Are you sure???

It's a funny thing, but when I watch top pro's on tv, I observe the following...

In cash games they play really loose, lots of limping, lots of players seeing a flop, but this doesn't happen in the top tourneys.

BUT...

In several recent threads I have seen people here saying that you should play tighter in cash games than in tourneys.

That is the exact opposite of what the experts do, so are you guys really sure you've got he right end of the stick when you've been saying that?

Think about the stack sizes in relation to the blinds. Is a top pro going to see a flop with a small suited connector when the blind won't even dent his bankroll? Yes. But in a tournament, every chip matters, just because you have a big bankroll doesn't mean you can be careless with your chips. Each chip is more valuable in a tournament, so people treat them like it. The blinds increase in tournaments so you can never be in a comfort zone of not losing chips.

For pros, seeing flop with these less than premium hands at a full ring game won't hurt anything. But if you're some amateur with a $500 bankroll playing a $.5/$1 NL ring game, why risk at least 1/500th of it with some weaker holdings.

If you watch high stakes poker they play all the suited connectors and pairs looking for a big pot. As an amateur grinder you don't need giant pots, you can just grind your way to money.


The idea has to do with the pros being better readers/betters and their bankroll being so big. Some amatuers play alot of pots with all pairs and suited connectors, and thats fine if you do it in the right situation. The implied odds on these are huge. In tournaments you are looking for the win, not to avoid losing (which is what goes on more in cash games), so I would tend to say there is no rule for how tight/loose to play given the game. Most of the time you want to think about how to maximize value on you hands with bigger implied odds, if it costs to must to get these odds, then get out.

You should bear in mind that in these cash games they know the other Pro's very well so they change their playing style and play more fancy game (and for the cameras no doubt).

In Tournaments they are versus lots of random players who they have little to no previous table time with and therefore revert to a more standard TAG style.

I've played lots of cash tables and the fancy players often start off well but then take it too far and lose all their profit or their stack, often in my direction.

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3rd Pitbull league June 2007
2nd Pitbull league July 2007

interesting thing what you find there but i think for example und high stakes poker cash game all play different,negreanu play many hands some other one not so many... its really different ...

Another thing to consider is by the time we see the pro's on TV in tourney's it is toward the final tables. Blinds are high and they are tight. In a ring game blinds stay the same. Do we really know they aren't playing more hands early on in the tourneys?

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Another thing u have to mention in the cash games such as high stakes poker, is that they edit a lot of the hands! watch, sometimes guys will have the bb multiple times in a row, so you are mostly seeing the interesting pots, with lots of limping etc, not the ground skimmers, or button steals, unless they get defended etc...

First point is those pro have sponcers backing them. They have to be do what they do to get attention (more flash the more backer's cash they get), it's not there own money plus on TV they edit the boreing hands out.

In cash game the blinds do not change the way they do in a tournament. So why risk what you do not have and wait for the nuts by playing tight.

One thing is entertaining the masses (Pros on TV) and the other is protecting your bankroll. At least that is my point of view.

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COW344

That ain't right Cow. They may well have sponsers, but they are playing to win, not to entertain. They don't have the mindset to merely play, that is what made them good. And it isn't the TV companies that do the sponoring, in the main it is online poker rooms and they want winners. The advertising message is winners play here. Regular losers would lose their deals so it may not be the player's own money, but they are still under pressure to win with it. I think if you said what you said face to face with a pro then baseball bats could be involved because that is quite insulting to a players integrity.

And yes the blinds don't change in cash games, but they should be a small % of your stack (otherwise why have you bought in too low or left it too long to rebuy?). So if you have a proper relationship between your stack size and the blind then you should be in a position where you can afford to see a cheap flop.

That was the hidden point in the lead off post. I was wondering if anybody else had realised that amateurs tend to play ring games with too short a stack and hence play tighter. It has nothing to do with other factors, it is simply the size of your stack compared to the blind.

I take the High Stakes poker shows with a grain of salt. They are great entertainment but not to be taken as a teaching aid into playing cash games. One of their best assets is that some of the bad players actually to start to emulate some of these televised player styles, which is great for everyone else at the table when we take their stack.

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3rd Pitbull league June 2007
2nd Pitbull league July 2007