Cloud Poker / Nick Cantwell / 05 December 2008 / Leave a comment

I recently made the transition from playing tournament poker exclusively to playing cash poker whenever I hit the tables. And this has been an eye-opener - and has bought with it a complete change of mindset.

Playing tournaments, if I was holding Ace-King and an Ace or a King came on the flop I was willing to put in all my chips, my car keys, my house, my wife and at least one of my two children (both children if the Ace-King was suited).

However, in the cash game I have to temper my urges. When I hit my Ace or King I push my slider towards the max-bet, and then immediately slide it back to a bet which is somewhere between half pot and pot - and upon meeting further resistance I move into panic mode. Thankfully at the virtual tables no-one gets to see my "panic mode" - they just see a flashing name - they don't see me running around shouting "Set! Set! Set! He's flopped a set!"

And the same goes for straights and flushes. In tournament play these hands are almost the nuts - but I know there is someone sitting there in a cash game with a devious look on his/her face with two pairs just waiting to hit their full house on the river - just looking to stack me. And invariably they do - well, they DID.

I am currently grinding the NL10 tables at Betfair, and am working my way towards moving up to NL20 - am halfway there at the moment. As in all forms of poker it's three steps forward and two steps back, and my game is far from what I would call a good cash game (too many tournament moments still creep into my game) - but I'm getting there, and my bankroll is heading north (well actually more East-North East if you're into compasses).

I do have an overall plan - and this time next year I'd like to be playing at least NL100, and with a little bit of talent and a whole lot of luck (and 394 training videos) I might get there. AndNL10 is the starting point - and so far so good!

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My eldest daughter started school recently, and is really into doing her "sums".

I asked her what two plus two was? And promised her a toy if she got the answer right.

She said "4", so she got her toy.

If she had said "A popular American poker forum" she would have got a laptop....

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