Cash vs SNG

As I fight my way through the daily grind, I can't help but stop and think how easy things were when I played SNG's full time. Cash games are probably just as lucrative for me, but I certainly do miss the mindlessness that SNGs brought to the table.

Sure, I wasn't playing "real poker" and I wasn't "learning anything", but hey, I was making money. So who cares really? I mean, isn't the ultimate goal in poker to make money?

Well, not always. Playing poker is just like an investment. If you put enough time in at the tables, if you are smart and analytical about your play, you will see positive results. By playing SNGs, you give up the one thing that a good player has as an edge over their opponents - adaptation. SNGs are very basic. Once the basics are learned, there aren't a ton of avenues available for you to outplay your opponents. A lot of people say that SNGs are a "solved" game, meaning that there isn't anything else to learn. The only thing a good player does that is better than an average player is that they execute the "known" strategy with less flaws. They basically mess up less. (or go on tilt less.) But in cash games, it is very different. While most decisions in a SNG are preflop, cash games offer 4 streets of play. This obviously allows for more creativity, aggression, outplaying and adaptation to your opponents.

Now, all that is well and good, but I still find myself yearning to play SNGs. They are mindless cash machines. I know I can sit down for a few hours and have the expectation of a few extra hundred dollars in my account without having to do any real thinking - its all autopilot. Considering the strain that multiple hours of cash gaming puts on my brain, its nice to have an alternative, even if it means I won't be working on my long run game.

I've heard a lot of people say they first switched to SNGs from cash games because the swings were less intense. And I've also read the exact opposite. I'm not sure which I believe personally. On one hand, it seems that in cash games you have much more control over your degree of variance. There are little tricks to avoid losing big pots without a big hand. And while suckouts happen, they aren't in the same ballpark as SNG suckouts.

In SNGs, you are often putting your money in preflop, where at best you are an 80% favorite, but in reality most times you are coinflipping. Running hundreds of coinflips a day can lead to some seriously nasty swings, that weren't caused by anything but plain old variance. And its the nature of the game - you can't avoid it. So it would seem that naturally the variance in SNGs is higher. But on the other hand, one big cash game suckout where you go in as an 80% or better favorite will cause you to lose a whole buyin (or more), which can really fuck up your win rate. And since you lose your whole stack, instead of just one SNG buyin, it hurts a fuckload more.

So in conclusion, I got nothing. Poker = variance no matter what you do.

Oh, and how about Sexy Rexy in the Superbowl? Has there ever been a worse QB performance? I think he dropped more balls than passes he completed. At least make Peyton the shit eating bitch faced whiner earn his ring. Fuck that pissed me off. Still would have been hilarious if they covered given how badly they played.

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