What’s the right poker game for you? In this article we share with you some handy poker tips to help you decide.

For the recreational player, who wants to simply enjoy his or her poker time, there is no need to pick one and only one type of game to play. The best route is whatever maximises enjoyment of the game in a responsible way.

For the serious player, who has ambitions to become a winner and move up through the stakes, however, there is a definite need to pick a trade. This list is not exhaustive but covers most of the popular formats of the game available on PokerStars. I do not cover games other than No Limit Hold’em in this article, but simply formats of play.

Option 1 – Zoom Cash Games

Zoom Cash Games deal you into a new table as soon as you have folded. They are fast and exciting, involving little downtime and a constant stream of decisions. I would recommend these games to players who are interested in studying the game theoretically and learning what plays are correct in the absence of exploitative information. Zoom player pools are very large, especially at the micro-stakes and so gaining exploitative reads is not always fast or easy. Adapting to types of players is key but so is theoretical knowledge and an awareness of how poker players think as a collective group at the limit you are playing.

Option 2 – Regular Cash Games

Regular cash games are a calmer version of Zoom played at the same table for a prolonged period of time and at a slower pace. They offer richer possibilities for gathering and using meaningful reads on your opponents. These games still have all of the convenience of Zoom, although if you want to choose your tables and seats carefully, this can take a little extra time. Players who work full-time, have families, and have limited time for poker will like both regular cash and Zoom formats, but those who enjoy the psychology of the game will prefer regular cash games. It is of course possible to play both regular tables and Zoom games as most of the skill set is entirely transferable. At PokerStars Learn we have a Cash Games Course to get you started.

Option 3 – Spin & Gos

Spin & Gos are lightning speed three-handed tournaments where the prize pool is randomly generated before the start of play. Since most Spin & Go games are winner-takes-all, mastering heads-up play with a short stack is an important skill when specialising in them. Spin & Gos are recommended as a speciality for players who enjoy short-stacked play; learning push or fold charts and calling charts; and a lot of pre-flop all-in action. Players who want to become versed in a more complicated post-flop game tree are advised to specialise in a format with more room to manoeuvre. If you would like to dabble in these games, why not check out our Spin & Go Course here first.

Option 4 – Kick-Off

Kick-Off tournaments are another fast format version of poker, this time with a couple of unique twists. First, they have a shootout format that moves up through buy-in levels. This means you’ll face small groups of opponents in each round rather than a huge field all at once. You can buy-in at any point and finish first in one round to move on to the next. Second, there are mystery bounty prizes. If you knockout another player, you’ll win a randomized instant prize. Kick-Off tournaments are an excellent choice if you want a short-handed turbo format and want to win multiple times your buy-in from a tournament style game. Give them a try on the PokerStars client.

Option 5 – MTTs (Multi-Table Tournaments)

If you have plenty of time available on the days you play poker, and you enjoy the rush of going deep in a tournament in search of a big score, this could well be the format for you. Beware, however, being an MTT player requires a lot of patience. You will go on long periods of not cashing in anything at all. With such large fields, you do have to be lucky as well as good to go deep in a big event. For those who desire a more regular pay-out, 180-man tournaments are a good way of increasing how often you’ll get into the money and reducing your variance. If you’d like to learn more about poker tournament strategy you can try our Multi-Table Tournaments poker course.

Option 6 – All-In Poker

A new format on PokerStars, All-In Poker strips away everything apart from two available moves; fold or go all-in. You’ll buy in to a cash game with a short stack of five big blinds and try to spin your stack up from there. The bigger your stack, the more you stand to lose from other players who have spun up their own, but the more risk you take with every shove. All-In Poker is a fun, fast-paced alternative for casual players. Get on a good run and there’s no faster way to spin up your stack.

Option 7 – Knockout and Progressive Knockout Tournaments

Knockout (KO) tournaments have been around for a while now and have proved to be a popular format of poker because they offer the chance to win instant prizes every time you score an elimination. Half of your entry fee goes towards the regular prize pool with an MTT payout structure, the other half goes towards your bounty. Score multiple knockouts along the way to a deep run maximize your prizes. Progressive Knockout tournaments (PKOs) take this a step further with progressive bounties that increase with every knockout. By the time the tournament reaches the mid-stages, each knockout is potentially worth multiple buy-ins. These are the perfect poker formats for those who like to get their chips in the middle and aren’t scared to play for stacks.

Option 8 – Mystery Bounty

An evolution of the popular KO and PKO poker formats, Mystery Bounty tournaments award random prizes for each knockout. Bounties usually activate once the money has already been reached, which makes them pretty big to begin with. If you get lucky with the digital envelope that you pull, you could win up to the top payout in an instant. This introduces a lottery style prize system, but one that is still based on getting a big stack and scoring knockouts. It’s the newest MTT format on the block and is also available as a Sit & Go on PokerStars.

Option 9 – Sit & Gos and Turbo Sit & Gos

These single table tournaments are convenient, easy on the schedule, and involve plenty of different stages where adjusting your play style to suit effective stack-size is a key skill. Sit & Go players will want to hone their full-table game as well as their short-handed play and heads-up skills. Some players find Sit & Gos a more controllable form of poker where the buy-in is decided before the action starts and where there is less danger of burning through an unplanned amount of money on a bad day. I started off with these games back in 2007 and they helped me form a strong all-round foundation to then take to the cash tables when I started playing poker as more than just a hobby. Check out the Sit & Go Course at PokerStars Learn.

Option 10 – Heads Up Hyper Turbo Sit & Gos

Hyper Turbos are a very common choice of heads up tournament for serious players, though slower 2-handed tournaments are available. This format is suited for players who like a fast-paced adversarial duel. Heads-up play is very volatile as it is necessary to play bigger pots with much weaker hands. Such a format is not recommended for players who go on tilt easily or take losses personally. Forming a vendetta against another poker player is one of the most destructive tendencies of them all. If you suffer from the urge to enact revenge upon opponents who win pots against you, avoid heads-up tournaments at all costs.

Conclusion

As we noted at the beginning, it is not mandatory to specialise. There is nothing wrong with jumping around between different formats until you develop a feel for what you like best and what your skill-set is most suited to. Eventually, if you decide that poker is something you want to make a profitable hobby, or more than a hobby, it is prudent to specialise to one or two formats and dedicate yourself to becoming as proficient in those as possible.