It’s in the interest of a player that master poker to a certain degree to play under such circumstances that best gain his skills in the game. Which can vary in depending on what playing conditions that occurs.

There are many forms of poker and combinations of these to choose from: limit, no limit, cash game, tournaments, heads up, shorthanded, longhanded and more. Of course is not every condition giving the same outcome between skill and luck. Except variations in forms there is more circumstances playing a role, among these is blinds structure, multi table, choice of time for your playing. 

Let’s begin with the different playing forms. First I want to focus the dividing of heads up, shorthanded and longhanded. It’s a fact that the affects of luck will increase then the game is decided between a group of ten players. It will be many multi-way pots there irrational players can be your worse opponent and there hands that first was weak can develop to the strongest. Further on (this is true on tournament play) you probably must survive more situations there all your chips is involved then would be necessary if lesser players would participate. These are ingredients that unnecessary often give negative affects on the skilful acting player.

In heads ups you meet different conditions: you facing one player only all the time and also the same particular player all through the game. That means that the strongest starting hands more often will end as the strongest hands and that your opponent must defeat you on his own.

An other dividing concerns sit n go contra bigger tournaments. That is of course harder to win a tournament than a sit n go, but the luck has on the same time a bigger influence. The luck is with other words more important in a tournament. You can hardly go really far in a tournament with bad cards, but with good play may you be “in the money” in a sit & go even that you get relative bad cards if you play the situations right. 

If you play sit n go will the blinds structure be an important part. With the blinds structure I here primary mean the time intervals for the decreasing blinds. In a poker room you can usually choose from different time intervals. These can be named fast, medium, slow (in the poker rooms lobby these more often is called names as “turbo”, “super turbo” and so on). There are a few things to say about this before a statement about the most suitable interval is. It can directly be pointed out that the longer interval between the blinds limits the more decisive part is made by skills. Then the blinds getting higher will the cards get more important and that gives fewer possibilities to play selective or to leave a pot after the flop. 

Even after this statement if wont is obvious which blind structure it’s the right choice. It will on the same time take longer time for you to win money, your hourly rate is decreasing. It would therefore be desirable to find a way that gives enough room for skilful play and possibilities for satisfactory profit. 

Now it’s time to put sit n go against cash game. Cash game is often classed as the number one game then it comes to skills. This statement is primarily based on that genuine poker generates better EV in more situations in cash game then sit n go allow. In sit n go must many situation be solve in a way that are more rooted in the criteria’s of the tournament then in the particular hand. There is for example situations in a sit n go there it can be discussed if it’s the right choice to fold A-A pre flop (!), something that hardly is on the agenda in a cash game. 

To choose among no limit and limit is not so much about the relation skill against luck (even if you can choose to argument about this), as individual abilities in poker. No limit is probably the right choice for players that are good in bluffing and are mentally armed to survive fast swings in the bankroll. 

Finally we should discuss the idea of playing multi table. This can generate a bigger profit on a shorter time. To play on several tables at once can also be an alternative to move up a higher limit. The cons of playing multi table are that you maybe will feeling more stressed than amused by the game. To get familiar with it there no better way than try it out and then decide what your feel about it. Most poker clients offer special adapted windows for playing multi table.

Manage your skills

Shorthanded & longhanded  Related article: