Cash or MTT? What should a beginner poker player choose?

[ChemfromUKR]

During my first year of playing poker, I was tossing around what to choose. And I came to the conclusion that I like MTT better. The cache started to make me sick. Just boring. MTT is more interesting, there is more risk, more emotions.

 

[jose_saleh]

It's safer for a new player to go MTT, since its a single payment. In cash games you can waste a lot of money and not notice until it's too late

 

[MrPokerVerse]

You should focus on which ever one you enjoy more. Personally, online play would rather play MTT. Live poker, cash games are what gives me the most enjoyment. Find where you have more motivation and better ROI.

 

[pentazepam]

If you enjoy tournaments play tournaments.

But personally, I think MTTs are a little step above the lottery when it comes to using a skill advantage - unless you have a very slow structure with deep stacks.

 

[yogo9]

In my opinion i think its better to start with freerolls and micro buy-in Mtt because in cash games there is a lot of talented and advanced level players and you can lose a lot of money as a beginner.

 

[dzsire]

Definitely MTT, and more like freeroll as a beginner.
Knowing the rules is just one thing, you need a lot of experience to actually make money. The best are those who have never transferred money anywhere but withdraw.
Of course, 'from zero to money' requires a lot of patience, but after a lot of freerolls played and some winnings, you can start building (bankroll management) without any deposit.

 

[fundiver199]

As others have said, its important to play something, you enjoy, because otherwise motivation will be lost. If poker feels like another job, then why not just find another job? So the only thing, I will add, is that in my opinion SnGs and perhaps fast MTTs are more beginner friendly than slow MTTs. Its quite a lot having to commit 6-7 hours in case of a deep run, if you are only playing for $2,2. In that case its better to have freedom to stop your session on a reasonable short notice. At least thats my opinion

 

[DiazPoker3101]

I think you have to try all the variants and play the one you like the most. If one is better than the other, that's up to each person

 

[Bluffzone68]

I started playing poker online with cash
Games and lost a lot of money.
So i stopped buying in.
Since i joined CC i play only Freerolls and enjoy my poker craving.
The point is to enjoy.
If you can afford to burn cash, buy in and play cash games, thats were the adrenaline rush is.

 

[amonlima]

If you have little time available, cash is the best option. If you have a lot of time available during your daily life, this is the most profitable option.

 

[userX]

During my first year of playing poker, I was tossing around what to choose. And I came to the conclusion that I like MTT better. The cache started to make me sick. Just boring. MTT is more interesting, there is more risk, more emotions.

Hi
It seems to me that cash games, on the contrary, are riskier and more difficult. However, I prefer tournaments. The main thing is that the tournaments are not hyper, all the others suit me

 

[fefibecerra]

I really like to play MTT, but the problem with freerolls is that people don't really know what they are doing. So I'd recommend playing the Cards chat freerolls, which at least has players that are already studying the game.

 

[julio gonzalez]

Hello, if you are a beginner, I definitely recommend playing MTT because in microlimits there is a lot of variance and it will not allow you to grow in your bank

 

[antonis32123]

I think cash and sngs . Tournaments are more demanding in skills , money spending , also time invested . With sngs you can practise your skills , see how you do . Or cash games , but low stakes .

 

[eetenor]

I really like to play MTT, but the problem with freerolls is that people don't really know what they are doing. So I'd recommend playing the Cards chat freerolls, which at least has players that are already studying the game.

The key to playing any MTT for ROI is volume---If you are playing freerolls you want to play any you have access to regardless of how often some bad player sucks out on you. The focus in poker is winning money not hands so it does not matter how many times we lose in freerolls because they do not cost us anything.

 

[martDdart]

MTT ,start building a bankroll and get experience playing freerolls.Once you feel comfortable as a winning player at the tables and have a bankroll that is at least 20 times the buyin,try diffrent sit n gos,cashgames ,MTT tournaments and focus on keeping playing the form of poker you enjoy most.

