There is a lot of luck in tournaments, which makes it tough to how skilled a player is without a large sample size. Why is this the case? Because, the amount of tournaments one must play to know if they are profitable will take much longer.Įven with the internet’s large selection of tournaments, it is tough for new players to quickly tell if they are profitable, even if they start off with a big win. Unlike multi-table tournaments, cash game players will know rather quickly if they are skilled enough to win while it may take months or years for MTT players to know their true skill level. Cash games have their positives and negatives. A play that may be standard in tournament poker may be a terrible play in a cash games, and vice-versa. To truly understand poker theory and philosophy, one must have a solid knowledge of cash games.ĭifferences between Tournament and Cash PlayĪs I mentioned above the differences between cash and tournament play are vast, even though the game is played with the same rules. The game’s best players may be tournament stars, but their true talent is their cash game prowess. Winning consistently at cash games over a number of years is what many consider to be a crowning achievement in poker. The difference in decision making between the two games is massive different.

We have all heard of the TV star tournament player who loses all his winnings to the cash game sharks in the other room a few hours after the big win. The two variations are so different that they might as well be two different games.

While the basic rules of the game do not change when playing a cash game versus a tournament, the philosophy and theory change entirely. While the glitz and the glamour these days in the poker world is focused on million dollar poker tournaments and the satellites that can get a player into these events, cash games are the true lifeblood of the poker economy. Start playing online poker Poker for free

Poker cash game win rate