Anyone play only poker tournaments and not any cash games?

[Reload]

Cash games have seemed like more of a waste to me over the years. Your bankroll might last all month or whatever, but it all just goes away. Anything won is just a loan - it just all ends up gone.

Might as well just use the cash to enter one big tournament a month and go for the big money. Just enter accepting the fact you'd lose the money anyway and take a shot. Anyone else think like this?

[rm18]

if you don't have a bonus rakeback or good promotion it is very tough to win, a much higher % or touney players win longeterm

[daneblazer]

I use to be a tournament player only but have recently transitioned to more cash games. You normally have to play a lot of MTT's to overcome the variance of tournament play and a big part of poker is bankroll management. I mean, shot taking is okay for leisurely players...but most regs have a term for players who do this...

[MickeyMan]

I used to play both buy now just tournaments. Too many times going on tilt playing cash games and getting out of control or playing too high a limit. With tournies if you have a bad beat or make a bad play you only lose your entry not your entire stack in front of you. Much less stressful I find and has been profitable for me but I know guys who are more profitable when sticking to cash games too.

[B1GER1C828]

used to only play tournaments. Mostly Ring games and atleast one big tourny a day for a shot.

its how i got my money from 16-18 really.

[k13]

It don't matter, result is always the same.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ac Ad]
Hero: calls 250
earpoker: raises 1000 to 1250
Hero: raises 5529 to 6779 and is all-in
earpoker: calls
earpoker: shows [9s 9d]

*** FLOP *** [6c Qs Ts]
*** TURN *** [6c Qs Ts] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [6c Qs Ts 9c] [9h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [Ac Ad] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
earpoker: shows [9s 9d] (four of a kind, Nines)


I gave my buddy even odds that I'm losing this hand when the cards are shown.
I'd probably bet a G if people had more money.

[Reload]

It don't matter, result is always the same.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ac Ad]
Hero: calls 250
earpoker: raises 1000 to 1250
Hero: raises 5529 to 6779 and is all-in
earpoker: calls
earpoker: shows [9s 9d]

*** FLOP *** [6c Qs Ts]
*** TURN *** [6c Qs Ts] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [6c Qs Ts 9c] [9h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [Ac Ad] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
earpoker: shows [9s 9d] (four of a kind, Nines)


I gave my buddy even odds that I'm losing this hand when the cards are shown.
I'd probably bet a G if people had more money.

Wow that's awful

[Davydave]

It don't matter, result is always the same.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ac Ad]
Hero: calls 250
earpoker: raises 1000 to 1250
Hero: raises 5529 to 6779 and is all-in
earpoker: calls
earpoker: shows [9s 9d]

*** FLOP *** [6c Qs Ts]
*** TURN *** [6c Qs Ts] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [6c Qs Ts 9c] [9h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [Ac Ad] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
earpoker: shows [9s 9d] (four of a kind, Nines)


I gave my buddy even odds that I'm losing this hand when the cards are shown.
I'd probably bet a G if people had more money.

Ouch. That's a killer.

[actionchris]

I tend to play mostly cash games because I don't have the time to sit and play a tournament for hours

[Ian]

99% of my poker hours are spent at cash games, but I think probably somewhere close to half of all poker players play tournaments almost exclusively. Relative to bankroll requirements, cash games play much larger than tournaments, so losing players can stretch their bankroll longer by playing in tournaments. Tournaments also generally have much softer fields, so there are some players who find they are -EV in cash games, but +EV in tournaments.

[stevenash]

I play Omaha hi/lo and holdem.
90 percent of my Omaha play is cash, conversely, 90 percent of my holdem play is tourney

[k13]

Ouch. That's a killer.

Yes and No. Its every 5 minutes.

The whole time in my head I'm going 9 9 9 9 9 9 9....its coming 9 9 9 9 9 9.

[Hotdiggity11]

Cash games are more profitable than tournaments for a variety of reasons:

1. More skill-based. Cash games tend to always be deep-stacked and thus gives you more room to get value off your hands rather than push-botting as you often have to in tournaments.

2. Many tournament players who hit one big score tend to dump a lot of it back in cash games where they are inexperienced.

3. Less variance. You can go a long time without a big score in tournaments. How often does the average person successfully navigate through thousands of people to hit a reasonable score? This is the reason so many tournament players are backed compared to cash game players.

[smitch124]

I play mostly 1 or 2 table sit and goes

[yisman]

I only do SBR's freerolls courtesy of Bodog.

I'm not risking my money on the randomness of online poker.

[k13]

Be tough to lose this one even online but I almost did.


*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ah Ac]

Zzoo0oozZ: raises 100 to 150
Hero: raises and is all-in
steIIstuI: raises and is all-in
Zzoo0oozZ: calls and is all-in

Zzoo0oozZ: shows [Qd Qh]
steIIstuI: shows [Qs Qc]

*** FLOP *** [2d 5d Kd]
*** TURN *** [2d 5d Kd] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [2d 5d Kd 9c] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***

[asianfootballs]

If you play tight. Tourney's and cash games can be profitable. You just need to set a limit of how much you are trying to win each session. Once you win that amount get up...don't stick around. I usually play both at the same time. I try and win 150% of what I bought in for and then get up and focus on the tourney. It helps with tourneys because usually by the time I stop the cash game most of the crazy players have busted out of the tourneys.

Rake back really helps if you are going to play cash games.

[k13]

You guys should try the new fifty50 at PS, its basically like the double or nothings with a small twist but for some reason its full of fish.

