Some thoughts on Cash Poker vs Tournament/Sit n Go Poker

I’ve been playing poker online for about 18 months now. At first it was just for a bit of fun and I didn’t really care how well or how badly I performed, I was happy just to donate some money into my account and then see what happened. I didn’t take it too seriously and I had a lot of fun.

It was around a year ago that I really got bitten by the poker bug and started playing a lot more. I would stick to mainly No Limit Hold Em Sit-n Go’s with a buy-in of $5 or multi-table tourneys with smaller buy-ins. I was winning a little bit but was mainly up and down and not really turning a profit. Still I was having fun and didn’t mind the fact that I wasn’t making any money.

The last six months have been a bit different. I started playing cash games online and now I think I’ve finally reached the point where I prefer them to Sit n Go's or tournaments.

Let’s say I sit down at a micro limit table (blinds of $0.02/0.05) of No Limit Hold Em with the max buy in of $10. This is the equivalent of say two $5 Sit n Go’s (not including rake) yet I feel my return of investment is much greater. I can sit on the $10 for hours without going broke if the cards are running bad however I could easily blow through two Sit n Go's in no time at all if the cards are running similarly bad. On the flipside, if I win a sit n go of those stakes I can pocket around $22 for a $17 profit. This kind of profit at a cash table is really nothing and easily obtained as long as one has PATIENCE.

I guess for me, it makes more sense to spend 2 or 3 hours grinding away at a few cash games (multitabling) for a $20 or $30 profit with a low chance of busting out than to invest my bankroll in a Sit n Go where one bad hand can bust me out with no chance of getting my money back.

Patience really is the key. In general, I’m not a very patient person. I have had to really focus on it when playing my cash games. The ability to sit there and wait for the opportune moment to maximise my profit in a cash game doesn’t come easily. I will often play 3 or 4 tables at once but I’ve found I perform best when I’m playing at just one or two tables.


So with a firm decision made to focus on cash games, the question remains – what game is my game of choice. I’ve played so much No Limit Hold Em that I think I need a break from it. Don’t get me wrong – I love the game. I love its simplicity yet I also love its complexity. If you don’t know what I mean then you should stick to recreational poker.

So what does that leave??? Draw poker??? Not a chance. I will play the odd sit n go as I can cash in them regularly but I just cant get as absorbed by draw poker as other forms. Seven Card Stud??? Perhaps. I’ve played a bit of Stud but still consider myself a beginner at it. Getting used to not having community cards is something I’ll attack later on down the track. Razz (Lowball Seven Card Stud)??? Enough said about Razz.

That leaves Omaha (well there is a lot more, but of the games I have played over the last 18 months it only leaves Omaha). I stick to the Hi/Lo split and I find I'm really enjoying it. I like the multiple options with the four hole cards and I like the high hand/low hand split – especially when there is no low hand and I scoop the pot.

When I started playing I used to just throw away cash not really understanding which starting hands were of value etc, or chasing down the pot with a crappy low hand and getting pipped for the entire pot by a dude who flopped a wheel (A2345) or something similar. The more I play and read about Omaha though the more I like it and the better I am getting at it (I can gauge this by the fact that I'm now turning a small l profit on the cash tables).

Choosing which limits to play has been another issue I have had to deal with. Like most people, I want to try and win as much as possible and the higher stakes you play the bigger the wins will be in theory. But on several occasions I’ve been punching above my weight and ended up going broke and having to reload the bankroll. Trying to stick to some sort of bankroll management strategy was my New Years resolution and at this point although I haven’t got any management software or spreadsheets in place I’ve been able to mentally monitor my wins and losses and have kept the bankroll slowly increasing.

So with the UK trip pending I’m trying to play a little bit more and get my bankroll up a bit. I’ll probably have a bit more time on my hands over there at first and I intend to have net access so hopefully by the time I arrive my bankroll will be at level which allows me to play a bit higher limits.