There was a time when all poker players learnt their trade playing cash poker games and texas holdem tournaments were something of a novelty. Today we have clearly defined tournament players and clearly defined cash game players. Some of the best cash game players have little or no success in tournaments and some hugely successful MTT/SNG players have never even played cash games. I was in Dublin last month at the Irish Open and I witnessed one of the best online tournament players in the world bust out of the main event and play in a cash game.

I was shocked at how pitiful they played in it and how outfoxed they were by some pretty standard players . Just like amateur boxing is a totally different sport to professional boxing (same goes for amateur and professional wrestling now I think of it), cash games and tournaments are also a different beast.

But that doesn't mean that they necessarily have to be totally exiled from each other. 2007 so far has been an 80% cash game year, but I have started to see a real benefit as a result in my SNG and tournament game. It is no secret that the chosen one, Tall Paul, has recently been pondering whether or not to switch back to limit cash games for a while. I say perhaps all of us should switch over from cash to tournaments and vice versa, if you haven't played in a while or have never played them, here are just a few reasons why cash games can give you an edge in tournaments.

Blind levels 1-3

A common maxim of tournament play is to stay tight in the early stages and wait for big hands. This is a good strategy for survival but ultimately chip accumulation should be your prime directive in a tournament. The first 3 or so blind levels when you have 50-100 big blinds is the time to take a few punts with speculative hands and take small pots from the weaker players at the table and all the players who subscribe to the 'tight early' strategy. There are going to be a lot of players who do not know how to handle a deep stack and will go broke to your set when they have top pair.

Cash games are also probably better practice when you do win a seat to that WPT/WSOP event online, because there you have to manage a very deep stack of 200+ big blinds. All-ins preflop are nothing short of suicidal before the 2nd dinner break in these things and without deep stack management you run the risk of just adding to the dead money prize pool.

Cash sessions will also allow you take a much more logical and structured approach to the hand on every street, in tournaments it is often over by the flop (or at least all the money is in the middle by then) whereas in cash games you have to think in advance about things like 'what will I do if he calls my bluff on the flop' and how to play the turn and river.

Big Laydowns

With 100+ big blinds, you should never really find yourself in a 'coin flip' in a cash game. A hand like Ace-King which is great to get all your money in the middle of table with late on in a tournament, but you never want to commit 100 big blinds in that spot in a cash game unless you have a very very good read on your opponent. In a deep stack cash game not only do you learn to assess when the pot is getting too big for your particular hand but you get used to being up against a much wider range of hands. You will get used to spotting when your opponent has a set or has hit their draw and will have a much sounder appreciation of betting patterns.

Before I played cash games I was never able to lay down Ace-King or Queens preflop or Aces and Kings on under flops (I struggled to lay down Kings on Ace high flops) but cash games certainly enable to get a sense for big hands and what to look for.

Position

Everyone knows what position is, but lots of people still struggle to appreciate how important it is. In tournaments once you are past the 200/400 level the chips are invariably going to fly in every direction regardless of when its your turn to act but in cash games position is king. In cash games I will never pass up a cheap button and will defend it with weak hands whenever possible. Most hands miss the flop most of the time, position is what allows you to win pots with no hand and that is vital in tournaments where you cant wait for Aces forever.

Fishing

Ok, I said position was king in cash games, but so is table selection. The beauty of a cash game is that you can leave when you are getting spanked and follow the player that is paying your mortgage for you. Every cash game player has their fish list and finding a 'live one' who isn't smart enough to click the 'hide from search' feature button is as good as money in the bank.

But this is useless in tournaments with a random seat draw right? Not really, once you've learnt to spot a sucker its very important to be able to do that in a tournament. You are invariably going to get sat with a player that dominates you and you need to recognise that early. I was at the GUKPT event with ITH'er MrMCPink last month and I found myself at a table with Dave Colclough and Willie Tann, quickly I decided to stay out of pots with them until I had a hand, instead I spotted a player who was calling out of position with K-6 and complaining because he 'hadn't got dealt a picture card in ages' - this was where I got my chips and I finished in 18th place and in the money - the fish kept me afloat.

Cash games are the current missing link in the new wave of tournament players armoury but thankfully shows like High Stakes Poker and the big games on Full Tilt are waking people up to ring games. If you are a winning tournament or SNG player then there is no reason to stop what you are doing, but they might just give you that extra 5% you need to stay one step ahead of the pack.