Cash tables. Cash poker strategy

Many players prefer the cash poker format for daily earnings. There really are distinctive advantages from other types of games. For example, you do not need to devote 5-6 hours, as is the case with tournament poker. You can exit the cash game at any time, even after 10 minutes. However, you need to know how to play cash poker in order to make money on it.

Distinctive features of cash poker

Why is cash preferred by most players? There are many benefits and extras here. Consider its main characteristics:

• Play at any time. If for a poker tournament you need to follow the schedule and wait for the game to start, then in cash poker everything is completely different. Here you can take a seat at the table at any time of the day. You can always join the game with other people. There is no need to wait until the required number of participants is reached.
• Freedom in play time. If you are participating in a tournament, your goal is to reach the end to win a prize. In cash poker, you can successfully play a couple of games, increase your bankroll in 5-10 minutes and leave the table. There is no need to wait for the end of the game, you can leave the cash table at any moment.
• Choice of opponents. Before you sit down at the table in cash poker, you can watch your opponents, understand their style and start the game without mistakes. In a tournament, you don't have that option, as you only see your opponents when you're in the game.
• Quick profit. In a tournament, you need to try to get into the prize zone in order to somehow win back the money invested. If you leave early, you won't get anything. In cash poker, there is an opportunity to make a quick profit. If you play well 1-2 games all-in, you can increase your stack several times. After that, you can leave the table and immediately receive the money won into your account.

For speed, accessibility and simplicity, the cache was able to gain such popularity.

Basic cash poker strategies

Many poker players started playing for the sake of a stable and big income, and not because of entertainment. Among the opponents you can meet both amateur beginners and real professionals who "live" poker. Usually experienced players will be approximately 10%. Most of them are beginners, weak players, “freeloaders” who are waiting for quick money.

A few figures with the earnings of experienced players on cash games in poker (according to general statistics in poker):

• 80% of players can earn up to $1000 per month.
• Approximately 10% is $2000 per month.
• About 1-2% of professionals can win over $50,000 in a month.

Why do the amounts differ so much? The point is that the real professionals use clear and proven cash poker strategies. They do not rely on luck or random victory, they get the maximum profit only with their knowledge. Therefore, we will focus on the most common and used poker cash game strategies.

Big stack strategy

Usually this tactic is chosen by the most experienced opponents who play at high stakes. The bottom line is to play at a table with a lot of money. In this case, you can get a fairly large profit at the end of the game period.

Example: you need to take about $2500 to the table at once. With the right actions against opponents, you can immediately get $2000 from one game session.

Of course, beginners and intermediate players should never make such bets. It is necessary to gradually climb the limits.

According to the rules of cash game poker with a large stack, you need to take an amount that is equal to 100 big blinds. The main strategic decisions in games will be made on the turn or river. Here it is important to master the bluff perfectly, be able to read your opponents and go all-in in time with a good card.

Short stack strategy

It is often used in cash game poker and has the following basic rules:

• You only need to enter the table with 20 big blinds (short stack).
• We play only with the most high cards, with the strongest poker hands .
• Of all the actions at the table, we choose either Fold or All-in.

It is this tactic that rules out difficult decisions. Even a beginner can use it. However, the strategy can only be applied in the game "live".

Now online strategy short stack poker cash is not used, as many poker rooms do not allow you to take the amount of 20 minimum bets to the table. Because of this, many players gradually had to abandon this tactic.

It can be used in a modified version, taking only the minimum allowed amount into the cash game. In this case, you can sometimes replace all-in with a large raise.

Medium stack strategy

This strategy of playing cash poker is considered the "golden mean" between the principle of short and large stacks. Any player can start with this poker strategy and gradually move up the limits. Here the main decisions come at the preflop and flop stages. The average stack can be taken to the table according to the rules of any poker room or offline game. About 90% of all players prefer this tactic.

