Cash tables. Poker Cash Game Strategy

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Playing at cash tables is more popular than tournaments, as it is somewhat easier to master a successful strategy for this poker format. In addition, beginners can use ready-made strategies with recommended hand charts and regulations for their other aspects. Cash poker is a form of entertainment for some, and a way for others to make money. card games. Both types of players certainly appreciate the significant advantages of this game format, which we will discuss in this article.

Where to play at cash tables

All the poker sites recommended at the beginning of this review offer their users a wide range of tables for cash games. They provide a huge range of bets, disciplines, table varieties by number of seats and betting formats. This allows you to find a suitable place to play for a poker player of any profile - a fan of micro-limits, medium or high stakes. Users who prefer bets in rubles can play on them in Pokerdom. There are tables so affordable that a player even with a small bankroll can play comfortably, placing bets from 0.5/1 ruble per poker hold'em and 0.25/0.50 rubles in Omaha. The game for hryvnia is offered by PokerMatch. European rooms also allow deposits in rubles, but these are converted into dollars or euros. Their bets are also affordable and start from $0.01/0.02.

Benefits of playing for cash

A huge number of users choose to play cash poker because it has a number of advantages compared to tournament events. First of all, the following advantageous features should be noted, which are important to consider when choosing a poker format for making money or entertainment:

• Free schedule – a poker player can enter the game at any time and leave it at any time. This allows you to plan your gaming session more flexibly. If necessary, the player can interrupt it, for example, to have lunch, do urgent business, etc. Tournament players cannot afford this, since the rules do not allow you to exchange your stack for money at any time. If they urgently need to leave the game, the stack will be emptied by the blinds while they are away.
• Money immediately – having won in cash poker, a poker player can immediately take the winnings by leaving the table. In this case, the chips will be automatically credited to the gaming account. After this, he can return to his original place, taking with him as many chips as the strategy provides. In a tournament event, the participant must reach the prize zone in order to receive the winnings. For example, if he placed his stack at the very beginning of the event, he cannot exchange it for money.
• Available strategy – it’s easier for inexperienced players to learn how to play cash games profitably. They can use a lot of theoretical sources and ready-made strategies for training, where almost any action is prescribed for each scenario in the auction. Of course, they do not guarantee a profitable game, but they are an excellent start to mastering advanced strategy. Tournament strategy is more difficult to understand and master. There are no ready-made recommendations here that can significantly improve your results if you have not studied the full amount of theoretical materials. Experienced poker players with impressive practice behind them often win tournaments.
• Playing field – when registering in a multi-table tournament, it is difficult for a poker player to assess the difficulty playing field. Often it is not possible to choose an event where there are more weak opponents. In any tournament, even the cheapest one, you may find a seasoned pro at the table. Cash poker provides more options when choosing where to play. A poker player can select tables where there are more weak opponents, where there are no seasoned regulars or there are few of them.
• Wagering bonuses and rakeback – in multi-table tournament events it is more difficult to win back deposit bonuses and earn from rakeback. Only a part of tournaments are suitable for this – single-table SNGs. The cache provides the opposite possibilities. Even at inexpensive tables you can generate a lot of rake and quickly win back bonuses, for example, using multi-tabling or playing fast poker.

As you can see, cash poker has clear advantages that cannot be ignored. However, there is one drawback! Unlike tournament events, which are somewhat similar to sports competitions and therefore very exciting, there is no such dynamics at the cash tables and making money at them turns into hard work that requires diligence and patience. Making a profit at the cash tables is more like a regular job and has little to do with entertainment and sports excitement. However, playing them allows you to receive a more stable income than in tournaments.

Poker at cash tables is a great option for making money. If you manage to play for them in profit, do not rush to switch to tournaments, as they require a different approach in terms of strategy. Take full advantage of cash tables and constantly improve your strategy. Don’t forget that success largely depends not only on you, but also on the poker room. Do not trust your money to dubious institutions - register on recommended sites.

Let's face it, a lot of people play online poker to make money. And there is nothing wrong with that. I admit that I play this game primarily for those green pieces of paper. And ideally, there would be more of them!

