Chris Rhodes is the Limit Hold 'em pro instructor for PokerSavvy Plus, our new poker training site. Join today or take a 7 day free trial to watch Chris's coaching videos and interact with him in our pro-moderated forum.

Pick a game, any game.

Players coming into the poker world today have many different choices regarding where to focus their efforts. The thrill of the big score and the hordes of television coverage have drawn many players to tournaments even though focusing on tournaments may be detrimental to their development. The extremely high variance and rake/tax structures can make tournaments a tough way to build a bankroll in the early stages. Tournaments can also create bad habits (or at least a skewed perspective) when it comes to poker strategy. Many tournament players think that all it takes to win is to avoid bad beats and win coinflips. With all that being said, tournaments can be profitable and exciting for elite players and can lead to more opportunities outside the poker table such as celebrity status and sponsorships. I do not particularly enjoy tournaments but will sometimes use them to break up the cash game monotony as well as take a shot at a big score that can not happen as quickly in a cash game.

Cash games provide some benefits that tournaments do not feature. As a cash game player I have the ability to play whenever I choose and stop whenever I choose. This is important since I do not have to schedule life around tournament schedules or cancel plans if I happen to go deep and get stuck behind the computer or in the cardroom for long hours. It also gives me the ability to keep playing when I am playing well and take a break if I feel that I am playing poorly. Playing as many effective hours as possible while minimizing the unprofitable hours is crucial to success.

Cash games also have a more direct relationship between solid play and rewards. Playing well in a tournament may or may not lead to financial success in that particular tournament, but after playing well in a cash game for a day, a player is fairly likely to show a profit. Tourney players rely on the big scores to pay for a lot of tournaments where they finish out of the money, and sometimes there can be long dry spells between the scores. Cash game players may run bad for a while, but it does not take as long for the money to line up with the quality of play. Cash games also open themselves to more skills outside the cards to help a player become profitable. As a cash game player I have the opportunity to choose the stakes that I want to play as well as the table I want to play. In a tourney you can not look at the lineup at your table and choose to move, in a cash game this ability is one of my best weapons.

The final benefit I would like to mention is the availability of games. Once you reach medium to high stakes there are a lot more options for the cash game player to get action at any level. Once tournament players reach the high stakes at their field they are forced to play the few large online tournaments each week or travel the circuit. Cash game players can play large games at many online sites at any hour or choose to play in a live setting in many cities.

Now that we have chosen to play cash games, the major choice today is limit or no-limit (with a few players choosing other poker variants). I obviously chose to play limit holdem, but if I was starting my career today I think I may have chosen no-limit. In my admittedly biased opinion, I believe that limit is the more enjoyable game, but more casual players are being drawn to no-limit, and if I started to play today I would most likely follow them.

Contrary to popular belief, limit is much more of an action game than no-limit. Most hands in limit reach the big streets (if not showdown), where many no-limit hands end preflop or on the flop. Due to the limited size of the bets in comparison to the pot, limit is much more of a drawing game which leads to more big multiway pots. Players are also punished a lot less for their mistakes so they are much more willing to get out of line. In no-limit it seems that even the fish play much more cautiously. While limit is an extremely challenging game (especially when played at higher levels), the one downside is that many of the decisions made by solid players can be a bit more routine since they simply have limited options (raise, call, or fold). This makes a much smaller range of winning styles that can be played in limit compared to the wide range in no-limit.

Today more than ever, poker players have choices. The best advice I can give you is to focus on the games that you enjoy, and the ones that best fit your skillset. You will find your niche.

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