How to build a profitable game plan for cashgame poker.

This is how to build a profitable game plan for cashgame poker by considering bankroll, preflop, postflop, time and more.

If you enjoy playing a nice game of cashgame poker at the local casino or your favorite online poker site, but also would like to make some profit, while doing so, then you will have to build a profitable game plan for the specific game, you will be playing.

Find the best casino or online poker site.

The PokerStars client and cashgame lobby shows, that the NL10 player pool has 44 tables running and a total of 74.296 players in total.

Your first consideration will be the casino or online poker site, that you will be playing at. If you have a choice, you might want to place your action, where you have the best advantage. This advantage is made of lots of elements, such as the player pool and environment.

Chose the right bankroll management plan for you.

This simulation of variance shows, that even though this player has a good win rate of 4 bb/100, there is a risk of experiencing bad variance with a magnitude of 30 buy-ins over 25.000 hands.

If you plan on making a long term profit, then the size of your bankroll has to be sufficient, so you are protected against the variation and downswings, that is a part of the game. This will strike early or later. I recommend at least 25 buy-ins of the stake, you will be playing, which can reduce your risk of ruin to less than 5%. This depends on your skills and win rate. Read more about this in Variance and downswing in poker.

Prepare ranges for preflop play.

I open pocket kings from early position and 4bet squeeze in a fullring NL10 cashgame on PokerStars in 2021.

Prepare a well defined set of ranges, that you will be comfortable playing, and, that you know, you have played profitably. You might want to think about the expected player pool tendencies and use this information to prepare a tight and aggressive set of 2bet opening ranges, 2bet calling ranges, 3bet ranges, 3bet calling ranges and 4bet ranges. You will want to memorize these ranges for each position at the table. As your skills improve, you will dive deeper into these ranges and open them up with more value and bluff hands. If you use a poker tracker, you will test groups of hands with different lines, so your ranges and lines stay up to date with pool tendencies and remain profitable for you. You might want to tighten up or adjust slightly, if you will be moving up and want to compensate for your initial lack of information about the player pool tendencies.

Plan your actions for flop, turn and river play.

I check pocket aces to the aggressive fish, that, as expected, goes all-in on this flop, that brings a scare card like this king. Continuation betting here would be a mistake. If this player was a passive fish, I should bet.

Prepare a plan for your flop, turn and river play. This is more important, when you will be playing the small stakes and higher. You will want to think about, which hands, you will be betting vs. certain players on certain board types. You will also take into consideration, whether you are in or out of position. You might want to have a neat balance between value and bluffs for every street. For this to work, you will need to be able to profile your opponents and hand read, so you know, when you have equity to bet for value and when you have bluff equity to bet as a bluff.

Manage your time, so your game plan stays strong.

Make a routine, that ensures, that you have a good balance between studying poker, playing poker, reviewing key hands and analyzing your lines. All of which ensures, that your game plan stays updated and profitable. You should also ensure, that your mental and physical health is strong. It might not directly be a part of your game plan, but the execution of your game plan rely on it.

More about game plan.

Read Variance and downswing in poker and Bankroll management plan for online cashgame poker.