sit back and be patient in a cash game, and I see so many MTT players press so hard to either win a big pot or go bust in cash; I think some actually feel like they need the session to come to some resolution- either a big win or a big loss. You cannot think like that in cash.....it's all one long session, and you are just looking to make good decision as you go.

its diferente when you play cash or mtt , in cash you have to be concentrate every hand if you play for example Rush or Zoom, in the tourney have to be patience

brilliant advice

limpnfold88 said:

Well most of your decisions should be mathetatical, so you should be playing math

Click to expand...

'ere 'ere

second post was better im the same way I DO PREFERE TOURNYS but I love cash games just because I can see players GOOOD POST

Nice post

Lot of good information here... thanks

I like to play SnG and tournaments, but I'm bad at cashgames too

Began with cashgames, tilted over and over again. Everytime i had played 2h and finally got a hand just to get cooled by a nit with quads A did i tilt and everybody knows how bad a tilting session of 10BI is for you bankroll, and it just went on and on.
SO i started playing tournament and it is both fun and much more friendly for a person who are sensitive to tilt. Bad mindset.

But now have i successfully played lots of cash lately, very much because of the variance in SNG/tournament.

Bad mindset - play tournaments.
Tired of variance- play cashgame.

Play on pokerstars but ONLY tournaments, i still have this mental issue with cashgames on pokerstars it's like my mind is telling me that even the micro is full of pros. Lucky for me have i found a juicy site to play cashgames on.Good for me.

Strategydifferences in the two formats do i don't even bother to write about.. Its obviously two different games.

Tournament player are generally awful in cash. But cash players make great tournament players. I would recommend starting in cash and then occasionally playing mtts

limpnfold88 said:

Tournament player are generally awful in cash. But cash players make great tournament players. I would recommend starting in cash and then occasionally playing mtts

Click to expand...

Well i dont think so really, but all cashgame players says so..

Tournaments is very much about ICM, i dont see how a cashgamer would learn to apply ICM while playing cashgame.

They're just different games.

Tourney =stack size management coupled with a dose of survival. (Which, by the way is a ton of skill)

Cash= max +EV every action and pushing small edges as hard as you can

Cash = fold fold fold fold (If we're playing full ring)

I like turbo style tournaments because it's more aggressive. 6 max cash games can be fun too though.

I think cash is more difficult to play .. but you can win big or lose big

As a recreative player, I don't want to get any risc on cash games. Of course I want profits, and I know that it's harder on MTTs, but I keep trying only in this kind os game. Cash games need more commitment from the player with the game.