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12/10/2007Online Texas Holdem: Choosing Tournaments or Cash Games
Once you’ve signed up with your favorite online poker site,
downloaded the poker
software, gotten money into your account and decided the stakes at
which you are comfortable playing, the next thing you will have to
consider is whether you will be playing tournaments or cash games. You
can certainly play both, but many players find themselves gravitating
towards one type of game or another, either because they find they have
an affinity for that type or they simply enjoy it more. There are a
number of factors in play when deciding whether to lean towards
tournaments or cash games.
Deciding between Online Texas Hold’em Tournaments and Cash Games
Whether you will focus on online poker tournaments or cash games will
depend on your style. If you need a set goal to stay focused on your
poker game, tournaments may be easier for you, as you will know exactly
what you are trying to do. Players who don’t know when to quit may
struggle in cash games as they may leave before maximizing their profit
in the game or continue to play long after fatigue or the game texture
has made the game bad for them. On the other hand, there is more
immediate gratification in cash games. When you win a pot in an online
Texas Holdem cash game, that money is yours. You can amass a large
number of chips in a tournament and still end up with nothing. In a
cash game, whatever you win, you get to keep until you put it back in
play.
How to Approach Playing Online Tournaments or Cash Games
If you decide to focus on Texas
Holdem poker tournaments online, you may wish to play a mixture of
sit-and-gos and multi-table tournaments. The sit-and-gos can provide
more instant gratification, since a good player should at least cash in
a single-table sit-and-go at least half the time. The multi-table
tournaments will provide the opportunity for you to use your skills to
go for a big score and relieve the possible monotony of repeated
single-table tournaments. If you decide cash games will be your focus,
start at the lowest limit you can play where the money is still
meaningful. Once you feel you have a handle on that game, move up in
limits. Be sure that your results are really a function of your being
better than the game, rather than of the effects of short-term luck.
Moving up in limits too fast is one of the leading causes of destroyed
bankrolls.
Switching Between Online Texas Hold’em Tournaments and Cash Games
Think carefully before switching from one type of game to another.
Remember that there are some strategic differences between poker
tournaments and cash poker games, mostly springing from the rising
blinds and the threat of elimination in tournaments. You should usually
resist the temptation to take your profits from a big tournament win
and immediately sink them into a high stakes cash game. This can be
exciting but it can also quickly undo the time and hard work you may
have taken to achieve success.
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