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5 Poker Cash Game Tips to Help you Dominate on the Felt
Long before there was a World Series of Poker, there were good ol’ fashioned cash games. Granted, you might not win a WSOP bracelet playing cash poker, but you can win some cold hard cash. This is the traditional way to play poker, where the chips represent actual money – tournament chips don’t have dollar signs on the front. We’ll introduce you to the online poker cash games at Ignition, and we’ll even give you five very important poker cash game tips that you can use at the tables.
Introduction to Poker Cash Games
Historians have long argued about the origins of poker, but there’s one thing that makes this game different from its ancestors: betting. Poker as we know it spread throughout the Mississippi River Delta after the American Revolution.Then it was carried across the country by the famous Mississippi riverboats, where gambling still takes place to this day, and by prospectors during the gold rushes of the 1800s. All these games were played for cash – plus any other assets people were willing to risk.
Pros and Cons of Poker Cash Games
Thanks to the internet, you can play cash poker. anytime you want at Ignition, and you don’t have to bet the whole farm to see some action. You can play for pennies, or thousands of dollars, or anywhere in between. This freedom makes cash poker the most reliable way to build a bankroll, once you know the game well enough to make a profit.
To be fair, there are a few drawbacks with cash poker when compared to online poker tournaments. There isn’t a big jackpot waiting to be won at the end of your session, and the level of play in cash games tends to be higher than what you’ll find on the tournament felt.
TBut, hey, if you’re still looking to bring home the bacon, we’ve got five of the best poker tips for casino games right here:
5 tips to Dominate Poker Cash Games
Tip No. 1: Know Your Ranges
Since you’ll be playing anonymous poker at Ignition, there will be limited opportunities for you to get a read on your opponents. It’s still important to pick up these reads where you can, but for the most part, the best poker strategy to use in cash games will be an unexploitable strategy, with a solid foundation of starting hand ranges that you’ll rarely deviate from. For example, when you’re playing No-Limit Hold’em at a 6-max cash table, your starting range from under the gun (aka the lojack) should include something close to the top 15% of hands according to strength, maybe pocket Sixes or better, Ace-Ten offsuit or better, King-Queen offsuit, all suited Aces and Broadway cards, King-Eight suited or better, and a handful of suited connectors like Seven-Six for good measure.
Tip No. 2: Know Your Position
Poker is a game of incomplete information, but at least you know the cards in your hand, and you know what position you’re in – or at least you should. The further away you are from the blinds, the tighter your opening range should be. You also need to pay attention to your opponents and their position at the table. If you’re in the blinds and you’re thinking of calling an open-raise from under the gun, you need to remember that you’ll be out of position post-flop, meaning you’ll have to act first. Conversely, if you open-raise from the button, you’re guaranteed to be in position if the hand reaches the flop. Getting to act last in poker gives you a significant advantage over your opponents.
Tip No. 3: Playing Tight-Aggressive Is Your Best Bet
There are plenty of names you can give different poker players based on their style: fish, donk, nit, maniac, and so on. Smart players prefer to use non-derogatory terms that don’t carry so much emotional baggage. They’ll put players on both the loose-tight scale and the passive-aggressive scale, leading to the following four categories: loose-passive, loose-aggressive (LAG), tight-passive, and tight-aggressive (TAG). You should have more success playing a TAG style at cash games than any other style. By keeping your ranges tight, you’ll minimize your mistakes with marginal hands, and you’ll often have stronger cards than your opponents when you do get involved in a pot.
Tip No. 4: Learn from Your Losing Sessions
No matter how good you get at poker, there will be sessions where the cards just don’t fall your way. But don’t just assume that you’ve “run bad” when you have a losing session. Keep track of all your poker hands as well as you can, and take a moment after your sessions to study any hands you have questions about. Getting better at cash poker is all about failing upwards.
Tip No. 5: Play With Money You Can Lose
Of all the online poker cash game tips we can give you, this might be the most important. Poker may be a game of skill, but it’s still gambling, and you should never gamble with money you can’t afford to lose. Know yourself, and know when it’s time to check out. Make sure you keep your account at Ignition Poker separate from all your other finances. And when you’re at the cash tables, especially if you’re a new player, use a stop-loss of around 2-3 buy-ins to keep you from getting stuck too deep.
There’s obviously more to learn about poker if you want to master the game, from poker odds to bankroll management and everything in between. But if you start with these five tips, you’ll be well on your way to bossing the cash games at Ignition Poker. Start at the smaller stakes if you’re a beginner, schedule your sessions ahead of time to last roughly 90-120 minutes, and best of luck on the felt.