There is a saying in golf world called "Drive for show, putt for dough". For those non-golfers out there what it means is that everyone is very impressed by a long straight drive out of the tee box. It is the first shot of every round. But where the real money is made (in tournaments or skins) is putting on the green. Way more shots are taken near the green then off the tee box, and no matter how good you are at driving, if your putting skills suck, you will never be a good golf player. How does this relate to Poker? It relates in a huge way.

Tournaments For Show, Cash Games For Dough

Everyone loves to put up a big result in a tournament. It is extremely impressive when you outlast a 500+ player MTT field and do some damage at the final table. These are the memorable moments in a poker players life. Something worth blogging about. The real big paydays that you can write home about. This is where champions are crowned at the WSOP and on the WPT. This is where fame is earned. Sadly though, this is not where the "dough" is made.

Cash games are where the real money is made. My cash game supports my tournament habit. Other good players are in the same boat. You just can't win as much money per hour played in a tournament as in a cash game. Sure if you win a tournament, you just got a great return on your investment, but what about all the other tournaments that you did not cash in, or just barely made the money. What about all of the time you spent in all those tournaments to get your one big cash?

Tournaments are a lot of fun, and are more exciting then cash games, but they just don't pay the same. Ok, if you are a world class poker player, and can play well in 5-10k buy-in tournaments, you may have an argument here. You may not be able to find enough high stakes cash games to play in to equal what you can make on the big tourney circuit. I am not one of those players yet. If you are a middle limits online player, work on your cash game. Dial it in. You will make more money per hour in the long run. Plus you will get points towards bonuses. I am not talking about Sit & Go's. If you have your game dialed in to do well in S&Gs there is some serious money to be made there, and possibly more than your cash game will make. S&Gs are short, and pay a higher percentage of players, and have a more flat payout schedule which makes this possible.

If you are an MTT specialist, do yourself a favor and log your tournaments. Keep track of buy-ins and time for each tournament, and do a $/hr rate calculation. You could probably make more slinging burgers at Mcdonalds. If people put as much effort into their cash games as they spent on MTTs, most would see much higher returns. Don’t just drive for show.

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