With the recent launch of the World Series Of Poker Academy’s Cash Game Edition, and all the buzz that has created, I am often being asked what are the differences between playing a No-Limit Hold’em tournament and a No-Limit Hold’em cash game. Here, I will briefly discuss the fundamental differences and how one might want to adjust their play accordingly.

Blinds. The blinds (and antes if applicable) go up during the course of a tournament, so that it doesn’t last forever. In cash games, the blinds and antes never go up. Thus, in a tournament you may be forced to play certain hands, because otherwise, the blinds and antes will eat up your stack. In cash games, that kind of pressure doesn’t exist. Accordingly, you never need to “make a move” in cash games. You can sit there and wait for premium opportunities without suffering much stack deterioration. The phrase “tight is right” is very applicable to cash game strategy for the most part.

Stack Sizes. Most tournaments mandate that each player start with the same amount in chips, and with the exception of rebuy tournaments, you can not add to your stack during the course of the tournament. In most cash games, you can determine how much you buy in for, and whether and how much to add to your stack as you play. Also, and quite importantly, most cash games play with much deeper stacks than tournaments. Deep stack play is very different than short stack play. Typically, you’ll find in deep stack play, the majority of the chips go in on the turn and river as opposed to pre-flop and on the flop. Thus, in order to master cash games you will have to learn the intricacies of playing deeper into hands where there is more information available to you and your opponents, specifically, the board will be more complete.

Correct Pot odds. In a tournament, you may find yourself in a situation where you are getting the correct pot odds to make a call, but you must also consider and factor in, how such a move may impact whether you are eliminated from the tournament, in other words, your tournament life has to be factored in. Thus, you may be getting the right price to call with your flush draw, but you might still have to fold because if you don’t complete your flush, you will be eliminated. This should never be the case in a cash game. As long as you are playing within your bankroll, you should take any edge being offered to you, every time! Even very small edges add up big over the course of your entire cash game poker career. Remember though, the key here is to play within your bankroll so that you don’t risk going broke.

Chip Values. In cash games the chips are like cash. In tournaments, the value of chips depends on the stage of the tournament and the payout structure. If you triple your stack in a tournament during the first hour you can’t cash out for triple your buy-in. In fact, you can’t cash out at all, until you are in the money.

Time. You can play as little or as long as you like in a cash game, that is not true in a tournament. The tournament structure will dictate how much time you’ll have to put in each day, if you are lucky enough to survive.

Coin Flips. In tournaments, especially in the later stages, you are likely to be involved in some coin flips wherein you and your opponent are all-in, pre-flop with no real edge for either side. Coin flips are quite rare in cash games because of the deeper stacks.

These are just a few of the basic differences between No-Limit Hold’em tournament and cash game play. There are more. The WSOP Academy (wsopacademy.com) now offers a Cash Game Edition that does an excellent job of flushing out the differences between tournament and cash play in detail, over the course of two days. Both types of No-Limit Hold’em are extremely fun and can be quite profitable. But, you have to adjust your decision-making to fit the game you are playing.

Now go kick some aces!

– Mark A. Seif