Basic Principles of the Medium Stack Strategy

How to play cash poker correctly when choosing an average stack for the game:

• The standard stack size is 40-50 big blinds. You need to start with small limits so that the stack size does not take a toll on your overall bankroll.
• If you raise, it must be equal to 3 minimum blinds. If several opponents have leveled the bet in front of us, then we add one more blind to each of them. For example, if 3 opponents have called in front of us, we must bet 6 minimum bets.
• After any opponent's raise, you need to go all-in with good, top cards.
• With a medium pocket hand, you should fold to any opponent's reraise.

What cards should you raise with?

We have already figured out that it is not recommended to check or call preflop with an average stack. You need to 3-bet. With what cards would such a strategy be winning?

Actions in early position:

• You need to play raise with hands AA, QC, QQ. If, after your raise, one of the players reraised, you need to go all-in.
• Also raise with cards AK, JJ, TT, 99. However, after the opponent reraises, you will need to fold and not risk further.

Middle position bets:

• With hands AA, QC, QQ, AK you need to raise and after any increase go all-in.
• With cards AK, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, AQ, AJ you need to raise at 3 minimum bets. Fold after any reraise.

How to play cash poker in the small and big blind:

• With pocket cards AA, QC, QQ, AK we raise. After any bet of opponents, we immediately go all-in before the flop.
• With hands AK, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ you also need to raise. We fold to any opponent's bet in order to avoid unnecessary risk.

In the katof position(the player in front of the button) can be played with the following cards:

• Starting hand AA, QC, QQ, AK suggests that we 3-bet and immediately go all-in to any reraise.
• With cards AK, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ, A9, KJ, JT, QJ we raise preflop. After the bet of any opponent, you need to fold the cards.

Bets and starting combination on the button (dealer) position:

• With hand AA, QK, QQ, AK, JJ we immediately raise and, without hesitation, we go all-in on any bet.
• With cards AK, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ, A9, KJ, JT, QJ, K9, T9, 98 go for a raise or fold after any raise.

As you can see, we have only 3 actions at the preflop stage: raise in any situation, all-in on the player's bet or fold. Cards that are not included in the presented chart must be immediately discarded without a minimum bet.

The later the position of the player at the table, the more profitable it is, the greater the range of hands he can bet with. Playing with this strategy for the first time, you will quickly memorize the necessary combinations and be able to automatically apply them at the poker table.

To learn how to play the flop, turn, and river, it is recommended that you take the full Medium Stack Strategy course in our free Academy Win Strategy course.

Who is the medium stack strategy for?

• Constantly and steadily earn money on poker.
• Play according to a proven algorithm, act automatically and not think about “what to do” every time on the flop.
• Switch to a multi-table cash tournament to increase your profits.
• Grow in limits, increase your bankroll and make poker a profitable source of income.

The medium stack strategy is very convenient for players of any level. You just need to study the table of starting hands, the general rules of action and bring it to automatism. You can start playing according to this strategy with 50-100 dollars and increase your profit up to several thousand.

Conclusion

Cash game poker is a popular area where real professionals make money. There are various strategies and betting features. Real poker masters prefer the strategy of long stacks at big stakes. The tactic of the middle stack is universal. It will allow you to understand the features of the cash game, increase your bankroll and consistently earn money on poker. You can get acquainted with the features and subtleties of the middle stack strategy by taking our free Academy Win Strategy course. Learn to play like a pro, make money on cash games and have fun.

The cash game is one of the hardest disciplines in poker. First of all, because the stacks of players in it are mostly 100 big blinds. This fact brings most of the action post-flop, as opposed to where most chips are won pre-flop.

In the cash game, there are many that you should know 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 consists in the fact that the player takes from 20 to 40 big blinds to the table. The concept of this strategy is completely tied to mathematics due to the limited stacks of players. This kind of cash strategy is similar to tournament game in later stages. Despite the essential component of this strategy, a beginner should pay attention to the beginning of the development of cash games with its help. You won't be able to lose much if you stick to a short stack strategy, and this strategy will also give you fewer opportunities to make expensive mistakes postflop.

