Rethinking Hold ‘em – Tournament vs. Cash Games

Occasionally someone on CT asks about the main difference between NL hold ‘em tournaments and cash games. Frequently the question is “why do I excel in SNGs and tournaments but suck at cash games?”

Pondering this question, a new approach to thinking about the game just occurred to me.

In hold ‘em, your hand strength is traditionally defined by your two starting hole cards. When someone is defined as a LAG, they play a lot of their two starting cards and see a lot of flops. When someone says “I have a really good hand,” they are talking about their two hole cards.

But, hold ‘em is a seven card game, not two. What if I define my “starting hand” as the first five cards? Three of the five are common cards, but they are still part of my hand. What if I decide to play a lot of starting hands, with the idea that my starting hand is my first five cards, and not just my first two cards?

My focus shifts to the flop. If I define my starting hand as the first five cards, then the notion of loose or tight does not even begin until I make my decision after I see the first three board cards. Seeing the flop is routine, and I make my first decision after I see my first five cards. I’m playing 5-card hold ‘em rather than 2-card hold ‘em.

What is the cost of this approach? Typically, no more than 3BBs or 4BBs. In a standard cash game in late position, I can usually see the flop for one standard raise.

What hands qualify to see my 5-card starting hand? Just about any playable 2-card starting hand -- all pairs, suited connectors, big cards and suited aces. I’ll tighten these requirements in early position, but proceed to the flop in late or middle position for a standard pre-flop raise. The pre-flop raise is merely the cost to see my 5-card starting hand.

Now, back to tournaments vs. cash games -- I think this 5-card mind-set explains the difference between cash games and tournaments (SNGs included). In a tournament, your stack size often precludes you from seeing lots of flops. Its just too expensive relative to the blinds. This is especially true in on-line short-stack tournaments like the weekly CT tournament. If I have 3500 at the 50/100 level in the weekly CT tournament, I’m in decent shape. But, the cost to see just three flops with a 3500 stack would be over 25% of my stack. That’s just too expensive relative to my stack size. So, in a typical on-line tournament, almost all of the critical decisions are made based on the first two cards alone.

In comparison, in a typical cash game, after about an hour of successful play I might have 130BBs, so seeing as many as five flops for a standard raise is just around 10% of my stack. Therein lies the major difference between cash games and tournaments. Now, once I’ve seen my 5-card starting hand, I’m going to evaluate the strength of my hand. This is where the most critical decisions are made in cash games. But, if I’m seeing more flops and spending more money up front, I have to be even more cautious to not over-play my 5-card starting hand. I think this is the difference between successful and unsuccessful NLHE players.

I believe this is why so many of the most very successful big-time tournament players focus first on the blind structure of any tournament. The blind structure throughout the whole tournament (not just the first few levels) is absolutely critical for them to have enough chips to pay to see lots of their 5-card starting hands. For tight players, this is not so important because they are making most of their decisions based on their first 2 cards. But for players like Negreanu, Goehring and other famous loose players, a shallow blind structure is the most critical element of the tournament.

This is nothing revolutionary – play deep-stack poker and see lots of flops. But, if my focus becomes routinely seeing flops and making the first major decision after I see 5 cards, I’ve adjusted for cash games. If I play the 2-card version of hold ‘em, its usually too tight for cash games.

The Bodog Challenge Update
Starting Bodog Bankroll: $31
Gain/Loss: $85
Current Bodog Bankroll: $117
SNGs played: 9
Cash Game Table-Hours: 1