I officially suck in live cash games

That is right.... I suck. When playing tourneys, I can cash pretty regularly, and I feel good about how I play. However, when it comes to cash games I really seem to stink it up. I realize both require different approaches, but my gosh. How can I get such polarizing results from one to the other? I am reading materials to figure out why this is, but I am still confused as to why I am seeing such different results.
So this leads me to ask... when playing between the two, what are the major differences in how you play? I need some sort of change here. I realize if I really hope to build my BR, I need to start winning in cash games. Well as of now... alll it is for me is a money pit.

Advice is both welcome, and painfully needed.

Well, im probably not the proper guy to be giving you advice. But, i will say this: I think the key in cash games is knowing when to leave once you've managed to get up. In a tournament, you just play until its over, but in cash games, its up to you. And sometimes, you gotta know when to run and when to fold em ace'

Well, you play so many fewer hands live that there is a lot more variance, decisions are harder without a HUD, going down a few buy ins has a much bigger impact psychological impact (for me anyway since it's a lot of money for me), and plenty more differences. But to identify your problem we need to know what kind of mistakes you're making that are costing you.

The best way to start is to begin labeling your opponents based on how they play, and play against them appropriately. Identify the ones who call too much, the ones who fold too much, or bluff too much, or never bluff, or anything else useful that you can find out. That much info is enough to start winning money from them, but after that you can start figuring out what cards they play and which boards hit them best and which miss them and make plays based on that as well.

Oh and as for differences in tourneys and cash, stacks are usually shallower in tourneys which simplifies a lot of decisions, and the fact that you can't just reload when you get stacked changes some decisions. I can't really comment much more than that, because I never play them and haven't learned much about them at all.

I agree with DaReKa, also keep track of the hands your playing and what happen to try and find out where your leaks are.

Thanks. I just seem to play a much looser game in cash games, which gets me in trouble. I seem to play it closer to the vest in tourney play. In cash, I get haphazardous. I make dumb calls. I seem have problems folding when I should. I raise pre-flop, then when I dont hit the flop. I sucker myself in to betting. I get called. As opposed to checking the turn, I continue to bet, and continue to get called. I feel commited to betting, so I do so. I often get called to showdown, and cant seem to lay down what I know is junk. When I raise pre-flop, I feel the need to raise after the flop, regardless of what shows. I just keep putting money in pot, only to get called down and lose it.

You can't play quite as loose at cash games as you might expect depending on the people at the table. If you have decent players all the way around playing loose like a MTT might play is going to cost you. You have to be more single hand minded and not thinking about some long term outcome like cashing in a MTT. It is hard to describe the subtle changes you make and probably harder to change if you are LAG normally in MTT. Got to have discipline at the cash games to win and build a BR over the long haul.

Trust me when I have been only playing MTT for awhile and switch back to cash games I catch myself all the time at first making moves I shouldn't be as if I was in a tourney. So I tighten my ass up and get into that one hand only mindset. You are never going to get blinded off as they go up and up in a cash game so you just need patience for the good cards and take the time waiting to learn the ranges others play and see if you should be opening yours a bit more.

It is a much slower grind than online and you have to keep that in mind or you will end up playing marginal hands from bad position just because you want to play poker lol. Which isn't to say you can't take down some pots this way but not as many as you might in a tourney.

If you suck AND you know it then read some BOOKS! There is no EXCUSE for sucking against average players in Live game. Read a couple books and you will take ALL the money.

I am in the same boat as the OP. I can hit in tournaments pretty regular. I sit at a cash game and over a long period, my bankroll starts going down. I think, a tournament allows you to make some mistakes and recover. A cash game does not. Think of this, you have AA, you drop a 3 X BB bet. You get called by a calling station. Your HUD shows em as a whale. The board flops a K 4 6 rainbow. You fire off a 1/2 or 2/3 bet. You get called again. Good right? Next card is a 2 with all four of the cards on the board unsuited. You fire off a pot bet that gets called. Last card is a 9. Sweet! You fire off a bet big enough to put the calling station all in. Called. Cards flip you have AA and the calling station has K 9 unsuited.

In this case, you lose a lot of your chips in a tournament. In a cash game you lose a lot if not all of your stack.

My opinion, micros do not allow you to make mistakes. Those mistakes cost way too much and cause you to lose money over time.

Of course you do, because ONLINE PLAYERS CAN'T COMPETE IN A LIVE POKER ENVIRONMENT.

@hobbz, i read your second post. Im a little good at cash game live. Its you yourself to identify your flaws. You said your calling which the play shld be fold. You said you have problems on foldings. Then if thats the case then level up your starting hands, not for you to have problems on calling or folding on later streets.
You said you always continue bet no matter what, then level up your starting hands for you not to be troubled on later streets.

Sounds like you gotta work on post flop play.

Most of the tourney decisions are made preflop. Whereas in cash often it is your post flop play that determines whether you win or lose