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 for landing.

• Medium 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 40 big blinds with him to the table, or half of the maximum purchase at the table. This strategy began to gain popularity when the largest poker room raised the amount of the minimum purchase at the cash tables. In essence, the concepts of this strategy are a symbiosis of short stack and big stack play.

• 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 to the table with you. Its essence is aimed at maximizing winnings through the use of stack depth and a high level of understanding of the postflop game. In this strategy, your playing mistakes will cost you incredibly dearly. In order to be stable in this discipline, you need to have a collection of statistics on your opponents and a variety of .

In addition to differences in stack sizes, there are many more strategic aspects of the cash game, which we will discuss next.

Don't play against regulars

First of all, it should be mentioned that you should try not to interfere in the disassembly 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 the micros who are just 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 to higher limits.

Remember that the closer you are to the button, the wider the range you can play, since you will have an advantageous position relative to early positions.

Bluff intelligently

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

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

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

Know how to exit the game in 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 the cash game as your main discipline, then you can do it at any time. There are several ways to determine the time at the tables:

• Set yourself a time frame before the start of the session (for example, be sure to play 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.

Medium strength hands are not easy to play. When you have these hands, you should usually check them out as they are great for bluff catchers. To make it clearer, let me give you a couple of examples of such hands:

• J♦ T♦ on the J♠ 8♠ 6
• A♠ 4♠ on the A♣ 8♠ 5♣
• 8 7 on the K♠ 8♣ 4

These are solid hands, but they stop being so when the big action starts to happen in the hand. Therefore, checking with these hands on at least one street (often that street will be the flop) is the best way to play them.

However, keep in mind that if your opponent showed weakness by checking back or double-checking to you, then these hands increase their value significantly, because, you see, if your opponent had a strong hand, he would not play it by checking. At times like this, you should take control of the pot and bet medium hands for value!

2. With a strong hand, tend to bet more often

When you have a strong top pair or better, you should bet the vast majority of the time. Such hands want to build big bank, as they are the favorites to win him. Each of these hands will represent your value betting range. Here are some examples of such combinations:

• A♣ K♦ on the K T♣ 5♦
• K♠ T♣ on the T 8♦ 6♣
• Q♦ Q♠ on the J♣ T 7♦

Note that with all of these hands we can comfortably bet three barrels for value, and that's exactly what we should be doing!

3. Bluff the flop with hands that have good backdoor potential

When you have a hand with good backdoor potential, you should often lean towards bluffing it on the flop. You want to bluff with hands that can hit a strong draw on the turn and potentially close a flush or straight on the river. These hands are great for bluffing because they can form very strong disguised combinations. For example:

• 7♠ 6♠ on the A♣ 9♠ 3♣ – our hand can hit a strong draw on the turn on any 5, 8 and Xs. In addition, 4 and T will give our hand a gutshot.
• J♦ 8♦ on the Q♦ 7♠ 5♠ – our hand can improve to a decent draw on any 6 and Xd. Any 4, 9 and T will give us a gutshot.
• Q♣ 6♣ on the K 7 5♣ – our hand can catch a strong draw on any 4, 8 and Xc. We will get a boost to a gutshot on any 3 and 9.

Note that when bluffing these hands on the flop, you will only continue barreling on the turn when you hit a draw.

4. You should almost always 3-bet when you have a premium hand

Don't try to trap your opponents with QQ+, AK preflop by calling these hands. These premium starters excel in big pots with low SPRs, so you should 3-bet the pot as quickly as possible with them.

That being said, don't forget that you should balance your value 3-betting range with a bluff 3-betting range with hands like A2s or 76s. For example, this is what a balanced 3-betting range might look like, consisting of QQ+, AK value combos.

Keep in mind that this is an example of a balanced 3-betting range in early position versus early position. That is why he is so tight. When in later position and facing open raises from later position, you'll want to 3-bet more hands for both value and bluffs.

