How to Switch from Poker Cash Games to Tournaments

Example:
Imagine you’re in the middle stage of a major tournament, sitting with A K . You’ve noticed a tight player in early position pushing all-in for 15 big blinds. You calculate that A K might be slightly ahead of his shoving range, but if you lose, you’ll be crippled with only 2 big blinds. You decide to fold because the tournament structure will likely offer more favorable situations later, protecting your overall equity in the event.

Blinds Force Your Hand

Yes, it’s a shock, I know. The blinds in a tournament increase at set intervals – anywhere from every 15 minutes to every two hours. The blinds go up to force the action so players can’t just sit around waiting for aces all day.

Increasing the blinds obviously makes a player’s stack-to-blinds ratio go down. This in turn causes players to play hands to keep up with the rising blinds, which of course knocks people out.

What that means for you is that as the blinds go up you will need to become more active. If you come from cash games, you might only be used to playing with 100BBs or more. In tournaments you will be forced to master many different stack sizes.

As the stack sizes change your basic strategy should too. For more information on adjusting your play to your stack size, check out this article.

A Major Part of Poker Tournaments is Stealing Blinds

Though you may start the tournament playing fairly tight, as the blinds increase and your stack-to-blinds ratio decreases, you’ll be forced to loosen up.

A major component of tournament poker strategy is the act of stealing blinds. Though stealing blinds happens in cash games, when you are successful you may only add 2% to your stack. In tournaments when the blinds get big, making a steal may increase your stack by 10% or more.

There are two important factors to consider when deciding when to steal: position and hand strength. Most steals take place from late position, because there are fewer players to wake up with a hand behind you.

The types of hands you want to steal with are ones that have some sort of value after the flop. For example, 7 8  is a better hand than J 2 . That is, if you do get called, your 7 8  is going to play better on the flop than J 2 .

Supplementing your stack with well-timed steals is a necessity in tournament poker if you wish to have any sort of success. So practice well-timed late-position steals with solid semi-bluff type hands.

A good discussion on stealing can be found in this article on sit-and-gos.

Know Your Resteal and Fold Equity

Since you know your opponents are raising light to increase their stack by stealing blinds, you know that they often have a hand that can’t stand up to much pressure.

If you have an opponent raising every time from the button and cut-off, you can pick a hand and reraise him as a resteal. More often than not, you will find folds from these serial late-position raises.

When you make a move like a steal or a resteal you must have fold equity. You will often have a hand that if called will make you a big dog. So you can only steal and resteal if you believe that your opponents will likely fold!

Many players mistakenly try and resteal without recognizing their end shove is actually laying their opponent 2-1 odds or better. No good player is going to fold getting 2-1 or better before the flop.

So do not get crazy – make sure you have fold equity, or you’re just giving chips away.

Use the Bubble to Build Your Stack

Whenever you show a profit in a cash game you can just leave the table if you wish. Tournaments aren’t like that: you play until there is only one player remaining.

The payout structure of most tournaments will pay 10% of the field, meaning 90% of players go home empty-handed.

This creates a unique situation called “the money bubble.” As the money approaches, short stacks will often tighten up (sometimes to ridiculous degrees) to try and squeak into the money.

And though 10% usually get paid, the payouts are almost always very top-heavy with first place taking 30-50% of the entire prize pool. Squeaking into the money should not be on your mind at all.

Instead, you should use the money bubble to supplement your stack. Identify the players that are playing tight/scared poker and exploit them with bets and raises. For good players the bubble is a time to accumulate chips; do not sit around hoping to min-cash.

Your goal is to win the tournament. Since the most money is at the top, if you always play for the win, you will make more money in the long run than if you choose to nit it up and hope for a min-cash.

The bubble is the time where you can make your money, so take advantage of it!

It’s Still Just Poker

Though there are subtle differences between the two forms of poker, when you get right down to it, it’s all just the same game … a game of playing solid cards, strategizing based on position and paying attention to your opponents.

If you make better decisions than the majority of your opponents, it really won’t matter what game you are playing: you are going to be a winner.

Incorporating ICM Considerations

The Independent Chip Model (ICM) is a vital concept in tournament poker. It calculates each player’s overall equity in a tournament based on current chip stacks and remaining payouts. This becomes especially important near the bubble or when large pay jumps are on the line. You may turn down slim advantages when your tournament life is at stake if the ICM calculation suggests those chips are more valuable later. Conversely, if you have a comfortable stack, pressuring smaller stacks can be highly profitable because they are often risk-averse in payout-sensitive stages.

ICM is not a definitive solution; it is a tool that helps measure how your stack correlates to your share of the prize pool. Skilled players will go beyond standard ICM calculations, recognizing variables like opponents’ tendencies and table dynamics. Still, a basic proficiency in ICM prevents you from making critical mistakes in key moments, such as bubble play and final-table pay jumps.

Bankroll Management for Tournament Specialists

A critical element of successfully transitioning from cash to tournaments is adjusting your bankroll management strategy. Variance in tournaments can be much larger due to their structure and payout distributions. Maintaining a larger cushion ensures you can handle the inevitable downswings. Professionals often recommend at least 100-150 average buy-ins for multi-table tournaments, although the exact figure varies depending on your skill level and risk tolerance.