I am starting to play online again after going to a few live tourneys.

I like tourneys because theres a huge reward at the end (if you reach it that is). But they can go for hours before making any cash and if you bust before it, feels like wasted time.

I don't really play cash ever but want to consider it to see if I can grind cash games out.

If anyone would recommend cash games what limits for pretty much beginner? Not got a big bankroll either but I only like to play NL

Would like to hear peoples opinions on what they prefer and why too

Thanks

Cash games are incredibly hard to beat. No matter the stakes. And rake is so high thesedays.

You need to play great just to break even and everyones a nit too. SnGs are bot infested also.

Tourneys are the way to go i think.

Ah ok clears it up abit for me thanks. Maybe a big grind out session will soon pay off in a tourney

You get way better way faster playing cash though man. But with tourneys you can luck out for a big score. There is no justice in tournaments though.

See I do want to improve faster but don't want to just only break even when doing so, got to have some rewards for learning haha.

I might just grind out a cash and see if its for me but I've got a soft spot for tourneys as you can play so many hands without risking any money really just your buy in, unlike a cash game were you can loose a bankroll or a majority of it

It is going to depend on you. Each has advantages and disadvantages. You'll want to pick the one where the disadvantages don't bother you as much.

Tournament Advantages

1. Big scores: You place very high and you can make in a day what many cash players will make in a year.

2. Excitement: Lots of all ins, people fighting for the playing lives.

3. Simplicity: While there is a lot of skill involved, it is primarily knowing when to enter a pot and pushing.


Tournament Disadvantages

1. Variance: You can play great but lose days of work and your buy in with someone getting lucky. They can string along for weeks and months.

2. No escape: If you're seated next to someone who hasn't showered or brush their teeth for a week, you just can't get up and play at another table.

Cash advantages and disadvantages are a mirror image of tournaments.

Thanks for this, put very well.. I play online mostly now so no.2 doesn't apply. But I know what you mean, been a few times live tourneys you get people smelling :/

You can play side cash games whole grinding 5-6 mtts at side but I wouldn't recommend it. Stick to one that you feel you liked the most. Btw, variance from mtts will make u nausea if u grind 12 hours per day consecutively, non stop. Esp satellites

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What is your objective? Are you playing for fun and enjoyment, or playing for rent money?

Speaking primarily for live poker, tournaments are, in my opinion, more fun for the following reasons

1. Upside-this has been well covered
2. Limited downside-Except for some crazy rebuy torunaments, you usually can restrict your losses to one or two entry fees. For live poker, that means I can usually get anywhere from 4 to 8 hours of poker for a maximum risk of between $65 and $175
3. A sense of accomplishment-winning a tournament is a more concrete bragging point than a good day at cash
4. Forced action\someone has to win-With cash, if you have a table of similar skilled players, you could just push chips around, and bleed out due to the rake. With a tournament, because of the blinds, you have to play aggressive and make bigger moves, and ultimately, someone or someones have to win
5. More cameraderie-My experience has been that you form more enjoyable relationships with people after a couple of multi-hour battles at a tournament table.

Cash is better, though, if you are trying to make money
1. Less variance-no raising blinds to force the action
2. Table selection-you obviously cannot pick good tables in a tournament
3. Looser play-while tourmanet is more prone to big moves with polarized hands, cash, due to the ability to reload at any time, is more prone to looser play.


If you are trying to grind a living, cash is probably a better option. If you want something fun to play on the weekend or weeknights, and want to limit your risk, daily tournaments can be a fun.

I started of cash and was quite happy doing so. Lost more as I was learning though obviously but it was manageable. I couldn't understand long tourneys with cashes a bit few and far between but enough to make it worth it either.

I recently started playing multi tier tourneys from either free tickets or a few dollars buy in and must admit I'm pretty hooked on them at the moment. They can end up getting you in to quite prestigious tournaments if you do well. I also get the buzz just winning one and moving to the next stage. Yes I don't win money in most of them as they are just feeders but I'm playing a lot of poker for nothing and it's a great learning curve.

On the learning curve... there is so much to learn from them over time. The game play changes as you raise through the tiers which is interesting. Keeps you thinking about your opponents. The guys in the freeroll will obviously be playing differently to the $110 entry stage so keeps it interesting. Also the formats change. The first few levels might be top 50 or so go through for example but later on they may play to a certain level and you take your chipstack through. The mechanics of the game change again. The approach to the end game changes. The game will slow down as everyone tries to run the clock down for example.

I'm having a lot of fun, learning a lot and not spending anything with a couple of wins along the way. Had my biggest win of a couple of $K in the final after 6 tiers doing these and I certainly think I'm a better more flexible player for it.

Id say torunaments is the way to go, cash games are regs infested , rake is very high, and theres virtually no rakeback as well. For tournaments the most noticable con is that you can go through a bad streak, but as well you can bink a big win pretty fast. Either way id recommend to stick with one format until you somewhat get the grip of it and beat the game.

HMMMMMM.

Aren't there bots in MTT's as well though?

Cash games are good tho esp once you can beat micros and are @ small stakes+ or they tend to be good on certain sites.

@OP
In regards to live tournaments i'd rather drink bleach then endure that pain, unless the GT + structure is good as in really good.

That's prolly where having a big bankroll comes into play because who the hell want's to grind low stakes live tournies... just skip that **** grind online and jump right into mid-high stakes live tournies given the bankroll + experience

I was always the same way. Torn between cash and tourneys as I enjoyed both. Here is what I used to do online in the early boom years ('03-'05/'06):

Play cash games and grind it out until I reached a certain level of winnings (i.e. $10) over several sessions. At that point I'd take some or all of that $10 and buy into a couple of tournaments. My preference was mostly $1 to $5 SNGs and the occasional MTT.

The poker universe is far different now and that may or may not be possible for most players at this point in time. At the very least, making a plan or setting some conditions for yourself and sticking to it should give you a nice balance of cash/tourney play.