If your opponent is a player who often opens preflop but rarely folds to 3-bets, then you should make your 3-betting range linear (value oriented). For example, against an opponent whose game tendencies we have indicated above, we can 3-bet the following range of hands:

As you can see, this range does not include bluff hands. This is because we can rarely get Villain to fold pre-flop, so we want to go post-flop with hands that will dominate Villain's calling range against a 3-bet (K7s, Q7s, A7s, ATo, etc.). In other words, against such a loose opponent, our value range gets wider and starts to include: AQo, AJo, ATs, KQ, TT and JJ. If Villain calls a 3-bet too wide, then we can expand our value 3-bet range even further by adding QJs and ATo.

On the other hand, if your opponent tends to fold a lot against a 3-bet, then you should make the opposite adjustment and add more bluffs to your 3-betting range.

5. Check the flop high in multiway pots

When playing in multiway situations, you have to be very selective about the hands you decide to bet on the flop. The more players there are in the pot, the stronger your hand must be in order for you to bet. This is because the likelihood that one of the opponents has two pair or better increases significantly when playing in a multi-way pot.

Therefore, you must:

• Check with strong top pairs and overpairs if there are 4 or more players in the pot. These hands have much less equity in a 4-way pot than heads-up.
• Betting small (1/4 or 1/3 pot) when you have two pair+ or a very strong draw. If we bet more, then we will only get called from stronger hands and eliminate all dominated combinations.
• Folding many bluff catchers, even against small bets, since most opponents don't bluff in the kind of adverse conditions that a multiway situation creates.

6. Bet High Frequency When You're in Position in a Heads-Up Pot

When in a heads-up pot in position, you should attack your opponent with high frequency when he shows weakness by checking instead of c-betting. This type of bet is called a float. especially effective against weak players who don't know how to defend their checking ranges (they only check their weakest hands and never check their strong hands).

It follows that you should be careful about floating frequently against competent players who have protected check ranges.

7. Check-raise the flop with high frequency with your strongest hands after defending the BB

After defending the big blind against a player in position, you should almost always check-raise your strong hands. This play will allow you to increase the pot to such a size that you can allow with an opponent on the river.

However, when deciding to check-raise, always pay attention to the texture of the board. For example, bottom two pair on the flop 9 5♠ 4♣ worthy of a check-raise, but bottom two pair on the flop with straight or flush potential ( 6 5♣ 4♠ or 9 5 4 ) must be played by check-call.

8. Always warm up before a game session

This mental advice is no less important than strategic advice. If you look at any professional athlete, you will find that before every performance he warms up. If poker is a professional activity for you, then you should take the time to warm up.

We wrote in detail about the warm-up procedure before the sessions in the article: “ “.

9. Develop a competent attitude towards negative days

Nobody likes to lose at poker. This is especially true if you have accounts to pay and poker is your only source of income. Unfortunately, no matter how strong a player you are, you will occasionally have losing sessions. That is why it is so important to learn how to correctly approach negative periods.

If during bad times at the poker tables you leave the game too quickly, then you will start to have problems with winning back the distance; if you stay in the game to the last, forcing yourself to play for many hours, then your losses can reach huge values. So how do you find the golden mean? How do you know when to leave the tables and when to stay?

To understand this, you need to ask yourself three questions:

1. Am I playing well? Be objective when answering and analyze your game in detail. It's very easy to say that you are playing well, but luck has simply turned its back on you, however, most players start playing suboptimally when they start to lose.
2. Is the game good? Sometimes you'll be playing at tables that you simply can't afford to leave! At such times, you will often have to force yourself to play until the crazy fish leave your table.
3. Am I capable of doing my task? Sometimes your thoughts will be far from the game, and at such moments you should leave the tables. If you can't concentrate on the game, then your continued presence at the tables will only exacerbate your negative results of the session.

10. Relentlessly exploit

Every time you see someone limping, you should look forward to taking their stack, or at least most of their stack, in a short amount of time.

