Regulator

Which do you guys prefer? What are the pros/cons of each? Thanks.

Graham

I prefer cash games, though the cons for them are much bigger swings.

Pros for STT are they are probably a better way to build up a bankroll as you reduce risk.

Regulator

Thanks for the insight, I've never played cash games really, jus wondering if I'm missing anything. What kind of strategy do you employ?

pokerJAH

cash games is my preference - biggest pro - can stop and start when you like, unlike a tournament where you keep playing until you get knocked out. con - usually larger swings in bankroll as fee for tournament is fixed. cash game may require multiple buy ins.

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Vegas June 15 -19

Graham

I personally go with the Bet and Pray strategy, but I think it is really dependant on what you are playing. My favorite thing to do is shortstack games that I clearly don't have the bankroll for (such as 2/4 PLO). I can usually run hot for 5 sessions in a row, then bust everything I made on the 6th. Sad, but true story.

wildbill7145

About a year ago I tried cash games for a BRIEF period of time. I'd been doing quite well (I thought) in 3-5$ SNG and thought "I'm a pro, I need to take the next step, I'll try the cash games". Did well first few nights. Smaller stakes games. I remember getting very excited once when I went all in and won $75 in one hand. Then reality kicked in, and I got stomped horribly. The axe swings both ways. Lost my entire bank roll that I'd been building up in one session. In short, if you can't handle the huge swings these guys talk about...stick with what's doing well for you now. If you want to try them, stick with the micro stakes until you get a feel for things. Then at least you can make an informed decision. Don't deny yourself challenges, but don't try flying the space shuttle after a few hours of MS Flight simulator.

blackmagicz

My personal preference is SNGs online (I have played cash and go through huge swings....). I save my cash games for live where I don't need to run trackers and stats programs to pick out the regulars/pros.

Currently I am grinding away at 16.00 SNG (4 to eight tabling) at a time, as well as 10-20.00 DoNs. These have been my bread and butter for a while now. (Hence so much strategy posting in the tourney section of this message board). I mean I have played higher (500-1000.00 heads up games/SNGs online) but you are playing against pros/regulars and really I am a part time player so I am happy turning my few hundred a night stealing from the lower level fish. Eventually once I get to about 10-20K online I will start taking bigger shots more regularly.

I find in my cash game (5/5 5/10 10/20NL) live I don't gamble it up enough and I am reluctant to pull the trigger..more when I want to make a move because I am always thinking someone will call me out of spite just because there is so much money in the pot after I re-raise. (Lots of references available). So for the most part I just pick my nitty spots and still get paid but I don't swing more than 500-1000 bucks in a session live depending on the stakes. Too much of a bankroll nit.

Regulator

Yea I don't think I have the bank or the balls to play many succesful cash games. Magic, do you bother using a tracker or any software while playing your SnGs?

blackmagicz

Not really...I run poker tracker afterwards to review some hand histories and put some notes on players but for the most part I can play 8 tables just by betting patterns for the most part. I find sometime the stats are accurate in the sense that someone could look like they are playing loose but infact they have just picked up good hands and are running hot in the tourney.

At the same time though I have a ton of live experience in tournies and cash so a lot of the people who rely heavily on tracking/stat software may not have grown up playing live.

It has taken me many years of online crap/losing to actually adjust my game online to be profitable. However a lot of the tricks I have used online smash the live games.

cadillac

Sng's are formulaic in nature. Once you know the formula you simply rinse and repeat. You can teach a monkey to do it.


Cash is much more reliant on reading hands and players. You have to be able to extract maximum value when you've got it and lose the minimum when don't. Pound the weak players and give the aggressive one's a chance to bluff off their stack.

There is also no playing on auto-pilot in cash games. You can play a long focused session for 2 hours, lose focus for 5 minutes and give back your profits and more.

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ReefAquarium

My personal preference by far is for cash games.

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Not smarter than a grade 5 or Kristy Sea

Regulator

What's ur reasons reef? Also what kinda strategy do u play? Thanks

BlondeFish

CASH GAMES
- lowest variance, i.e., ~40% of players in a table will be up
- best way to bonus-whore online.

MTT
- highest payoff for amount of buy-in
- highest variance, only ~10% will make it to the money in the tournament
- fastest way to lose your bankroll or become a poker millionaire, like SirWatts, Choron & other K-W champions.

SNG
- variance is between cash game & MTT, ~30% ITM.

SATELLITES
- great for reducing variance to big buy-in MTTs. For example, very few people have the bankroll to buy in directly for $10K+ events, but some can win a seat for much less and either take +EV shots or at least have a great experience.

I try to be versatile and play whichever format I think is best at the time. Online, I play satellites to win multiple entries to the big Sunday MTTs and to big live events. Live, while waiting or after a satellite or MTT, I love to play cash games to help fund my next tournament.

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May your EV always be positive.

PokerKai

If you are a casual player, I dont see why you really need to weigh the pros and cons of playing one or the other. If you like playing both you might as well play both. If you like playing one more, go ahead and play that one. Bankroll shouldnt be a factor since online you can find a game to suit the smallest and the biggest of bankrolls.

If you are asking how to maximize the amount of money you can win...Id say a player who is equally skilled at both has a much higher ceiling playing cash for a number of reasons...

1. You can select your tables in cash games, so you can continually find yourself at good tables whereas STTs are kind of a crap shoot.
2. You dont have to wait for games to fill up, much less downtime.
3. There are way more cash games compared to STTs of the same stake. Take a look on Stars sometime and notice how many 1k NL (5/10) compared to 1k buy-in STTs going.
4. STTs are really a product of the internet so it kinda handicaps you if you ever want to play live. Sure some places offer STTs but usually they are only satelites into bigger tournaments.

This is not to say you cant be extremely profitable at STTs...its just that its really a small niche of the online poker world.

Regulator

Thanks for all the responses, still interested to hear what anyone else has to say.