When you venture into the world of poker, you face the choice of sitting down to cash games or entering tournaments. One style of poker gaming might suit you more than another, but to decide which you must understand the differences between the two types. Poker tournaments, for instance, last a fixed amount of time, each participant starts with the same number of chips and the blinds increase at regular intervals. It’s a knockout tournament, and the goal is to win everyone else’s chips.
Cash games, meanwhile, have no knockout stages. You can play as many games as you want or as few, and the blinds never increase. You can reload with chips as many times as you want. The object of the game is to finish with more chips than you started with. Below is a look at the types of poker you might play depending on the company you’re in and the type of player you are, and also at the benefits of cash games and of poker tournaments.
What types of poker might you play?
One of the neat things about poker is the wide number of variations of the game there is. If you’re playing with friends, you might play poker online with them. If you’re playing at home, if not traditional poker or even Texas Hold’em, you might play some of the wackier variants such as Cincinnati poker, Crazy Pineapple or Seven Card No Peek with them.
If you were to enter a casino, either online or a traditional casino, things get more serious, and you’re likely to be playing not just against your friends but also strangers. In traditional casinos, the chances are you’ll be playing Texas Hold’em, one of the most common, most popular variations of poker in casinos. Unlike in sports, you don’t know the other players or how good they are. There’s also a certain level of etiquette to observe.
Professional players play a variety of games, but many prefer cash games because it suits their lifestyles better. Many also spend a lot of time playing online, either in cash games or in tournaments, or both. This helps them to keep their skills sharp and the money coming in when they’re not taking part in face-to-face games or tournaments.
The perks of playing in a poker tournament
Playing in poker tournaments affords you with several perks that you don’t enjoy when playing in cash games. Although somewhat more time consuming, poker tournaments provide you with an immense way to learn if you’re a beginner, and the fact that everyone starts with the same sized stack of chips places all the players on a level playing field. High rollers gain no advantage.
One of the next benefits is that you can gain a large return on a relatively small investment. However, the fixed time of tournaments means that blinds and antes keep increasing, which limits play if the other players are getting the better of you and have eaten into your stack.
Note that when you’re playing in a poker tournament, you’ll come up against players of all skill levels. Everyone is playing for a cash prize at the end of the tournament. The larger the tournament, the bigger the prize. Generally, players are likely to take tournaments more seriously. You’re also likely to come up against a player who is better than you. They may even be professional players.
The perks of playing cash games
Cash games have their perks, too, of course. For one thing, they give you more flexibility. When you hit your budget limits, reach the point you’ve decided beforehand that you’d leave the table or are just feeling a bit tired, you can exit the table. You can set your own schedule, too, and just join when the session starts.
Income is a big deal if you’re playing poker professionally. Cash games provide you with something closer to a stable income. You can earn more consistently than by playing in tournaments. Cash games also offer more potential of higher earnings. There are a lot of high stakes games out there online, in casinos and in the private poker rooms of casinos.
Cash games give you more opportunities to leverage your poker skills as well. This is because of the deeper stacks and the consistent blind sizes. There are fewer all-in moments. The outcome of the game is down to the cards. You can also manage your bankroll easier in a cash game.
Depending on your aims as a player and the reasons you wish to play poker, you may prefer tournaments instead of cash games or vice versa. Whichever you choose, practice is key. The more you play and study the game, the more chance you give yourself of walking away from the tables financially better off.
