In tournaments, the increasing blind levels necessitate the need for aggressiveness after a couple of hours, the blind levels can more than halve your effective stack size, whereas cash games don’t have this problem. There are also no antes in a cash game, so you’re punished less for folding a lot of hands. Consistent Blind LevelsĬontrary to tournament poker, the blind levels never increase in a cash game – unless the whole table agrees to increase the stakes. Players will talk themselves into staying because “the game is so good I can’t afford to take a break.” Just remember that there will always be another game, and playing in a good game when you’ve lost focus won’t be as profitable as playing in an average game while fully focused. It’s incredibly hard to play long sessions without losing focus and discipline, so whenever you feel your level start to dip, stand up and take a break. People will choose to play for hours and hours at a time without taking any breaks. For example, in tournaments you can be locked into playing for 8 hours+, whereas cash games allow you to pick up and leave after 10 minutes if you want! This makes it a lot easier to play your A-game because as soon as you feel your focus start to slip, you can get up, take a break, reset, and sit back down when you’re ready to play again.ĭespite this flexibility, not enough people take advantage of it. There’s no minimum or maximum playing time, so you can play sessions that are as long or as short as you like.

One of the great things about playing cash games is that you’re free to come and go as you please.

It’s much easier to remain analytical if you’re thinking of what to do against a 150bb bet instead of a $750 bet. The best way to adjust to this is to think of the hand in terms of chips – or even better, big blinds. It’s not like a tournament where you pay a set amount at the start, and that’s all you risk you’re risking your money with every decision you make in a cash game.įor some people, this is hard to adjust to, and when pots get big, it’s easy to get overawed by the money and not think about the hand. Every bet and call you make has a real-world impact on your wallet. Real CashĬash game chips represent real money.

There are several differences between cash games and tournament poker, all of which will impact how you approach the game.

Online poker cash game