Here, we guide you through the basics of cash games, which include:
- Why play cash games?
- Six rules for the success of the cash game
Why play cash games?
If the tournaments are prestigious, then the cash games are where the real money is made. They also train you to play real poker, instead of moving around and expecting the best once the blinds are high enough.
FIVE REASONS FOR PLAYING CASH GAMES
The bread and butter of poker, an excellent way to practice.
- Play at any time with any number of players (well, up to 6)
- Play as little or as much as you want without start or end times
- With fast forward, you can accelerate through a poor hand in an instant
- Play on your terms. You choose how much to bring to the table.
- Start a game with only $ 0.60
Six rules for the success of the cash game
With cash games, playing is easy. The hard part is being good enough to start earning money. To help you, we've put together six golden rules to give you confidence and take your game to the next level.
1. START SLOWLY
In unlimited Hold'em, you can lose your entire stack in one hand, so keep the bets you can handle. One trick is to divide your bankroll (the amount of money you are prepared to spend in poker) by 20 to find out what you can risk per game. Then, divide this by 50 to get the maximum buy-in you should look for. For example, if you have $ 500 in your account, that's $ 25 per game, so $ 0.25 / $ 0.50 is the level for you. Do not buy less than 50 times the big blind, or play defensively with a short stack (not exactly an enriched learning experience).
2. ONLY (USUALLY) BET IF YOU HAVE THE GOODS
In cash poker games, big pots tend to mean big hands or big bluffs. Any intermediate element and a more experienced player could take you to the cleaners. So be careful with hands like A-K (they look good until you make a pair and someone else plays a set). And think twice before betting on low packed houses or on straight lines and reddening, that someone could easily beat.
If you are going to bluff, choose your opponent carefully and make sure you play really as if you had the hand you are representing.
3. PAY ATTENTION TO THE POSITION
Once the stack size is large, you should pay close attention to the hands you can play, depending on your position at the table. Discard your hands as A-J and A-10 if you are in an early position. Be careful in the blinds, since you will be out of position throughout the hand. In the middle and later positions, you can play a little looser, since you have more chances to see the other players and pick up the pot.
4. TAKE CONTROL
In cash games, your job is to press other players, steal blinds when you can and make people want to call you when you have a winning hand. The best way to do this is to get into the habit of raising the preflop and betting again on the flop (putting a total of about half the pot). At first, this seems a little counterintuitive, but in reality, most hands lose the flop and the player with the most momentum wins the day. The only exception is when you play in deep stacks and you may want to reduce them (to get more money in the pot) before making your move.
5. PLAY FIVE AND SIX SEATER GAMES
You can learn a lot by playing more intense and short games. Here, attitude and position are essential, and sensation has a very important role to play. There is no doubt that you will need a deeper bankroll for this type of game and competition can be difficult. But you will also learn a lot, and once you have the ability to win, you can earn more money here than in full ring games.
6. Do not be too hard on yourself
Finally, remember to keep your losses in perspective. You are on a learning curve where errors occur. As long as you play within your means, these are just lessons that will help you become a better player in the long term.