A lot of people message me and leave comments asking me to tell them how to win, for example, $50 a day or $1000 a month. I always tell them that it's not that easy to do these days. That they will need discipline, hard work, a good strategy, a sufficient bankroll, table selection, tilt control, etc.

But deep down I understand that this is not what they would like to hear from me. They need clear and specific information on exactly what to do!

Well, as someone who has been making over $1,000 a month in low stakes for over a decade, I'll try to give a plan on how you can achieve the same. But I must warn you, it is not easy...

Okay, jokes aside, let's get down to specifics!

1. Play cash tables at low limits

99% of my poker experience is at the lowest limit cash tables. That is, tables where you can buy at least $2. And I still believe that it is the best place online, where you need to start showing profit.

I've made $1000+ a month many, many times even at the lowest limits. However, these days this will be extremely difficult to do. The fact is that the game has become significantly more difficult in the last 5-10 years, and accordingly, the win rates have fallen.

But don't get me wrong, anything in the world is possible if you want it bad enough. For example, I am ready to make a bet with anyone that I can make $1000 in a month on NL2.

However, then I would have to lock myself in a room for a whole month, give up my personal life, and play half a million hands.

This is quite doable for a crazy grinder like me who can play 20-30 tables at a time (well, provided that the betting rate is attractive enough!). But for most ordinary people this will be an unattainable goal.

2. Play at least NL10, preferably NL25.

So to make $1k a month, in reality you have to play at higher limits. I would say the closest limit at which this can be done for a person who plays regularly is NL10.

This means winning 100 buy-ins in one month. And this is nothing impossible for a top plus reg playing a good distance. And if you take into account rakeback, which at these limits becomes more or less noticeable, everything looks even more realistic.

But even in this situation, for most people it will remain unrealistic. NL10 today is no longer such a simple limit, and most people are not able to multi-table for several hours a day, as required.

I would say that for the average person the closest limit at which you can actually make $1000 a month is NL25.

The buy-in at this limit is $25, which means you need to win only 40 BI in a month to reach the coveted thousand. This means that you need to win a little more than one buy-in per day, which is also quite doable for a winning player.

Add here also rakeback of several hundred per month, and everything becomes quite realistic.

3. Play a tight-aggressive style

Let's talk about strategy now. How should you play your hands?

The best strategy for these limits is a TAG strategy. This is the style of play I recommend for making money at the low limit cash tables.

A TAG strategy means that you must be selective in your hand selection and play them primarily in position, as well as aggressively postflop.

And of course, if you plan to win big, you also need to use a HUD and know how to find and exploit your opponent's weaknesses.

Finally, and most importantly, you must be mentally strong enough to be able to put all of this into practice, especially during those periods when you are dealt crappy times and lose for days on end or even weeks at a time.

Long downswings are quite common in poker for any reg, so being able to remain calm is undoubtedly the most important factor in your success.

4. Look for tables with fish

Another important key to quickly building a $1000 bankroll at NL25 is table selection.

At micro-limits you don’t have to worry about this at all and play at almost any table. There will be more fish there than regs. But as you move up the limits, you definitely need to make sure you have at least one fish at the table with you.

This is a very important question if you want to have a really high win rate.

Most of the money in poker will come from bad players who play too many hands and like to stretch their draws too much. If you don't make an effort to try to be at the same table with them, you may not expect good win rates.

As soon as you find yourself at the same table with a fish, start isolating him as much as possible in order to take his money before other regs do.

You can call it "bumhunting" or any other bad word, but I personally call it winning poker.

Final Thoughts

So is it possible to earn $1000 a month playing online poker? Yes, but for this you must have a fairly strong playing strategy, be sure to practice table selection and play not at the lowest limits, but at least NL10-NL25.

In addition, achieving this goal will require constant and intense play. If, for example, you only play poker for a few hours a day on weekends, then the likelihood of you making your thousand will be close to zero.

If you can't play more often, you'll need much higher limits to make $1k a month. But there is a corresponding game!

