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Tournament and cash poker games have opposite risks and rewards and understanding the differences is crucial. Premier poker writer Nolan Dalla takes you on a journey of discovery.

About ten years ago, I drove along the California interstate and came upon a split in the road. Off to my left was the highway leading back to the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay area - the site of a half-dozen bustling poker rooms filled with live poker action. Off to my right was the highway leading towards the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Reno, the host city of what was, at the time, one of the biggest poker tournaments in the world. I intended to play poker over a long holiday weekend and didn't know which direction to go.

Left or right? San Francisco or Reno? Cash games or tournaments?

The proverbial 'fork in the road' is a dilemma for many poker players. Cash games and tournaments are both appealing in their own right. They also include an entirely opposite set of risks and potential rewards. For instance, the short-term financial risks are usually less in tournaments, since players can only lose up to a certain amount of money (the buy-in).

However, the long-term financial risks are actually much greater in tournaments, since it is much more difficult to maintain a consistent level of performance which will ensure a profit. In short, poker tournaments involve greater financial swings (also known as 'variance') for players than any cash game.

The rewards of poker tournaments and cash games are also quite the contrary. Poker tournaments usually offer more prize money to winners and the top finishers, and certainly more public exposure than cash games. In the biggest poker tournaments with highest buy-ins, the winner's life can literally change within a single day. A certain (former) accountant named Chris Moneymaker and a certain (former) corporate attorney named Greg Raymer went from working regular nine to five jobs to instant millionaires because of their victories in a poker tournament.

Fame and fortune follows tournament champions, while cash game players often wallow in anonymity. But there's a downside, too. It's important to remember that for every poker millionaire on television there are thousands of poker wannabes who lack the knowledge and skill to be successful.

The question is - which direction is right for you? Is it better to spend most of your time playing in cash games? Or, is it preferable to enter more poker tournaments and take a shot at the big money? The answer will depend on your poker goals and personal ambitions. In order to make a wise decision, you need to know more about the similarities and differences of poker tournaments and cash games.

The Similarities

A rose is a rose is a rose - and poker is poker. Whether it's a cash game or a tournament, a flush still beats a straight and good players beat bad players - in the long run, at least. Winners in cash games and tournaments share several qualities. These include:

Practising sound bankroll management:

Winning poker players play in the right size game to fit their bankroll. They don't play over their heads in big cash games or take reckless chances by investing too much money in poker tournaments, even though the potential for a big payoff might be tempting.

Establishing a tight-aggressive playing style:

More often than not, tight-aggressive play wins the money. Tight-aggressive is defined as playing fewer hands than your opponents, but when you do play a hand to (usually) bet and raise aggressively. This strategy works best, whether in a cash game or a poker tournament.

Avoid playing marginal hands:

The very worst hand to hold in any pot is the second-best hand. This is because the runner-up will invest more and lose more than any player at the table. Therefore, it is crucial to avoid hands that have 'second best' potential - such as Aces with weak kickers (A2, A3, and so forth) and marginal face cards (KJ, K10, and so forth). Being able to avoid trap hands is even more critical in tournaments, since you only have a limited number of chips.

Doing the unexpected:

Most winning poker players think 'outside the box.' They occasionally make unexpected moves. Playing in a straightforward manner can be profitable in some situations, but beating cash games (especially middle and high limit games) and winning poker tournaments requires mixing up play and avoiding a predictable strategy.

The Differences

While poker basics may be much the same whatever the circumstances, cash games and tournaments have a number of fundamental differences which must be considered when deciding which venture is preferable. These include:

Table and seat selection:

Finding the right game is at least half the battle. Beating cash games often requires that you play against opponents who are less skilful. In cash games, you have the luxury of picking favourable games and seats. Furthermore, you can always request a transfer or a seat change if you are in a bad spot. But in tournaments, all seats are assigned and you have no control over your opponents.

Time commitments:

A poker tournament often requires a full day or evening to complete. This means you must be prepared to sit and play poker for many hours at a time. In cash games, you can quit at any time, whether you are up or down. But poker tournaments endure to the finish, which usually involves a greater commitment of time.