Lots of euro donks that think every PP is AA.

usually DON's play super tight but these are fairly loose.

[Reload]

You guys should try the new fifty50 at PS, its basically like the double or nothings with a small twist but for some reason its full of fish.

Lots of euro donks that think every PP is AA.

usually DON's play super tight but these are fairly loose.

I liked the Double or Nothings there for a while - will have to take a look

[mvp123]

even the big time tourny players would go broke just playing big tournys all the time , thats why sponsership and backing is key ...you must have a good team of backers and theres money in that , i remember when dault won the pca for 1.5 mill and he was backed by bax and sheets so they made almost as much as he did . , now he is backing ppl , its all relevant

[Ian]

You just need to set a limit of how much you are trying to win each session. Once you win that amount get up...don't stick around... I try and win 150% of what I bought in for and then get up and focus on the tourney.

Money management schemes won't do anything for you in the long run. If you're a longterm winning player the duration of your sessions won't have any affect on your expected value. I'd even go so far as to argue that a money management scheme like this one will cost a winning player money. This is because you're likely to stick around a long time to make your goal even if you're steaming, in a bad game, or not playing well. On the other side of the coin, if you leave the table when up you'll often be leaving when you're in a soft game and/or playing well.

[homerbush]

Only tourneys. Cash games to volatile for bankroll

[k13]

Yeah I love tournaments. Don't even ask how deep and far that was and how much money.


*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [8h 8d]
Hero: raises 200605 to 216605 and is all-in
SafRon12: calls 216605
SafRon12: shows [Kd Ac]
*** FLOP *** [Tc Qs Qd]
*** TURN *** [Tc Qs Qd] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [Tc Qs Qd Ts] [Jc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [8h 8d] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
SafRon12: shows [Kd Ac] (a straight, Ten to Ace)



Even though I was slightly ahead, I had zero chance to win this hand.

I hope all Russians fucken die in another chernobyl, **** you russian and fucken drown.

[brucethebear]

Ok, but why jam pf with snowmen??

I prefer tournaments, but play more cash games/ sng due to time constraints. Br management is critical to be able to ride out the inevitable variance.

Btb

[k13]

Ok, but why jam pf with snowmen??

I prefer tournaments, but play more cash games/ sng due to time constraints. Br management is critical to be able to ride out the inevitable variance.

Btb

Its a turbo tournament, only the top places pay really high even with 8000 people.

I think it was only around 10BB even though I was one of the bigger stacks.

Re-thinking it, I kind of regret it now but if you want to win a big one you have to do that or else you'll get blinded down fast.

88 is a big hand at this point, people are shoving 44-66 KJ-Ax all over the place.

But when I pressed the button, I was like ****, what am I doing.....

$5k in equity gone just like that.

[k13]

btw, I lost two hands the whole tourney, this one and 77 vs A4, Never was behind once.

28th out of 8000 +

I love the torture.

[Czu81]

I prefer tournaments over cashgame, find cashgame boring. But the varience could be sick, even proven winners experience losing months despite the volume...

[jayc88]

played the 100 000 dollar tourney at bodog yesterday and finished 22th.
wanted to finish in the top ten but i had some bad luck in the end and finally lost with 1010 vs ak

[scarface2738]

if your good at the game you play cash games.

[brucethebear]

Its a turbo tournament, only the top places pay really high even with 8000 people.

I think it was only around 10BB even though I was one of the bigger stacks.

Re-thinking it, I kind of regret it now but if you want to win a big one you have to do that or else you'll get blinded down fast.

88 is a big hand at this point, people are shoving 44-66 KJ-Ax all over the place.

But when I pressed the button, I was like ****, what am I doing.....

$5k in equity gone just like that.

Fair enough. In that spot, I like to play a small raise and see what the table does - but as you said, you gotta make a stand sometime otherwise you end up with Aces and only 3 BB and farkin everyone calls (and you lose to someone playing 63s....)

You were just unlucky to run into someone who also had a hand.

BtB

[lolguy999]

sometimes u just have to gamble with luck i guess... if u got 1.10$ left on a poker account, YES, gamble it off. Ur not gonna patiently grind it to 10$s and mathimatically, its kinda hard because u'd have to 10x ur bankroll without really suffering a big beat. So ya...

[james4512]

cash games are much more profitable. If you have great patience and have the ability to grind youll make much more than a tourny player. Tournys tend to be more expensive and not cashing a few in a row can put you in a hole and then you start playing with more pressure and dont play as well. Ive seen many fall making the transition.

[FuzzyDunlop]

Tournaments are insanely profitable depending on your selection. During college, I was playing just the $11.70 $215 DSs on Stars that guaranteed 2 seats and barely got 40 runners during the day and the Token (now Steps up to 4) SNGs on Full Tilt for $216 $T and was making $3200-$4000/wk.

[k13]

Tournaments are insanely profitable depending on your selection. During college, I was playing just the $11.70 $215 DSs on Stars that guaranteed 2 seats and barely got 40 runners during the day and the Token (now Steps up to 4) SNGs on Full Tilt for $216 $T and was making $3200-$4000/wk.

How long ago was that?

[FuzzyDunlop]

Was putting in about 60 hours a week between '06-'08, most profit was coming from Full Tilt. The formats they had for the tokens were so insanely soft. 4 player HU matches, 2 table SNGs that paid 6 spots etc. Once they switched to tickets, you can't cash them out outside of a $69+6 45 man SNG or wait for FTOPS qualifiers.