A significant part of poker success depends on choosing the right tables. In poker, the most important thing is not to defeat a stronger opponent (although this is very useful in the initial phases of training), but just the opposite - strong opponents you need to avoid and look for tables with weak and inexperienced poker players.

After all, in cash poker the first place is not the excitement of sports, which is more typical of tournaments, but profit. It comes from playing with opponents who are worse players than you.

Composition of PokerStars players and selection of opponents for cash

The peculiarity of PokerStars is that in this room there can be very strong opponents even at the smallest limits. And at the same time, weak poker players can be found both at small limits and at medium ones. Unlike other gaming rooms, where the principle “the lower the limit, the easier it is to play” works, at PokerStars it is equally difficult to play at any limits, except for the “exorbitant” ones. They are extremely difficult to play.

Almost all players on the site take poker very seriously. Stars does not have a sports betting or a casino on its resource, so here you will not meet pathological gambling lovers (ludomaniacs) who accidentally “dropped in” to play poker, deciding to take a break between playing video slots. In general, there are almost no “random” people here. Most players truly love poker. Another thing is that not everyone manages to play “plus”.

How to choose tables to play on PokerStars

Choosing a table to play for cash is the key to a successful session!

Once again, to make playing in the PokerStars room more profitable for you, you must be extremely careful about your table selection. If you are a beginner, try to sit down and always play only tables full(that is, for 9 or 10 seats). If there are fewer than 7 participants at the table, then you must leave the table. After all, playing with fewer poker players is different from playing at long tables, and therefore the strategy should be used differently.

Many PokerStars newcomers only own basic strategy, so it is better to play at tables where most players are sitting with long stacks. Short stacks are usually played by weak poker players who are afraid to play with a significant amount of money. In addition, before entering the game, it is advisable to watch the play of future opponents.

Remember one golden rule of a profitable cash game - when you sit down at the table, you will need to post a big blind to start the game. You shouldn't spend this money, so refuse. Better wait for your turn BB.

How Daniel Negreanu selects tables

As you know, Daniel Negreanu is the “face” of PokerStars, the main star of this room and the leader of the Pro team. According to his contract, he is prohibited from playing in other online rooms except Stars. He divided the “science” of choosing tables at PokerStars into several sections:

— Direct table search: the average amount of pot and %% display of the flop provide the most valuable information;

— Knowledge of opponents: it is necessary to “spy” on poker players in order to maximize profits;

— When is the best time to play: you need to “grind” at the “effective” time of day and day of the week, then your profit will increase even more.

Search for a table “the Negrean way”

Don’t sit at the first table that comes your way; first, take a closer look at its status, located next to its name poker table in the PokerStars lobby.

The first element to look at is the average pot. It will tell us how much money is played in each pot on average at the table.

After comparing tables, you need to choose the one where the average pot is maximum, this should have a positive effect on your profit.

The second element is the %% view of the flop. In most situations, tables where this value is greatest contain more poker players who are not playing the strongest hands, in other words, loose. It is recommended to choose loose tables.

Knowing the opponents you're playing against

Everything is clear here: make notes on particularly distinguished players. Your goal is to find maniacs and passive tight poker players. Play with them, they have tips in strategy. On the contrary, avoid aggressive tight poker players - it’s better not to mess with them, they are most likely regulars.

Optimal time to grind

You will find the greatest number of “lucrative” games from the evening until late at night and on weekends. As a rule, recreational players work during the day, and go to PokerStars in the evenings and have a lot of fun. They call extremely loosely before the flop and on other streets. By the way, some of the players are drunk at this time.

(Since Negreanu, who is in another hemisphere, advises this, Russian poker players need to make allowances for this. The recommendation, regardless of where you are - in Kaliningrad or Kamchatka, is this: play at a time when PokerStars maximum players. As for the time for Moscow, the volume of players begins to increase in the evening and decrease from two in the morning. Therefore, try not to play during uncrowded hours – in the morning and afternoon. Negreanu is absolutely right about the weekend: these days hobby players “give away” their money. In addition, there are major Saturday and Sunday tournaments, which also attract casual players. Of course, you don't have to play at the recommended times every time, but it will make you more likely to win.)