Varying strategies at different stages:

Cash games essentially require a consistent playing strategy, albeit with some degree of unpredictability. However, there are very different strategies depending on the stage of the tournament (early, middle, and late) and whether or not re-buys are permitted. Optimal strategy can change depending upon factors such as stack sizes, amount of time left in the round, and so forth.

Different goals:

Assuming you play poker to win and not merely as a recreational pastime, it's important to know players have an extraordinarily diverse array of goals which motivate their decisions at the table. Most cash game goals involve an hourly or session expectation. However, tournament players are often motivated by things other than money - including peer recognition, satisfying competitive instincts, and fame (especially if the tournament is televised or includes an audience). There's nothing wrong with playing poker for reasons other than money - it's just important that we understand all players are not motivated by winning money.

Making the leap from tournaments to cash games

The growing popularity of poker on television has introduced thousands of new players to the nuances of tournament poker. Accordingly, many new players enter tournaments before they've played a single hand of live-action poker. This was unheard of, until a few years ago.

Most poker players of previous generations learned to play poker in cash games first - either at home or at a local casino - before venturing into tournament poker. Now, an entirely new breed of player called the 'tournament specialist' has entered the lexicon of poker lingo.

Making the transition from tournaments to cash games is analogous to shifting the gears of a high-performance sports car down to a family saloon. Like the flashy automobile, tournaments are sexier and more exciting. By contrast, most cash games are more methodical. For many years, there was a small, but widely-known group of very successful tournament players who were big contributors in cash games. Whatever they won - and sometimes it was six figures or more - was dumped in the cash games. The tournament pros essentially created a cottage industry in poker. The question is - why? How was it possible that a world class tournament player could be a loser in cash games?

The answer was (and is) quite simple. Many players, even the best tournament players to this day, fail to adjust their strategy and style to suit live action games. They falsely believe they can intimidate opponents and run over the games with the same tactics that are used so effectively in tournaments. It simply doesn't work that way.

Making the leap from cash games to tournaments

Hurdling from cash games to tournaments is the conventional stepladder for most poker players. They usually begin playing poker in small cash games and steadily proceed up to the tournament level. Frankly, I believe this approach has certain advantages. It allows players to progressively develop their skills and move up gradually to where there is more money as well as added pressure. Most players who are thrust into poker tournaments without developing basic skills do not fare very well.

The transition from playing cash games to tournaments also requires changes in one's preparation and level of commitment. Since a standard poker tournament may take 12 hours or more to complete, stamina is more important to the tournament player. Cash game players can take breaks or depart as they wish. But tournament players are potentially faced with a much more demanding ritual that requires extraordinary mental focus.

A few thoughts about online poker

Internet poker is virtually a different poker game from the brick and mortar variety. Internet poker games are:

Faster

Often, twice as many hands are dealt per hour. However, many tournaments employ a set number of hands per round. This is different from live tournaments, which almost always use a time clock.

Wilder

Online players tend to play more loosely than in live-action games. It's much easier to call a bet or raise with the click of a mouse than to physically reach for one's chips and place them into the pot. This dynamic, unique to online poker, creates more bad beats and seemingly inexplicable behaviour than in regular cardrooms.

Based more on relative strength of hands and position rather than tells

Most of the time when playing over the internet, you are up against people you don't know. The screen name across the table may indicate some characteristics about the player - but you never really know who you are playing against. In live action games, strategic decisions are often made based solely on the opponent's appearance and behaviour, otherwise known as tells. These clues do not exist online.

Offers greater variety or choices

ParadisePoker Poker have hundreds of games going on around the clock. While your local casino may have a dozen or so games going, there are literally thousands of poker games taking place every hour of the day and night at internet poker sites.

This means you have a much easier time changing tables and trying to find the right game. Furthermore, ParadisePoker Poker offers numerous daily tournaments - including freerolls. While the local casino may have a nightly tournament, ParadisePoker Poker offers as many tournaments you would ever want, every single day.

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