congrats on your first tourney but make sure you have enough experience at Sng's because that is the root of poker at least in my mind. A nice way of steady income and if you already have sng experience congrats and good luck in MTT. Congrats again on how you did.

Meh....


I say cash games but to each thier own I guess... I personally believe tourneys take most of the skill out of poker. I am not saying it takes no skill to win tourneys but I am saying that tourneys bring the luck factor up about 100%. If there was a poker game between the tourenament player and the seasoned cash game player, I would pick the cash game player anyday.

I would have to strongly agree with PoWda. Tournaments are good for poker and they are the best way for avg players to make huge scores but I believe that Cash Games are the true measure of success.

Let's pick on Phil Helmuth for example. He has won 11 WSOP titles which I believe is a tie for the most ever with Doyle.

Of all the mony Phil Hellmuth has won, how much you think he still has?? Now ask the same question about Doyle??

There are a lot of tournament players that are basically pretty fishy in Cash Games.

Another good example is Gus Hansen which was discussed pretty thoroughly in this thread:

Gus Hansen - Poker Pro or Lucky Maniac?

Jason

__________________
I'm Not Lucky, I Have Good Karma !

Thank you for these thoughts, I follow the logic of both arguments. Am playing a mix of 0.25/0.50 cash games and $10+1 SnG's, have won and lost at both but the mix seems to make sense.

Yeah there is nothing wrong with playing tourneys, I just like cash games better. I do play both though.

I am very intersted in this cash vs tournaments debate, but please take my perspective as a poker newbie. I am also trying to place it into the context of where poker should fit in one's life and what we want to get out of it.

To put this into context, I make about $3k a day working 10 days a month as a freelance consultant, so gains or losses at the baby levels I play at have no effect on my real life, but I take them seriously because I want to be a player and not a fish.

Last week I decided that my learning - doesn't matter if I lose - period was over and since then have done 12 SnG tourneys, with 2 1st, 2 2nd and 2 3rd. Have also a tiny profit on cash games since then but...ring games feel like a grind, you can only make money by folding, folding till the group 1 hole cards come.

The point is, having a clear undersstanding of why we play poker and for me, despite all its reliance on luck, I think the buzz of tourney play beats the grind of cash play.

Well we all have our reasons for playing! There is nothing wrong with playing tourneys. I do play tourneys, but I prefer the cash games as I fee like I am in control. In a tourney you buy-in and hope you get lucky, it really is that simple. Sure the big payouts are a major consideration, but when you end up in these tourneys with thousands of players your odds become about as good as pulling a slot machine.

I am a cash game player, always have been, but I will play tourneys if I have the time for the same reasons as the rest; the chance to invest a little and win a lot, I just know that the ring game is really where I want to be.

__________________
"You will succeed far more by capitalizing on your opponents mistakes than you will by the greatness of your own play." --- I am not sure who said this but it is a great quote and piece of advice.


Colorado Players Click Here

That's a good attitude to have. The money might not mean as much to some at the micro stakes, but money is how we keep score! When I was starting out in SNGs at the $2 and $5 level, I would get so frustrated at getting donked around that I decided the games were unbeatable at that level and moved up to playing $5 and $10 games that were above my skill level and bankroll. I decided to prove to myself that the donkey SNGs were beatable and played nothing but play money SNGs for a month. I figured out how to effectively play against donkey tactics, tripled my play money "bankroll" and then started back at the $2 tables and enjoyed about a 60% ITM rate. Have been building and advancing since.

SjClar00 said, "I figured out how to effectively play against donkey tactics"

Can you post your top 3 lessons learned at the play $$$ donk levels which allowed you to effectively move into the money?

Any breadcrumb will do...Thanks!

__________________
ertrauma


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
As my father always said, "Son, choose your sword wisely for some day you may find you must fall on it".

Yeah, give me a day or two and I will post something hopefully coherent.