PokerStars vs table selection

Today, all rooms are busy attracting new poker players and retaining recreational players who regularly make deposits (while regulars usually, on the contrary, withdraw money from rooms). IN PokerStars room understand what a formidable weapon the regulars have – the choice of “easy” (“fish”) tables, so its management decided to take certain steps to combat “unfair” table selection. “Table starters” have already been launched in the room, allowing users to simply select a specific type of game, table type and limit. The software will automatically find a place with the most players, and if this is not possible, it will add it to the waiting list.

At the beginning of 2013, rumors spread that independent selection of tables would soon be prohibited. However, a PokerStars representative reassured everyone by saying that “table starters” are a voluntary function, it only complements the opportunities to start the game.

Cash game is one of the most difficult poker disciplines. First of all, because the stacks of players in it are mostly 100 big blinds. This fact shifts most of the action to postflop, as opposed to where most chips are won preflop.

There are many things to know about cash games before you sit down at the tables. The first question is what stack you are going to play with at the tables. There are , which depend on the stack you choose:

• Short Stack Strategy (SSS)

This strategy involves the player taking 20 to 40 big blinds at the table. The concept of this strategy is entirely tied to mathematics due to the limited stacks of players. This type of cash strategy is similar to late-stage tournament play. Despite the essential component of this strategy, a beginner should pay attention to starting to master cash games with its help. You won't lose much if you stick to a short stack strategy, and this strategy will also give you less opportunity to make costly mistakes post-flop.

Important to clarify that many poker rooms (including PokerStars) no longer allow their players to sit at tables with a stack of 20 big blinds, but require 40bb or more to sit.

• Mid Stack Strategy (MSS)

This strategy is a more advanced version of SSS and requires a deeper understanding of postflop play. According to the rules of this strategy, the player takes with him to the table 40 big blinds or half of the maximum purchase at the table. This strategy began to gain popularity when largest poker room raised the minimum purchase size at cash tables. In essence, the concepts of this strategy are a symbiosis of playing with a short and a long stack.

• Big Stack Strategy (BSS)

This strategy is the most difficult in cash games. To play according to the rules of this strategy, you need to bring a stack of 100 big blinds with you to the table. Its essence is aimed at maximizing winnings by using stack depth and high level understanding the game postflop. In this strategy, your gaming mistakes will cost you incredibly dearly. To be stable in this discipline, you need to collect statistics on your opponents and a variety of them.

Besides the differences in stack sizes, there are a lot of strategic aspects to cash games that we'll talk about next.

Don't play against regulars

First of all, it should be mentioned that you should try not to interfere in the squabbles of professional players at the table. Look for profitable tables and play against amateurs who will often pay you for your strong hand.

There are still a lot of amateurs at micro-limits who are simply eager to give you their money. Complex tricks and bluffs sometimes get in the way of the main idea, which is to make a profit, build a bankroll and move up to higher limits.

Remember that the closer you are to the button, the wider the range you can play since you will be favorably positioned relative to early positions.

Bluff intelligently

This is perhaps the most exciting part of poker. But only in Hollywood films can you bluff at the table in absolutely any situation. IN real game any bluff must be meaningful and well thought out. When you bluff your opponent, you are essentially telling him a story. The goal of this story is for your opponent to fold his strongest hand and give you the pot.

A successful bluff must convince your opponent that you have a hand that can absolutely beat him, so you must evaluate how your actions look in his eyes. Is your story consistent and logical?

If you decide to bluff in a completely inappropriate situation, then chances are high that strong player realizes this and you will lose even more.

Know how to exit the game on time

Finally, let's talk about probably the most important factor that will determine your poker results. When to leave the game? If you have chosen cash games as your main discipline, you can do so at any time. There are several ways to determine time at the tables:

• Set yourself a time frame before starting the session (for example, be sure to play for two hours and then take a break);
• Number of hands played (for example, play at least 3,000 hands);
• When you feel tilt from a series of moves or fatigue;
• When you can no longer find profitable tables with amateurs at your limit.

Remember that sometimes the decision to leave the game on time is the most positive thing possible.