cash games or tournaments

Kweejibo · May 17,2005, 01:56 AM

Just looking for some general opinions here. Is the more money to be made playing tournaments or cash games? What is the difference in considering bankroll management? Do you keep a seperate bankrolls for each type of games?

apryllshowers · May 17,2005, 11:41 AM

There is "more" money in winning a tournament because winning a tournament is like hitting the lottery. You will lose most of the time, but one big hit can be life changing.

There is more "reliable" money in a cash game. A good cash game can be worth x amount per year. I played in a 10-20 limit home game that netted me an easy 30K per year without the huge variance of tournament play.

There is nothing wrong with trying to make a score, but for my money, I would rather play a cash game.

Dave Scharf · May 17,2005, 06:05 PM

I have never seen a satisfacrory answer to the original question. Nonetheless, here are my thoughts...

Tournaments offer more variance. So, if you require a steady income from poker then avoid them.

Under what circustances whould you NOT require a steady income? If you have a HUGE bankroll you can weather some LONG losing streaks (in fact, some "known" pros are, I think, losers with BIG bankrolls). If you are not a pro. I am, for instance, a recreational player. I am willing to lose $14.5K at the WSOP this year because although it will be a BIG hit to my bankroll it will not kill me. To be sure, I am overplaying my bankroll, but I know that and I do not require a regular income from poker so I can afford the loss.

So, if you don't need a regular income. Or, you are playing for fun then play tournament because they are, for most people, more fun.

Specifically, I don't think the original question can be answered. Are you playing cash games at the $3-6 level or the $300-600 level. If a top players EV is 4 x the buy-in then a $10,000 event nets $30K. Play in fifteen a year and your expectation is $450K per year. If your regular game is $500-1000 limit hold'em then this is the equivalent of 450 hours work. What I mean is, without knowing how big a bankroll one has and a specific comparision of tournament size to ring game size it wil be hard to answer.

Here is what I guess...

In a tournament my expectation is that I will gross 1.5 to 2.5 times the buy-in depending on some varaibles including strength of field and structure of touranment. Estimate the length of a tournament and you will have your hourly win rate. But, remember that tournament will be more streaky.

In a ring game my expectation is between 1 and 1.5 big bets per hour depending upon the strength of the field.