Roland "Insideedg" De Wolfe - Cash in on the cash tables!

In poker one is continually faced with choices. These range from the important, whether to call an all-in for all your chips with a marginal hand - to the meaningless, what design to have on the back of your cards.

When you have been playing for a long time, many of the choices arrive and you are so conditioned as to what to do that your response is automatic and you do not see a choice at all. However, when you are starting out in cash poker these are big decisions that are not routine and can be intimidating to the point where a new player is confounded or makes the wrong decision which costs him money to rectify. What I will do here is take you through some key decisions. I will not necessarily give you the answer, sometimes there is no right answer, but I will help you to go through the right decision making process.

Short handed or Ring Games?


In live cash poker you do not get an abundance of opportunities to play short handed. It is not cost effective for a casino to run this game. However, in cyberspace the extra tables cost nothing and this has led to the emergence of a number of short-handed specialists. Now there are more short-handed tables in operation than full ring games. So which game suits you better? Are you a patient player or are you looking for action. If you can be disciplined to wait for hands then ring games will be more profitable. In short handed games you will need to be prepared to play lesser hands and must be acutely aware of the value of your hand. However, many people prefer the short-handed games as they are more often than not more fun to play. Find out what works best for you. It is unwise to play a short handed game if you wanted to play ring but there is none available, it is akin to playing at a higher limit just because all tables are full.

Jump on the Fish?


Obviously it pays to take notes on your opponents. This well help you remember not just who is good and who is dire but how players play. Yet suppose you see a table with a really bad player who you know is a big bluffer at inappropriate moments and is always raising. Should you load up the table as soon as possible and sit down? Well yes, load up the table as fast as you can. But hold fire. Is the position on the table right? Well, you know about positional play when raising but it is equally important to have position on the bad players. If you are on the fish’s right he will be acting after you every hand bar one in each round. This means he may be able to bluff you out and more importantly you will not be able to get the maximum value form your hand. You want him at least opposite you and preferably on your immediate right. In poker, your profit usually comes from your right and the money tends to circulate clockwise. If you have to play the value then do, but remember it is much harder out of position and the expectation is much lower.

Blind or Wait for Blind?


I don’t like to pay the rent unless I am getting full value for the round. Hence I prefer to wait for the blinds. If you are really desperate for action then you may want to post immediately, but if you are that eager then maybe you are not in the right frame of mind to play. The only circumstance I would post is if there is huge value in a ring game and I am under the gun. Hence I am only losing one hand while I believe I have a positive expectation value in the next eight. If you do post the blinds early, do not try to get the money back by forcing the action. Blinds are not yours after you post them and you will be more successful if you think in this manner. Long term you will not get any value in deep stacked cash games by stealing blinds as eventually you will run into serious trouble which will obliterate any gains you have made by the previous steals.

Watch and Earn or Play and Learn?


Lots of players, even top ones, just dive into a game as soon as they come on. However, some people prefer to wait and observe a table before putting their cash down. This makes sense, especially if you have not played the opponents as you can see how players are acting instead of having to pay to find out. This is not for some people, like those who are just keen to play, don’t have time to wait or are confident enough in their own ability to work opponents out very quickly.

Insideedg