 

[eetenor]

MTT ,start building a bankroll and get experience playing freerolls.Once you feel comfortable as a winning player at the tables and have a bankroll that is at least 20 times the buyin,try diffrent sit n gos,cashgames ,MTT tournaments and focus on keeping playing the form of poker you enjoy most.

A MTT bankroll of 20 buy-ins is to low- for cash sure but sng's need 100 and MTT need 200 or more to deal with variance.
Some players who run well early can get away with short BR but 50% of players need the MTT 200 or more regardless of their skill advantage in each game.

 

[puzzlefish]

MTT and cash can both be good. Key word is "can". You need to find those games where you have fun and do well, instead of picking the ones where you are the fish bait.

 

[fundiver199]

A MTT bankroll of 20 buy-ins is to low- for cash sure

Even for cash games that is very aggressive. Maybe you can play 5NL with $100 (did that myself), but you need to be ready to move down, if you start losing. And without waiting to long. And as you move up, you definitly want to have more than 20 BIs. Maybe 30 for 10NL, 40 for 25NL and 50 for 50NL and above.

but sng's need 100

SnGs (single table) dont have that much more variance than cash games, since typically 1 in 2-3 players cash, and the cashes are not that different. So for me 50 BIs is enough. Maybe more at high stakes, but high stakes SnGs dont even really run regularly these days. But again you need to move down, if you lose. Its fine to play $5 games with $275, but if you have a losing session, and now you are down to $235, then it $2 or $3 games next session.

and MTT need 200 or more to deal with variance. Some players who run well early can get away with short BR but 50% of players need the MTT 200 or more regardless of their skill advantage in each game.

For professional and high stakes players sure. But with a small bankroll this is also very conservative. If you play a variety of buyins, like maybe $2,2-5,5, its fine to only have $550 or 100 x your highest buyin. Then if you drop to $510, you play $2,2-4,4 and so on and so forth. I have never had any significant downswings like losing half my bankroll using this system, and that is over thousinds of games.

 

[navicula]

Depending on the time you have and what you like, I prefer MTT...

 

[Aballinamion]

During my first year of playing poker, I was tossing around what to choose. And I came to the conclusion that I like MTT better. The cache started to make me sick. Just boring. MTT is more interesting, there is more risk, more emotions.

It depends on how "beginner" you are. If you a really starting out of scratch, I would only recommend to play Freerolls, until you have at least build a couple of money to yourself. When we are beginner we are not playing too much either way: we are going to spend most of our time studying poker. If we do play 2 hours per day, we ar going to study 4 hours.
Do not play too much when you are beginning, and do not invest too much as well. If you are going to invest begin with $10, $ 20 at most.
MTT is in fact, a game full of thrill and emotions. But the variance is huge and the frustration, overwhelming. I would recommend to play cash, single table, not fast tables by any means. Also do not play 6-MAX, but Full Ring. Cash Game will teach how to play postflop game and how to master it.
Do not play more than 2 hours per day, until you are very confident. Always consider that you are a student and you have a lot of things to learn, so spend time with theory, analysis and practice.
However, if you are really starting to play, I would recommend a deposit, only freerolls and Play Money tables. Until you get some ideas of player profile, table profile, ranges, perceived ranges, etc.

 

[Bnobob]

Never Cash, players are there to have fun so they are paying with whatever crap to see if they can hit much worse MMs, but after a phase of the tournament the majority are already out and you will be able to Develop your game better

 

[scobido]

Without a doubt, I recommend low buy-in tournaments, at least until they get familiar with online poker, in tournaments the chance of winning is higher for a beginner in online poker, my opinion of course.

 

[eberetta1]

If you want to build your bankroll, I would recommend MTT's before veering off into cash tables.

 

[okeedokalee]

MTTs, cash games are far more difficult. If you lose a tournament buy-in that's it. In cash you buy-in for 100 big blonds, you lose that you will be tempted to re-buy maybe twice plus more. Why you learn stick to small tournament buy-ins.