I do very well at our home tournies and have came in the money about 80% of the tournaments. Yet when ever we play in a cash game i always end up even or down some money! how do you guys change up your strategy from cash to tourny or tourny to cash? also...do any of you just play tournies? because i am thinknig about just switching to playing just touramnets.
The two are completely different and strategies should be changed.
In a cash game it's all about stalking and pouncing. You have a somewhat endless time to sit around and wait for the cards you want. All-in becomes less vital because there is always another hand. Blinds never go up either. You can wait around and target a loose player or a tight player and not have to worry too much about changing gears.
A tournament is simply about survival. You don't have the priviledge to wait around forever because blinds increase so you must make your moves with the best cards you can get for the current situation. All-in becomes a very vital tactic although used a bit to the extreme by some people. As the opponents dwindle down and blinds go up your tactics have to change and you must play more aggressive or risk being blinded out. I've found a more defensive approach at the start of a T works well for me then switch gears to the offensive when the blinds start getting expensive. What many fail to understand about tournaments is how quickly chips can change opponents which means you have to change your tactics. Say a loose player is chip leader and you are playing accordingly then all of a sudden a tight player wins 80% of their chips and is now chip leader. Since the tight player now has the chips and won't be tossing them around like the loose player you have to switch gears and figure out how to get him to loosen his grip. It's all about survival by change gears to keep up with the flow.
Hope this makes sense.
