Should I start with cash games?

[terryk]

If it was "easy",,,,everyone would make Bank!! But,,,,because it's hard,makes it all worthwhile in the end!!

 

[pocketace222]

I'm just a recreational player, so I chose what I like, the tournaments. But recently I've been losing quite the coin flips that playing tourneys rather feels like fishing to me. You wait for the right hand for an hour, eventually all-in (even if I didn't want to), either double up or get knocked out. Might do the same for an extra hour unless you get quite lucky to win multi way pot and become a chip leader. The 'fun' reward for waiting is not enough for me. I've tried playing loose cause of that, but that just kicks me out of the tournament. If I can get enough stacks then maybe I can try to play some flops?

I've tried cash games but felt like it was super repetitive, with no dynamics that tournaments have. Maybe I'm not supposed to play poker at all? XD I'm still interested in the mechanics of poker itself though. What should I do? I think learning poker will bring me the joy, so is the cash game a better choice? or should I stick to tourneys?

You should do whatever you feel like playing, personally I like tournaments but do like cash. If I feel my tournaments aren't going well I might try a little cash

 

[dongato2]

Thinking that if it is better to start with the cash games, from the lowest level nl2, the tournaments have too much variance to start with that modality

 

[ChubbySin]

I'm just a recreational player, so I chose what I like, the tournaments. But recently I've been losing quite the coin flips that playing tourneys rather feels like fishing to me. You wait for the right hand for an hour, eventually all-in (even if I didn't want to), either double up or get knocked out. Might do the same for an extra hour unless you get quite lucky to win multi way pot and become a chip leader. The 'fun' reward for waiting is not enough for me. I've tried playing loose cause of that, but that just kicks me out of the tournament. If I can get enough stacks then maybe I can try to play some flops?

I've tried cash games but felt like it was super repetitive, with no dynamics that tournaments have. Maybe I'm not supposed to play poker at all? XD I'm still interested in the mechanics of poker itself though. What should I do? I think learning poker will bring me the joy, so is the cash game a better choice? or should I stick to tourneys?

Absolutely yes, I like tournaments, however cash games are the purest form of Poker.

 

[ykm930]

If you want fast profits you can try cash games but don't forget that just as fast as that you can lose significant amounts of money either. Cash games can be as delicious as they are bitter for your pocket. If you are a balanced player who knows the limits of your own budget then it is okay, you can play cash games not to worry about that but if you get angry quickly and you can't control your stops after a couple of bad beats then I don't recommend it.

I think buy-in tournaments are perfect for everyone and for a wide variety of budgets. You can gradually learn the game, you can improve your skills step by step, you can learn how to adapt your style depending on the other players style and you can finally earn some big profits in time.

Know your limits guys, wish y'all a good day!

This is the best answer for me so far!

 

[Nizar]

If it was "easy",,,,everyone would make Bank!! But,,,,because it's hard,makes it all worthwhile in the end!!

I do not advise you to do that my friend, you have to take the free tournaments to learn in first, then you can move on to the next stage, which is playing with money and good luck to you my friend.

 

[Rost]

I think this is a very individual question. Apparently there are many players who have better results in cash games than in tournaments. But for me personally, tournaments are more profitable. I think you need to work out statistics for yourself to understand which of the options is more profitable for you.

 

[Oranaro]

It's a choice you make, if you play for fun, you can do both, but if you want to improve and make profit, you should stick with one. I would say that mtts are softer, but has huge variance, and has way more concepts, icm, playing the different stack depths, while cash games you will need to learn how to exploit, and have way more expertise in the postflop game. So I would suggest to choose one and stick with it, unless you want just to chill. Both are quite stressfull, because in cash you directly play money, and having a pot of 20$ in CG when you can play 5$ mtts shows quite good the difference, so in mtts you will be able to control losses, while in CG if you loose too much, it might go rly fast. On the other hand, you can spend months without winning one mtt, and frustrate you, while if you're decent, in CG you will be able to be positive in a month if you beat your field, (having a decent amount of hands)

 

[fundiver199]

Even if you decide to get more serious about the game, you need to play, what you enjoy, because otherwise it will just begin to feel like another job, and you will lose motivation. If you already tried cash games and feel, they are to repetitive and lack excitement, thats probably not the solution. If you get frustrated by playing a tournament for hours and still not cash, maybe try faster tournaments like 9-man SnGs. They wont make you rich, but they are over in around an hour, and its easier to get some small cashes to maintain that winning feeling.

 

[fa1920]

If you want to learn to play poker well, what you should start with is learning how to play cash-game poker. They are more static, but you learn a lot more. You come out with a very good base that will undoubtedly serve you well in tournaments since cash-game players have a lot of post-flop advantage over tournament players who are more accustomed to just going all-in or don't know how to get value out of certain situations.