Because most limpers are weak players, we want to isolate them across a wide range of hands. Getting the limper to call an OOP raise with a weak range is one of the most profitable scenarios in poker.

As for the size of the isolate, find one that will put weak hands in the limper's range into the most difficult situation. The general rule is your standard opening size plus one big blind per limper. For example, if you normally raise to 3bb, then against one limper your isolate should be 4bb.

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

Indeed, in cash poker, in the first place is not sports excitement, more characteristic of tournaments, but profit. It comes from playing with opponents who play worse than you.

Line-up of PokerStars players and choice of opponents for cash

The peculiarity of PokerStars is that in this room, even at the smallest limits, there can be very strong opponents. And at the same time, weak poker players can be found both at small limits and at medium ones. Unlike other gaming halls, 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, with the exception of “sky-high”. They are the most difficult to play.

Almost all the site's players take poker very seriously. Stars does not have a sports tote or a casino on their resource, so here you will not meet pathological gambling lovers (ludomans) 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 "in plus".

How to choose tables to play at PokerStars

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

To reiterate, in order for you to be more profitable playing in the PokerStars room, you must be extremely careful about table selection. If you are a beginner, try to sit down and always play only full tables (i.e. 9 or 10 seats). If there are less than 7 participants at the table, then you must leave such a table. After all, playing with fewer poker players is different from playing at long tables, so a different strategy should be used.

Many PokerStars newbies only own basic strategy, so it's better to play at tables where most players sit 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 game 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 should not 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 the contract, he is forbidden to play in other online rooms, except for Stars. He divided the "science" of table selection at PokerStars into several sections:

- Direct table search: the average pot amount and %% of the flop show provide valuable information;

- Knowledge of opponents: it is necessary to "spy" on poker players in order to maximize profits;

— Time when it is better to play: you need to “grind” at the “effective” time of day and day of the week, then the profit will grow even more.

Finding a Negreacan Table

Don't sit down at the first table that comes along, first take a look at its status, located next to the name of the 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 %% flop viewed. In most situations, the tables where this value is highest contain more poker players who play not the strongest hands, in other words, loose. It is recommended to choose loose tables.

Knowing the opponents you're playing with

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 leaks in the strategy. On the contrary, avoid aggressive tight poker players - it is better not to mess with them, they are most likely regulars.

Best Time to Grind

You will find the greatest number of "profitable" games from evening until late at night and on weekends. As a rule, recreational players work during the day, and in the evenings they go to PokerStars and have fun with might and main. They call extremely loose pre-flop and other streets. By the way, some of the players at this time are intoxicated.

(Since Negreanu, who is in the other hemisphere, advises this, Russian poker players need to make allowances for this. The recommendation, whether you are in Kaliningrad or Kamchatka, is this: play at a time when PokerStars has a maximum of players. As for the time for Moscow, the volume of players begins to increase in the evening, and decrease from 2 a.m. So try not to play during less crowded hours - in the morning and in the afternoon. Negreanu is absolutely right about the weekend: these days hobby players "give away" their money. Except In addition, there are large Saturday and Sunday tournaments that also attract irregular players (Of course, you are not required to consistently play at the recommended times, but this is more likely to help you win).

PokerStars against table selection

Today, all the rooms are busy attracting new poker players and keeping recreational players who regularly make deposits (whereas regulars usually, on the contrary, withdraw money from the rooms). AT room PokerStars they understand what a formidable weapon of regulars is the choice of "light" ("fish") tables, so its management decided to take certain steps to combat "unscrupulous" table selection. Already, "table starters" have been launched in the room, allowing users to simply select a specific type of game, table type and limit. Software will automatically find the place with the largest number of players, and if this is not possible, it will put it on the waiting list.

At the beginning of 2013, rumors began to circulate that self-selection of tables would soon be banned. However, a PokerStars representative reassured everyone by saying that "table starters" is a voluntary feature, it only complements the ability to start the game.