Texas Holdem

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By far the most popular poker game, Texas Hold’em is the most subtle, intricate and intriguing game. Cash games differ from tournaments in just a couple of respects. Unlike tournaments, the blinds never increase, and antes are usually not allowed. In  most cash games you can buy-in for a maximum of 100 big blinds, and unlike tournaments,  you can re-buy whenever you want, when your chip stack is getting low. Otherwise the rules governing the Texas Hold’em cash games and tournaments are pretty much the same. These small differences are however enough to make the game play very different, so that many tournament specialists flounder around when trying to play cash games.

Despite the big prizes and glamour of tournament play, the cash games are more difficult to master, but once you know them, they are more rewarding. Everyone’s start is pretty much the same: you started playing online sit’n’go’s, then multi-table tournaments and finally tried a few live tournaments. Recently you started playing cash games but it’s been going slow: cash games appear to be more difficult than you expected and the game seems quiet comparing to tournament play. The game seems more or less teh same on the surface: you’ve noticed players checking hands that at showdown seemed pretty strong to bet and when you went all-in you noticed that your opponent hands are stronger than you expected.

The transition from tournament to cash game is difficult for most of the no-limit Texas Hold’ em players. A hand like top pair – top kicker, which is an excellent hand in most tournaments, is a relatively weak hand in a deep stack cash game when all the money goes in.

In deep-stake games, as long as your opponent also has a lot of chips, the goal is not to commit all your chips to the pot until you have a hand that is big enough for the situation.

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