Translating Sit n Go Success to Cash Games

[Marc Ingenoso]

I have been successful at the $15 and $25 NLHE SNGs on PS but I'm getting beat when I try to play low limit NLHE ($.25/$.50 or $.50/$1.00) cash games. What are the most common mistakes made by someone who is more of a SNG or tournament player when they play a cash game?

Thanks for any thoughts.

[Rudbaeck]

Gambling way too much. Ring game NL is much, much more a waiting game.

Especially the online tourneys with rapidly rising blinds force you to gamble.

[Marc Ingenoso]

Thanks. I'll try to tighten up.

[emonrad87]

Tournies and ring games are almost as different as hold'em vs. stud. I would advise getting small stakes holdem. its the best book out there for small stakes.

[istewart]

He's playing NL.

[pzhon]

It's not a matter of tightening up. You have to be aware of the stack depths when you play NL, and in tournaments, the stack depths are usually much shorter than in ring games. With deep stacks, there are decisions to make after there is a raise preflop and a bet on the flop and turn. In a tournament, someone is often all-in by that point if not on the flop. Implied odds are very important with deep stacks, and implied odds often mean you can play more loosely.

There are some other, less important factors such as how players react to the threat of being eliminated.

[emonrad87]

[ QUOTE ]
He's playing NL.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh. Good point.

[Marc Ingenoso]

Thank you very much. Your post is very helpful and I think I may be on to something as a result. Your post may also help to explain why I am winning a lot of small pots but losing a clear majority of the big pots I've played (probably because I am still playing as if I was in a turbo tourney which is to say that I am too aggressive when I hit the flop and I'm calling too much when raised in these situations).

[pzhon]

If you want to make a NL ring game simpler to play, and more like a tournament, buy in for less than the maximum. I think every online poker room lets you buy in for 20 times the big blind. It's common for people to recommend that you try to cover the table, but that's wrong until you have a significant skill advantage. Buying in short not only simplifies your decisions, it gives you an advantage over equal opponents, and you give that up when you buy in for more.

There is a big difference between 50 BB stacks and 100 BB stacks. In the latter, there is plenty of room to play low pocket pairs for set value. You have to be prepared to fold overpairs some of the time or else you will pay off too much to sets, 2-pair, and straights. With a stack of 30 BB, you don't need to worry about sets, and you often don't have the implied odds to call raises with low pocket pairs.

[jb9]

I think I am in the same situation as you, and I'd be curious if anyone else has more advice about making the transition from SNGs to NL cash games.

For me, I'm sure that some of the problem is psychological. Putting in all of my money up front in an SNG makes me feel like I'm playing to get my money back and I have nothing more to lose, so I'm comfortable playing an aggressive game.

But, when I sit down at a cash game I worry about losing the money I sat down with, and I seem to end up playing everything backwards (raising when I should be folding, folding when I should be raising, chasing people out of pots with big raises when I have big hands, letting people stay in pots with small raises when I have medium hands).

This is definitely a bad way to think, especially because I'm not worried about the actual dollars lost, just the way I'm losing them -- I don't get too concerned if I finish out of the money in 3 $22 SNGs in a row, but if I lose one $25 buy in at a cash game it really gets to me.

I suppose if I'm going to keep playing the cash games, I'm going to have get my head straighted out -- or just stop losing [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].