The difference between cash games and poker tournaments is that in tournaments, the winner takes all and the losers don’t lose anything more than their buy-in. In cash games, players win and lose real money all the time. What’s more, cash games tend to be deep-stacked, which calls for a different kind of strategy. Short stacks mean that tournament players often only have to make decisions before and on the flop, while cash players have to make decisions all the way to the river. As a result, cash players have to go for value and push the margins all the time. This makes for exceptionally challenging play!
1. Playing scared
One of the most common mistakes cash players make is to let fear influence their play. Fear of what? Fear of getting stacked and losing all their money, that’s what! It’s only natural, but it can have serious negative consequences, too. If you play scared, you aren’t going to be at the top of your game. In the long term, this will impact your profits. The fact of the matter is that you need to accept that your decisions will sometimes make you money and other times will lose you money. Poker is all about pushing the margins over long stretches of time. To maximize value in the long term, you have to make peace with frequent losses in the short term. Avoid making strategically poor decisions just because you’re scared to lose money. These decisions will backfire and you’ll simply be exploited. Rather focus on playing the best you can at all times.
2. Playing too sloppy pre-flop
Beginner cash players are notorious for acting too passive, calling too much and generally playing too loose pre-flop. This is a mistake. Most times, unless you’re in the big blind position or on the button, the best strategy when facing a raise is not to call but to either fold or 3-bet. That’s because you don’t have great pot odds to call, especially against large raises. What’s more, multiple players behind you can put the squeeze on and 3-bet you out of the pot. So go big or go home! Play decisively and don’t throw money away with sloppy play.
3. Bloating the pot with medium hands
A common error in cash games is the tendency to throw money into the pot while holding medium-strength hands. An example would be a jack of diamonds and ten of diamonds on a jack of spades, eight of spades and six of spades. It’s a solid hand to start off with but loses in strength the more bets and raises go into the pot. It’s better to play medium-strength hands as bluff catchers, that is, hands that aren’t good for value betting but win by calling players’ bluffs. It’s usually best to check at least one street with a medium-strength hand. If your opponent shows weakness by checking back or checking to you twice, your hand’s value increases and you can start betting to extract value.