Cash Game Poker

Surprising as it may seem now, until the 21st century, there was almost no tournament poker. Throughout the 1800s and 1900s, poker was almost exclusively a cash game.

Tournaments appeared in the latter half of the 20th century, but primarily as exhibitions of a handful of top players. Hole card cameras on televised poker shows and the Internet changed all that. Today many players have only played tournament poker and never sat at a cash game.

Eventually, after getting familiar with some basic poker strategy almost all tournament players will try playing cash poker. Here is what they can expect.

Risk/Reward

In tournament poker, the risk is fixed. You only put the amount of your buy-in in play. In cash poker, you can rebuy indefinitely, so there is no cap on how much you can lose or how much you can win.

On the plus side, success in cash poker provides instant rewards. You can play well, get lucky for hours in a tournament and still go away with nothing. Doing the same in a cash game will reward you with a tidy sum.

Blinds

In tournament poker, blinds go up periodically. In cash games, they do not. This means there is nothing to force the action, which means you can afford to be patient. You really can afford to wait around for aces and kings, although this will probably not provide your greatest value.

Survival

Unlike tournament poker, the chips on the table do not represent your entire life. Therefore, you may find bluffing a bit more difficult, since a player may reason that if wrong, he can always buy back in. On the flip side, you should be willing to put the maximum amount of chips in with even a small edge, since this will make you money in the long term.

Limit Vs. No Limit

Most tournaments in us poker sites are played in no limit format, although this is becoming less and less true as tournament poker begins to branch out. In a cash game, you will have to make a choice between limit and no limit options.

There is higher variance in no limit, but it is easier to protect your hand and avoid bad beats. Bluffing is also difficult in a limit game due to the small bet sizes relative to the pot size.