One thing that always puzzles me about poker is how it seems that certain people in the game can dominate live cash games and/or online ring games but they can’t find their way off the first couple of tables in a big tournament.  The reverse can be true as well where great tournament players will get taken for all they’re worth in a good cash game.

The reason this puzzles me is because the Texas Hold’em rules don’t change just because there is a tournament or a cash game.  It’s still two hole cards to each player and a board of five cards.  But perhaps the only thing that truly changes is the way that successful players play in each situation.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the majority of of successful cash game players follow the tight/aggressive model that hauls in a decent amount of money.  Obviously some people are better at using the tight/aggressive style than others and thus they bring in more cash while they’re playing.

On the flip side, it often seems that aggressive players who are willing to go all-in at any given point (provided they have at least something in their hand) are the ones who double their stacks in tourneys and find themselves competing for spots at the final tables of a lot of tourneys they enter. 

These same players who compete in cash games will, in many cases, find their loose and reckless style to be detrimental to a bankroll.  At some tables, their loose play may scare super tight players away from pots but they’ll most likely be called with their all-in A-5 bets by someone at sometime.

Oftentimes in a tournament though, this all-in A-5 bet will turn out to be a winner because the tight players don’t want to risk their entire (or a large portion) of their stack by calling this bet.  And it is these tight players (who may excel at cash games) that are rarely ever found at the top of a tournament leaderboard.  They merely try to hang on and, in the process, never try to build their stack till it’s too late.

In my opinion, cash game players looking to play more tournaments and tourney players looking to get in on more cash games can learn something from one another.  It’s best to switch one’s style up when changing games.

Amazingly enough, there are quite a few people out there that will play a winning session of poker and not quite comprehend why they’ve done so well.  Some of it could be chalked up to the fact that they’ve improved their skills since the last time they played.  Some of it could be that they’ve just become a great player over night. 

But the most likely explanation though for someone who has good sessions here and there and doesn’t realize why is that they are finding fish to play with.  No matter how much one wants to harp on how great their skills are, a lot of players know that in the end the major money will come from the players who can’t play poker.  Not from amazing duels between two exceptional players.

Just knowing that profitable games come from playing with a lot of really bad players doesn’t help one out though if they don’t know how to find them.  The truth is that fish will be found at every poker room and at every table.  But it’s the quantity of fish that really makes the difference. 

One thing that I do when I go fishing is to examine the player’s money counts as soon as I get in the room.  For example, if I jump in a six-max Pot Limit game and see that three out of the five players that were there before I entered have way over the maximum amount of money you’re allowed to enter with, I know that they’ve been doing something right.  And that something has probably been taking money from bad players.

If this is the case, I usually try and get out of the room if there are plenty of these types in there and go find another room.  In addition to doing this, I also try and play at the peek hours when players who don’t play poker for a living are on.  I find that when it’s late at night or early in the day, the grinders will be playing  to make their living. 

It’s definitely good to avoid these types and stick to the easier players.

There’s so much advice out there about how to become a better poker player that it’s overwhelming.  You could spend a lifetime sifting through all of it before ever touching a card if you chose to.  That’s why I think that it’s best to simplify things when possible. 

Me personally, I try to only focus on a few aspects of poker to make myself a better player.  The first one I try to do is to pick the games where I think the most fish will be playing in.  I mean so many people think they’re way better than they are and think they are too good to play at certain limits or with some players.  Most of the money I’ve won is because the players I’ve been playing with weren’t that great.

Another thing I strive to achieve is to keep my ego in check while playing.  If someone gives me a bad beat I know that if they continue to play like that they’re going to lose money in the long run anyways.  It’s not worth sitting there and whining about it through the chat box like you’re going to get the hand back by crying excessively. 

I definitely always try to get better at reading my opponents.  It just makes the game so much easier when you can create a profile of an opponent and then use that to your advantage later on when you’re going later into a hand with that player.

The last thing that I constantly try to keep in mind is my odds and probabilities.  Knowing my opponents and keeping a level head will definitely help but I know it’s impossible to be a long-term winner if I don’t know the percentages of how often I will win with pocket kings or my chances of making a flush with two suited cards in my hand.

The better and better I get at these three skills, the closer I am to becoming a way better player.

When it comes to betting on the river, this might be the most intense part of poker there is.  After all, two or more players have put a significant amount of money into the pot (assuming limping hasn’t been taking place the whole time) and none of them want to fold or lose to another player this far in.

But as conventional Hold’em wisdom goes, you don’t want to blow any more chips than you have to even if that means folding on the river.  Holding third best pairs or having your draw hopes dashed are usually signs that it’s time to get out of a hand on the river. 

However, the possibility of getting a player to fold on the river still exists if done right.  Now it’s tough to do because a lot of players don’t want to throw away anything if they think that they even have a shot with what they’re holding.  That’s why you’ll need some help from the board to pull this off.

Here’s an example of a river bluff that I recently pulled off.  I was in a $3/$6 game and was holding Js-9s.  Three other players limped into the flop and it came up 5s-3h-8s.  Hoping for the flush I bet out and one of the players raised.  The other two players folded and I called. 

The turn came up 2d and I checked as did my opponent.  The river came up 8h and so, wanting to represent trips, I bet out since my opponent had checked on the turn showing that they probably didn’t have a made hand yet.  With the board as weak as it was and me betting out after the 8 was shown, my opponent decided to fold rather than call.  Thus, my river bet had stolen a pot that I had no business getting. 

Everyone knows that the ideal situation to push most of your chips into the pot would be having the nuts against an opponent who has only a second rate hand.  However, there are often times where this perfect scenario just isn’t possible and you are the one with a decent hand but not the best.  And, in tournament situations especially, sometimes you just have to take a chance when holding cards like A-Q, K-Q or middle pairs.

But when is the best possible time to make such a move?  In my opinion, it’s when you feel your stack is slipping and a move needs to be made before winding up short-stacked.  And the best way to do this is by trying to isolate someone who has a shorter stack than you.

To go about this, I try to look for a short-stacked person who is the first one to limp into a pot.  If other limpers follow, then it’s a great opportunity to jump into the pot with a raise hoping the original and short-stacked limper calls it. 

Now obviously, this type of move needs to be done when one is preferably in later position but it can also be pulled off from middle position.  There are some dangers to trying this from middle position such as one getting burned if someone behind them has a great pocket pair and raises the raise thus knocking out the original short-stacked player.

But one thing is for sure and this is that sitting by idly while your stack dwindles isn’t exactly a great option either.  And if the stack gets low enough, taking a chance won’t pay off nearly as much as it could’ve before.  In fact, you might be the one having to go all-in when the stack is too low.  And that always leaves a good chance of busting out.