Tips for switching from SNG's to NL Cash games

Nate PT · #1 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 05:23 PM

Ever since I started playing online poker I've mainly been playing sng's and some mtt's. Before the online gaming ban i played $30 and $50 sng's and was very successful. Shortly before the ban I quit poker to focus on school and drinking

. I got back into playing online a few months ago and have built my bankroll up playing $10 and $20 sng's and multis. I'm getting really sick of this grind and need to mix it up a bit so I was thinking of trying out some NL cash games.

I've never been consistently successful in cash games be it limit or NL. I really haven't invested much time learning cash games and probably am playing them like I play tournies.

What is some really basic advice on adjusting my game in cash games? What are the bankroll requirements for cash games? I'm used to 3 tabling tournaments, will I be fine 3-4 tabling cash games or should I start with 1 or 2?

The other thing I've been considering is switching from regular sng's to turbos, I've read that a lot of online pro's prefer turbos, but again I haven't invested a ton of time in turbos as I've been doing just fine in regular sng's. Any thoughts there?

Thanks in advance

jamby · #2 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 06:15 PM

How big's your bankroll and what stakes are you considering playing? Play varies a LOT based on table and also as to whether you choose 9 or 6 player tables.

BassVillan · #3 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 06:17 PM

Though not really strategic advice I would tell you that one very important thing is to be prepared to suffer some more severe swings (variance) should you choose to play cash games exclusively. I play only turbo sng's now and although I do have some swings and dead periods they are much less severe and shorter in duration. With the cash game, you can lose all of the money in front of you in a single hand, and on occasion you will. Sng's you can only lose your $25-50 even though you can sometimes do this repeatedly in a single session. As far as a cash game roll, I personally would not want <20 max buy-ins for whichever stake you choose to focus on. G'luck.

Nate PT · #4 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 07:27 PM

I usually keep about a grand in my online bankroll, not sure what stakes I would play. I'd prob start with 9 handed playing 3-4 tables.

BassVillan · #5 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate PT

I usually keep about a grand in my online bankroll, not sure what stakes I would play. I'd prob start with 9 handed playing 3-4 tables.

If you have a 1k roll and choose to play .50/1 you have 10 buy-in's for that game. imo, it would be a bit iffy to play that game. You would not want to take several beats in succession or run bad for a few days in a row, otherwise, your roll will be history and you'll be having to reload. I'm not saying I wouldn't play these stakes bc it's about as low of stakes as I would want to go. I've had some good success playing 6-max .50/1 and for full tables I do 1/2 or 2/4 NL.

JoseRijo · #6 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 07:46 PM

All the hip kids play 6-max nowadays. It is very different from SNGs, but it *will* improve your game to play them.

You should have at least 20 buy-ins for cash, but I'd start at 10NL. Any lower is a waste of time.

jamby · #7 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 08:03 PM

I pretty much play only short-handed low stakes games. FTP offers a few 'deep' buy-in tables at which you can buy-in for 100x the BB - both full and short-handed. You'd be surprised how many folks buy into those games for much less than the max. It's a definite advantage when you have a healthy stack comparatively and it's pretty easy to do at those tables.

jojobinks · #8 (**permalink**) 07-15-2008, 09:03 PM

with 1000, i'd recommend no bigger than .25/.5, which'd give you 20 buyins. and yeah, i'd be ready to move down if i lost 4 or 5 buyins. multitabling is slightly dodgier, b/c generally speaking situations are more complicated than in tournaments, where stacks are often short.

i can multi 10 or so sngs, but with cash games, i play more like 4-6. part of this is the deep stacks, and part is that, as rijo mentioned, the cool kids play 6 handed, where you play more hands.

if you're serious about getting better, there are some good ways to get there quicker. the 2+2 forums are excellent for content (and free), and if you want to pay you can do cardrunners or one of the other sites.