Building up your poker skills through the years is the best possible method of ensuring that you have every chance of winning at the poker table.  But in many cases, the skills that you have built up are extremely specific to the types of games that you have gotten used to playing.  In the case of cash games, the actual playing style is far different from what the player would find in other types of games, such as Texas Hold'em poker tournament championships similar to the World Series of poker tournament in Las Vegas.  Just like the annual event that brings in so many visitors and causes so much excitement, these Texas Hold'em poker tournaments are a completely different playing style than cash games.

Playing in cash games requires the player to come away with as much money as possible in order to claim victory.  This would seem obvious, and should be the very first goal of any individual attempting to earn and win at any type of poker in general.  Without this focus on making as much money as possible, it is very likely that many players would quit playing altogether, as the game itself would quickly become pointless.  But, as redundant as it may sound, it is important to point out that competing in cash games means winning, i.e. bringing cash away from the table.  In the case of poker tournaments, the strategy is completely different.  Staying in the game becomes more important than any other single factor, as the only way the Texas Hold'em poker tournament player can earn any cash or reach the final events is by staying in the game until the bitter end.

With this emphasis on staying in the game at all costs, the strategy behind the poker tournament changes completely, and the skills that the player might have accumulated playing in cash games throughout the years has to be greatly modified to keep up with the type of playing style that is common at the poker tournaments of the modern-day.  In fact, in the very first World Series of poker tournament in Las Vegas, hosted by Benny Binion and won by Johnny Moss, the tournament ended with a vote on who played the best.  Choosing victory in this way would be completely alien in the modern-day, but it clearly illustrates the differences between cash games and Texas Hold'em poker tournaments and the need for the player to adapt to each in turn.