Texas Holdem Poker

Texas Holdem Poker is a great game and has been popularized on television by showing a lot of great tournaments. Times have changed these days you can turn on the television and find great cash games to watch. The game is the same, but the way you play it will change. When playing poker tournaments you can get a lot of praise and acknowledgment for your accomplishments. You play cash games for a different reason, to make money and to make money only. There are subtle differences between the style of play and both have there advantages and disadvantages.

Tournaments

When playing poker tournaments you buy in for a specific amount of money and get a specific amount of chips to play with. The amount of chips doesn’t necessarily correspond with amount of money you bought in for, for example you can play a $5 tournament and get $1500 worth of chips. The main goal of a tournament is to move yourself up the pay scale and make as much money as possible. Winning isn’t everything you can make money for finishing near the top of the leader board.

The Check Down

When playing in poker tournaments sometimes you need to team up with other players to eliminate a competitor. A check down is when a player is all in and gets multiple calls, the players who called would check to the showdown to increase the chances of eliminating the all in player. The reason you should do this is to move yourself up the pay scale, eliminating players increase your chances of winning.

Bad Example

player #1 moves all in and gets called by player #2 (A – K)  and player #3 (9 -9), when the flop comes 9 – 10 – 2 player #3 bets and forces player #2 to fold. When the cards are flipped up the all in player has 8 -7 and the turn comes Q and the river comes J meaning the all in player makes a straight and stays alive. If player #3 had checked down, the player who folded would have made a bigger straight and eliminated the player.

Eliminate players when you have the chance in Poker tournaments, the less players in the event the better chances of you having a good pay day. You never know if that player you allowed to stay alive by not checking down, will hit a card rush and eliminate you later on. Stack size is also very important when playing in a tournament, each players needs to control there chips because that is all they get. You need to manage your risk, and make sure your playing in pots you have no business playing in. Tournament players need to pay close attention to pot sizes and bet amounts. You need to stay ahead of the blinds when playing in tournaments, they will increase consistently throughout the event. If the blinds are high and you are getting low on chips you may have to go all in with a weaker hand.

Cash Games
When playing cash games you buy in for an amount of money and that is the amount of money you will play with. You can always top up your money and insure you have the most money possible for when you pick up a monster. Blinds don’t increase in a cash game, for example if you play $1/$2 holdem, the blinds will remain there for the whole game. A check is not necessary in a cash game, the only thing you have to worry about is making the most money possible for yourself. It doesn’t matter what other players are doing, your goal is not to eliminate other players it is maximize your winnings.

The Straddle Bet

A straddle bet in a cash game in essentially buying the big blind. To player under the gun (left of BB) will have the chance every hand to increase the stakes to play. For example playing $1/$2, the player under the gun can put in $4 before they receive there cards to buy the big blind and act last pre flop. When this happens the stakes are increased for that hand and you will have to put in the straddle amount to call. Its important to know that you can also double straddle, the person next of the straddle can re-straddle and so on. The reason to straddle is to create action in the game, there will be more people in the pot and the standard raises will increase.

Hand strengths change when playing for cash, basically you want to make monster hands and get paid for them. Suited connectors are good hands, you can disguise your hand strength and hopefully stack your opponents (make them go broke). If you go broke in a cash game, you can simply go into your pocket and take out money to continue playing. You can play for as long or as short as you wish, there is no schedule or specific rules. You will also find the in game rules to be a little loser during side games, you may be able to show a card to your opponent or leave and return any time you wish without having to post blinds.

Tournaments and cash games are different, but they are both Texas Holdem. You won’t get a lot of glory for playing in side action games. You will not win a bracelet, people won’t clap for you and you probably won’t end up on television. You play for yourself, you can get personal satisfaction for good plays and winning sessions. The nice thing about tournament is you know how much you will lose when you start, you play a $10 tournament you know at worst you will lose $10. When sitting at cash table there are more questions about money, if you have a bad session you could lose a lot of money. My suggestion is play holdem for cash and in tournaments, you can be successful at both.

Poker Tournaments or Cash Games, Titan Poker offers plenty of holdem tournaments or cash games.