F
fundiver199
Legend
Loyaler
There are two major differences between cash games and tournament. The first is, that in a cash game the "chips" on the table maintain the same value always. If you win all the "chips", you win all the money, very simple. In the vast majority of tournaments there is a payout structure, so even if you win all the chips, you dont win all the money.
This mean, that the value of the chips go down, as you accumulate them, so winning chips is not as good, as losing chips is bad. This is often referred to as ICM (Independent Chip Model) and generally reward a more conservative playing style especially when it come to not calling all in against another player.
The other main difference is, that the size of the blinds change in tournaments, and after the first few blind levels stacks tend to get short. Just how short depend on the structure and starting stacks, but typically most tournament hands are played with less than 100BB stacks. This make the game simpler, and the shorter stacks get, the more difficult it become to make huge mistakes. Typically this lack of experience with deeper stacks is why, tournament players often do poorly in cash games.
Finally there are usually antes in tournaments but not in cash games, and when there are antes, you need to play more hands to not get blinded away. So its a way to force players to not play so overly tight, as would otherwise be the winning strategy in tournaments.
This mean, that the value of the chips go down, as you accumulate them, so winning chips is not as good, as losing chips is bad. This is often referred to as ICM (Independent Chip Model) and generally reward a more conservative playing style especially when it come to not calling all in against another player.
The other main difference is, that the size of the blinds change in tournaments, and after the first few blind levels stacks tend to get short. Just how short depend on the structure and starting stacks, but typically most tournament hands are played with less than 100BB stacks. This make the game simpler, and the shorter stacks get, the more difficult it become to make huge mistakes. Typically this lack of experience with deeper stacks is why, tournament players often do poorly in cash games.
Finally there are usually antes in tournaments but not in cash games, and when there are antes, you need to play more hands to not get blinded away. So its a way to force players to not play so overly tight, as would otherwise be the winning strategy in tournaments.
tauri103
Legend
Silver Level
In cash games, it can be very profitable to put money in a pot even playing a hand with a probability of winning very low. If you have a 15% chance of winning the hand, but have a good chance of having hundreds of times a return on investment when you hit, then it may be the right move to make. Most of the time you will miss and lose the pot. In tournament, not having the opportunity to re-fill your stack, makes this decision very bad. Each token represents a part of your life in the tournament. The fewer chips you have, the less chance you have for survival and room for maneuver.
In the short term, cash games are more likely to provide a positive return than tournaments for a good player. In return, the amount of money made will always be far from the share won by the winner of a tournament, for the same amount of buy-in. An excellent tournament player can expect to win something like 1 tournament out of 40. To succeed in a tournament you have to be more conservative with your chips and take less risk than on a cash game.
In the short term, cash games are more likely to provide a positive return than tournaments for a good player. In return, the amount of money made will always be far from the share won by the winner of a tournament, for the same amount of buy-in. An excellent tournament player can expect to win something like 1 tournament out of 40. To succeed in a tournament you have to be more conservative with your chips and take less risk than on a cash game.
thwenth1983
Visionary
Platinum Level
Cash and Mtts.
In cash, you can wait for the best situation, to win with a very strong hand, you can drop a hand that did not evolve well after the flop, in the tournament it is not always possible and if it is a turbo or hyper turbo tournament, you will have to play hands with a 40% chance to win and even less.
I really like cash and Mtts with blinds of 15 mins or more.
In cash, you can wait for the best situation, to win with a very strong hand, you can drop a hand that did not evolve well after the flop, in the tournament it is not always possible and if it is a turbo or hyper turbo tournament, you will have to play hands with a 40% chance to win and even less.
I really like cash and Mtts with blinds of 15 mins or more.
A
angelamsmith05
Rock Star
Silver Level
dimon4ik89
Visionary
Platinum Level
The main difference is the structure of the game and the strategy. In tournaments, the blinds periodically grow and therefore there should be a goal to earn as much stack as possible. In the cache, the blinds are always the same and there is no need to rush, you can play more calmly and wait for a good card. There is no difference whether this is Omaha, Hold'em or another game.