I've been playing cash games for years and now I think it is time for a change. I would like to switch to tournaments.

I used to play 6-8 short handed tables at the same time.

Only playing one tournament is way too slow for me. I would like to play several tables at the same time but I don't know which format to start with (turbos or normal, Sng or tournaments).

Also during my cash games I was using a 100 buy ins rule. What would be the equivalent for tournaments ?

I would definately go for standard speed tournaments, as a cash player you want to start with the slowest blind levels, as best to match cash as possible to start out with, jumping into turbos and such might throw your range off way to fast coming from cash. At least with standard speed you can adjust at a slower more comfortable rate.

Hi there!

I also had such a dilemma and I started from SnG tournaments which have good action.
You can play several SnG tournaments at the same time.
But I don't recommend to play turbo's cause they are not a poker but a lottery IMO.

Good stuff here already ... Why can't you play in 1 tournament and have 3-4 cash games going at the same time?

1) I agree that picking deep, long structured, tournaments is better for a cash player.
1A) But I also did 'lots' of SnG also ... staggering the starts so I wasn't necessarily HU on 3 tables at the same time! SnG will get you prepared for the later stages of tournaments when 'everyone' is under 40BB and push/fold/position become the norm.

2) I think you should be very comfortable the first 6-8 levels of a tournament as a cash player. I think it's somewhat easier for a cash to go tournament than vice versa. Your toughest adjustment will be mentally handling 'not' getting as much value from a lot of spots where a cash player might GII. Tournament players love to get to showdown with lots of c/c on Turns .. pot control. Fold equity and polarizing bets are far and few between in the early levels of a deep tournament IMO.

3) BR management may be a little different since you could be paying different entry fees depending on the type of tournament you are entering. You 'obviously' need to cash more often in SnG than MTT. Just make sure you are looking at the ROI for each type of game you are playing. GL

From my personal experience I would say that Sng are a must because you need to practice ICM and in SNGs you reach bubbles and FTs almost all the time. Then you also die at bubbles a lot then get used to and don't die of tilt when it happens in a 7-8hs Mtt.

Also, due to shorter fields, you get less variance and profit more frecuently, avoiding the fear of long Mtts downsings. I would play both, like 75/25%.

The main thing you have to know is that the variance in tournaments is huge. That doesn't mean you can't make money, but it does mean that income could fluctuate wildly.

I discussed this with someone in these forums a few years ago. He said two interesting things:

1. When he switched from cash to tournaments his income for the next year as 3X larger.
2. More than half of what he made that year came from just two cashes.

Another way to put that is that if just one hand in one tournament had been different, his income might have been dramatically lower.

There is a saying that goes something like this: In poker, most of the money is at the final table. At the final table, most of the money is in the top 3 places.

Jonathan Little analyzed some WPT information and came up with this (paraphrased, not a quote):

1. The players with the most net profit (not total cashes) were in a cluster that cashed between 8 and 16 percent of the time.

2. If you don't cash at least 8% of the time, you aren't cashing enough to make a profit.

3. If you cash more than 16% of the time, you're not taking enough risks to get the few big cashes, and you won't make a profit.

The moral of this story is, You better be ready to jump on that variance train and hang on during all of the highs and lows.