Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

Any suggestions on what changes I should be making for going from tournaments to cash games?

Re: Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

No pressure of raising blinds should make you avoid moves you are forced to do in tournaments when your stack is crippled.
I think otherwise playing your normal tourney style while your stack is not corrupted yet would be the best approach.

Re: Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

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Any suggestions on what changes I should be making for going from tournaments to cash games?

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Probably the biggest general difference is that the range of long-term viable strategies is somewhat smaller in cash games than in tournaments.

Some people approach tourneys with a really loose-aggressive style from the start in an attempt to either build a stack quickly or bust out. Others play fairly tight until they start to approach the bubble.

If you're one of the rare tight players, then it will be a fairly straightforward change: just play as if you're in the opening rounds.

However, if you're one of the more common LAG players, then you'll probably need to tighten up your starting hand requirements quite a bit or you'll be bleeding money over the long run unless you're very good at reading your opponents.

Re: Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

Yeah I'm definately one of the more LAG tournament players.

In tournaments the main chip winner is top pair usually, and sometimes a set.

How much do you value top pair in a cash game? Do you normally try to make a fair amount of money with it, call raises with it etc or do you try to play a small pot with it, and are the other hands the money makers?

Re: Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

Switching from Tournments to NL Cash can be a very very difficult. I remember when I switched from $20-$30 sit and go to 50nl and 100nl I constantly overplayed my hands and couldn't laydown TPTK, ie.. AK and AQ. I quickly won $500, however later that week I lost all of that plus 500 in nl100. In tournies I would just push when I made those hands off the flop, however in cash games folding ak,aq,aa,kk,qq needs to be done to a very sucessful players. Also paying attention to your opponents at the table can very +EV, at 20 sit ang gos you can just fold until your 4-5 handed.

Re: Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

I'd define the difference like this.

In a tournament you hold AK, raise before the flop and the flop comes As 8s 7d. You bet and get called. In the vast majority of situations all you're looking for is how to best get the money in against a weaker Ace. Yes A7 might be beating you but you don't have time to find out.

In a cash game you hold AK, raise before the flop and the flop comes As 8s 7d. You bet and get called. Now you have to think about how your going to play the hand in light of the fact that you will be putting the vast majority of your stack in on the turn and river. Avoiding A7 becomes possible, simply extracting from AQ becomes more difficult.

All round you need to be much tighter, much more warey of traps and much more able to read your opponents. They'll be at the table for longer so you have more time to pick your players.

Re: Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

1) They're just chips.

2) Remember, people want to give their money away.

3) Always be willing to be the one to take that money.

4) Aggression, Aggression, Aggression.

5) Position.


I simply don't understand the advice of "play tight, play a waiting game." That's fine, if that's what you want.

The alternative is to play a little bit looser, and be quite aggressive post flop. If you play intelligently you'll avoid paying off monsters because people will try to "trap" you, but they'll never give you credit for your monsters and you'll get paid.

Again, this is just my advice. I'm a newbie to this forum, and I'm obviously different from a healthy chunk of posters here who seem to advocate a style of play that I find simply too conservative.

Re: Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

By "quite aggressive post flop" what do you mean? Can you give me some examples?

Re: Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

To me, the biggest difference, and where all this "play tight" advice comes from, is that in a cash game, you do not need to take risks quite like you need to do in a tournament.

You have to take more risks in a tournament because if you don't, your money will disappear to blinds. In a cash game, you don't HAVE to take risks, and its often smarter not to (as there's nothing forcing you to do so like in a tournament).

Re: Tournament to Cash game? What changes?
 

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Any suggestions on what changes I should be making for going from tournaments to cash games?

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The main difference is that the stacks are typically much shorter in tournaments. This means postflop play is more important in cash games, as are implied odds.

I recommend buying in short as you start out, perhaps for 40 BB. This will probably decrease the size of the mistakes you make in large pots.