Key skills for being a successfull cash player

Hey guys I am currently doing very well in the online Sit N Goes, but always seem to loose my earnings in the no limit ring games. It always seems I take a bad beat going all in, but I think it's more than that. Was wondering if u guys could give me some good tips to become a better cash game player, and maybe some of the different strategies that should/shouldn't be used which are/aren't used in sit n goes. Thanks a lot.

What I do (I'm a cheap arse) is deposit $50 every pay period (twice a month). When I double or better that deposit, I cash back out to where I have $50. If I lose that $50 I either am even or I'll be a head. I then wait till next pay period before I deposit again. That seems to work for me, but I don't do SNGs or MTT, can never seem to get in the money, always get right on the border. Ring games work me. But I found that I slowly make money doing this technique.

Cash games is where you'll make consistant money if you are a good player.

What stakes you playing and what is your bankroll? Which site do you play at? What is your usual VP$IP (how many flops do you see) and your PFR (pre-flop raise)?

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I believe you are correct in trying to adapt your play from tournies to ring games because there is a difference. One of which is the all-in move you mention. From your perspective the all-in move in ring games puts you at a greater disadvantage than in tournies.

First, in a ring game you are risking real money that you have fought hard to accumulate as opposed to chips and your original buy-in in a tourney. Next, I think your all-in move carries less weight for your opponent because he can simply rebuy where hed be out in a tourney. This is why I believe it is so important to develop your post-flop game for ring game play.

Limit holdem is ok but its going to be hard for you to improve your post flop play. Limit is really just a matter of waiting for good starting hands or playing good flops when youre able to see it from the blinds. Theres not going to be much you can do in the way of bluffing or representing a hand in order to push an opponent out. Your premium starting hands are going to be less valuable. For instance, if youre dealt pocket aces in Limt, you can only put in one raise and you might be seeing the flop with six other players. Theres not much you can do as far as limiting the field. If it is down to you and one other opponent, they can decide preflop if they want play or not because they know exactly how much it can cost them to go all the way to the river by check calling. Theres just not much maneuvering you can do so these skills are hard to develop. Also, in limit, youll be playing a lot of hands from the blinds which can be a very expensive habit if you jump to NL or PL.

I believe the best way to develop your Holdem game is to play pot limit. Youre going to be forced to think ahead in every hand you play as to the amount of bet you make or calls you make. Youll be allowed to see flops with a lot of marginal hands like AJ or JJ and then make decisions because some maniac cant go all in preflop with his pocket 2s. You'll also quickly learn how important position is and to consider what kind of hands you can play from different positions.

NL or PL though, I believe there are some things you can do as far as bankroll management to decrease your variance. Only bring an amount to the table that you are comfortable having at risk. For instance, if its a $25NL game, you might just buy in for $10. If you lose with your all in move you can rebuy for another $10. If you happen to double up, you can leave the table and rebuy at another table for $10 plus youve added $10 to your bankroll. In other words it doesnt do you any good to keep winning at table if youre going to keep putting the entire amount at risk with all in moves. Eventually you will lose.

Last, especially when youre first learning, try to always play wherever you can get a good reload or deposit bonus. Its easy to get discouraged starting out if youre down money and it looks like theres no way to turn it around. If you know you have a nice bonus coming, you can afford to lose some while youre learning. If you lose $40 on the way to getting a $100 bonus, then you actually made money while you were learning. With so many good sites and bonuses available there isnt any reason you shouldnt always be taking advantage of the free money.

I play both tourneys and cash and ive found that the cash games is where you can win your real money with...my theory is this...you pick a limit where you can play like your playing a sit and go and are at the low blinds like 10/20 or 15/30. Right now for me thats 1/2 no limit ring games, but when I started about a year ago it was .25/.50 no limit, you have to be able to see alot of flops, in the long run you will make more money because you are investing your money more. The fact is that there will be alot of players out there playing a ring game that is just too high of limits for them and their play is affected by this. I like to play the suited connectors and the low pairs against the tight players playing a limit too high for them. I wouldnt be doing this with a bankroll of 100 dollars and playing 1/2 like this, and has alot to do with your bankroll. Play the limit thats comfortable for you as if you just started a sit and go, play that 87 suited against the AQ of a tight player, if you dont hit the flop then dont worry about it because ur playing at a limit that is the equivalent of playing 10/20 or 15/30 on a sit and go, its not that big of an investment. Youll see you can pick up some major pots playing this way

Thanks for the tips guys...especially wicked, I think I'm going to really work on my post flop game.

Guess that is why I don't play cash games.

Isn't it more than just playing premium hands? One, they just don't come that often (I'm assuming premimum means AA, KK, QQ, AK, AQ...mebbe JJ in the right situation). Two, the type of players at the table affect your chances, too. There are some who want to see every flop. That can be expensive, but also lucrative to them...and detrimental to those trying to play premimum hands.

wicked - that's a very good post. Thanks for sharing! I've taken that philosophy as I've been trying to learn O8. I've been playing the $0.01 / $0.02 PL on Stars. Took $2 to the table yesterday. Eventually worked my way up to $7. Unfortunately, I didn't cash that out. Ended at $2.03.

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Yeh wicked's post is quite helpful.. i'm not a cash gameplayer but intend to be..and believe playing pl is a good way of learning.. ofcourse i know that ppl will tend to be abit more looser and wild at the very low limits.. but get the amount to bet is very important

To follow up on the mention of "real money", I thin it's important to consider what's "real" has a subjective element. There are guidelines as to what your bankroll should be relative to the buyin you can play at. However, these are just guidelines. They omit the personal element. If, for example, the ratios say you can play $100 NL (.50/1), but it upsets you to lose that much, then you should probably play lower, at a level where you're able to stand losing your entire buyin without it really bothering you. Otherwise, you're likely to play defensive poker, which is not condusive to consistently good results.