Column: Should Cash Games Get A Tournament Makeover?

After witnessing a 'cash game tournament' and ahead of a cash game festival later this year, Barry Carter asks if the poker industry should be promoting cash games in the same way it does tournaments?

APAT 'Cash Champion' Steve Redfern

Over the weekend I played at Dusk Till Dawn who were holding the APAT World Championships. As part of the festival there was a 'cash game championship' event. This was something I have never really seen before in live poker, but I liked it.

A fixed amount of players sat down and had a maximum of two buy-ins. They could get up and leave whenever they wanted, and after a set period of time the top eight stacks formed the 'final table' and after another set time period the player with the most profit was the 'champion' and won an additional prize of a €300 tournament seat, a bracelet and a gold medal.

It was an intriguing format which at face value was just another cash game, but with the limit to number of buy-ins and added prizes, also added an element of freezeout and strategy to the proceedings. Players were forced to make a decision between locking up a profit (or quitting while they were losing) or gambling for a big stack in order to 'win' the tournament- which no doubt was very good for the action on the tables.

It was a very popular event and it got me thinking, why does live cash game poker always have to be a side game?

Side game or main attraction?

Is it time for a cash makeover?

It's not the first time an event has been built around a cash game. I have twice worked on the PartyPoker Big Game, which was a 48-hour televised cash game streamed from a casino which had other events played around it (Including satellites into it).

The format really worked as a spectacle taking centre stage rather than a side game thrown in the corner of the room. It also had elements of tournament poker with players being 'eliminated' from the game if they played too tight. Shows like High Stakes Poker, which I still think is the best ever poker TV show, have also proved it can work as a main attraction.

In August PokerStars are set to also throw their hat into this ring, as they are hosting a week-long cash game festival as part of UKIPT Galway. It is taking place alongside a horse racing festival in Galway, which means it is potentially very well timed for lovers of soft cash game action. I've been reliably informed by the guys at UKIPT that it's going to be huge, and more details are expected this month.

This also made me think of another event, the annual World Sit and Go Masters, which is a rare opportunity for Sit and Go experts to play their preferred format live in a semi-tournament format with a trophy at the end of it. Obviously this is not a cash game format, but proof there is a demand for non-tournament based live events.

Tournaments for show, cash for dough

Cash makes for great TV

I feel like it is time that we took cash games out of the sidelines and onto the main stage. Either by having more festivals exclusively devoted to cash game poker, or by at least making a bigger deal of their presence as a side game by having a trophy, adding value to the event, incorporating a semi-freezeout format, streaming the games online or anything else to make cash games more prevalent.

Maybe the biggest reason I like the idea of making cash games events in themselves is because I don't see any reason why cash game specialists wouldn't want some of the fame and glory that comes with tournament poker.

There is an old saying in poker; "tournaments for show, cash for dough" which infers that cash game players 'get it quietly' and prefer to stay under the radar.

I'm not sure if that is the case. If anonymity was a predisposition of a successful cash game player, then they wouldn't all volunteer to play on shows like High Stakes Poker, they would shy away from cash game challenges like the durrrr Challenge and isildur1 Showdown, and they would do a better job of remaining unknown online.

The thing that really struck me in the card room last week was just how excited everyone was to be playing cash for a trophy, in fact some had bought in for this reason alone. I think this all shows there is a market for gamifying and promoting cash games with more of a tournament ethos.

One of the reasons why tournaments figure so heavily in poker marketing is because they are aspirational. The bracelets, the piles of cash, the winner's photos - they all paint a very cool picture of poker. I don't see any reason why we can't market cash games in a similar way.

Good for the games

High Stakes Poker

Even if you disagree with idea of cash game players coveting glory, there are plenty of reasons why such a format could work for all parties.

Most notably the games themselves would be more plentiful and softer. I've seen televised cash games previously hold satellites to win a seat, and see no reason why this can't transfer to live cash game events, where you could win travel, expenses, and maybe 3-5 buy-ins for a particular cash game level.

Such a format would attract more new and/or tournament players to cash to begin with, which would be both a nice unintimidating first step for them and a welcome softer addition to the game for the experienced players. 

Cash game poker also has lots of fun nuances to it, things like running it twice, the 7-2 game, straddling and prop betting. These are much enjoyed elements of cash games which could be incorporated into a cash game festival to make it fun and loose. I'd love to see things like '7-2 day' or 'forced straddle tables' in such a festival, rather than just the standard games and stakes. 

It could also prove very profitable for the casinos and event organisers themselves. Cash is usually a steadier more consistent influx of revenue than tournaments, with rake being paid every hand. More importantly in most tournaments 60+% of the field bust on day one, then leave the casino never to return. This is not a problem for a cash game festival, where the customers can choose to play as long as they wish as long as they have the money.  

More than just a side game

Cash is king

Cash games are played 24/7 online and grinders get all the added value they need in the form of bonuses, rakeback, rake races and other promotions.

There is part of me that wonders, however, that maybe someone like PokerStars could organise a cash game freezeout format festival like the one I saw in Nottingham once a year too. Just like SCOOP there could be micro, medium and high stakes cash game championships once a year to cater for all players and also to get the tournament players on the cash tables.

This could also potentially be a great way to get more people trying out niche variants of poker which are predominantly only played as cash games like PLO, stud and mixed games.

Cash game poker is just as popular as tournament poker. I feel that not only are cash game players missing out on a lot of the kudos and added value that comes with live tournament poker, but also I can't help but feel that as an industry we are not utilising cash games enough in the live arena.

The popularity of shows like High Stakes Poker and the railing of nosebleed cash games online shows there is a real enthusiasm for cash game poker, maybe it is time we started to make a bigger deal of these so-called side games at live events too.

By Barry Carter

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