No limit tournament poker is far more popular than cash-games in general and limit-games in particular. As many as 75% of the players online, at any given time, may be engaged in tournament holdem of some variety. Having played enough tournaments, it is easier to make the shift into the no-limit world. No-limit is the most popular of all cash games.

Tournaments, due the media hype, are where the inexperienced novices go to play and where they are taken advantage of by the more knowing players. Free-roll tournament poker is readily available at every venue day or night making them easy to find for the cautious rookie. They can then make an attempt at a few hands with no ante and even luck into a win or two. This can be a most addictive beginning to poker mania.

Tournaments, especially sit-and-go games, are usually much less stressful than cash games: the player makes a fixed entry deposit and thereafter play for chips, not dollars, which makes for a more relaxed game. Tournaments are widely accessible offline and, being often well covered by the media, offer players the possibility of becoming something of a celebrity.

However, it is important to distinguish frequent and quick SnG tournaments and the rarer MTT where each game may take a stressfully long time. During an MTT, a player cannot leave without loosing everything he has invested; which means the necessity to endure long hours of difficult play. Such games take determination and endurance; otherwise, it is easy to lapse into despair, unwilling to leave, yet unable to concentrate and play well. Matters are complicated by high dispersion, though the final three players at the table have a lot going for them.

Also, you can’t expect to walk into a poker club and find an MTT going on. Even in online poker rooms, you may find yourself only able to play very late at night, depending on your country of play. The literature available on tournaments and no-limit games tends to be scarce and dwells on the psychological and subjective aspects of the game rather than any precise techniques and strategies.

In most cases it is easy to make the transition between cash and MTT. No-limit cash games in a sense closely resemble MTT, but lack some of the typical MTT drawbacks. Many think that no-limit cash is the most prospective of all online games. No-limit is likewise by far the most widespread form of cash games, may be found anywhere, anytime, with a multitude of eager players not all of whom know better than to just “try their luck” in winning a big buck. The game is less precisely documented and determined, which offers good chances for talented players good at psychological manipulation. Lacking that particular talent, it is easy to loose much and quickly.

With cash games, the literature is more available and growing, but even if it does have merit, it is not precise, lacks substantial guidelines and weighs heavily on the potential of the assorted individuals gathered around the table. The only way to become expert then at no-limit cash games is through the experience of playing and closely observing your opponents, thereby piling up a memory of observations to carefully draw upon when involved in future, and just as unpredictable games.

Dispersion is most vicious in no-limit games and even good players may loose as many as half a dozen buy-ins in one session - not something just anybody can easily bare or afford.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Players Only Rakeback as well as Poker Kings Rakeback.