When I was a child, my parents would give me and my brothers a dollar each on a Saturday and send us candy shopping.
We would walk a half mile to town. There were three stores on the main street of Sutersville, PA. and each of them had a wide selection of chocolate, mints, Mallo Cups and so many other forms of candy it would make your head stagger.
There we were:
Each of us with a whole dollar to spend. The question was: ''What do we spend it on?'' This question sometimes drove me crazy.
Poker players have the same problem. Most poker players have a limited budget, and when they enter a casino or poker room, they have to decide what games or tournaments to play in.
This is not an easy question to answer. Everyone is different. There are players who are good at cash games, while others flourish in tournaments.
I still remember the anxiety I felt when I was trying to decide if I wanted to take my chances in a tournament or a cash game. I felt the same way that I did when I went swimming with my friends in the Monongahelia River that ran past out house in Western Pennsylvania.
That river was cold and you didn't know what you would find on the bottom. As I stood there on the banks trying to decide what to do...
...one of my friends made up my mind for me. He pushed me into the chilly water and I found myself swimming!
After a lot of hesitation, I finally found myself playing in a tournament. It was an incredible experience.
When the first hand was dealt to me, I felt like somebody had plugged me into a light socket. I was charged up and stayed that way until the tournament ended. I placed third and won several hundred dollars!
A poker player's money goes a lot farther with chips in a tournament than in a cash game. Your $50 or $100 buy-in will purchase anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 tournament chips. And you can win (if you're lucky) anywhere from 10 to 30 times your bu-in.
That is one of the reasons poker rooms feature up to three tournaments a day. The poker room managers know their players enjoy the action.
If you have a limited bankroll, I strongly urge you to consider a tournament rather than a cash game. Tournaments are the future of poker because that is where the real action is.
A player can become lucky in pot limit or no limit poker, but the luck can change to bad very quickly. Before you know it, your bankroll is decimated. That isn't good news. I have been there and know the feeling.
If you are a beginning poker player, I urge you to take the plunge!
Play in a tournament. Who knows?
One day you may find yourself competing in the World Series of Poker...
...and wouldn't that be a story to tell your grandchildren?
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to [email protected] ).
