Capture the Flag: Where Top Cash-Game Pros Talk Strategy

Amnon Filippi first honed his poker skills by playing seven-card stud in private clubs, but when no-limit hold'em swept the nation, he made a profitable switch. Filippi's fearlessness at the tables is conducive to success, and that aspect of his game earned him his nickname, "Guts." He hails from New York City but spends a significant amount of time away from home in pursuit of cash games he can crack, and was invited to play in the second season of the GSN cash-game show High Stakes Poker.

Lizzy Harrison: What factors make for a good cash game?

Amnon Filippi: I want to find a table with at least four or five people I do not know. I think that if I do not know them, they are probably subpar players, and those are the players I want to play against. I do not want to be in a game full of pros, because the goal is to earn money. If you figure it on an hourly rate, you will make less playing against the better players because it will be tougher.

LH: What is your preferred game, and why?

AF: I enjoy playing seven-card stud because it is a rare game to find. When I am on the West Coast, I try to play stud because there are really good stud games there, and there are not any good stud games anywhere else in the country. Otherwise, I usually play no-limit hold'em. If there are good mixed games going on, I will play in them, also. I will play basically whatever is available.

LH: Is there a game you won't play?

AF: I might not play seven-card stud eight-or-better and Omaha eight-or-better by themselves. I also will never play only limit hold'em. You never will see me at a limit hold'em table because I do not enjoy it.

LH: When you first started playing cash games, what games and stakes did you play?

AF: I started off playing $20-$40 stud, and I played that for about two-and-a-half years. The club where I went pitched only stud and limit hold'em, and I didn't like limit hold'em. I enjoyed stud much more. As time went by, though, I realized that the money is in no-limit hold'em, and I had to begin to play no-limit if I wanted to make a living as a poker player.

LH: How quickly did you become a winning player?

AF: I was not a winning player from the beginning. I would have winning streaks and losing streaks. I improved by constantly watching the players who were always winning. I watched the cards they played, the positions from which they played them, and the hands that they turned over. I adjusted my game to try to emulate these players.

LH: What stakes do you play on a day-to-day basis?

AF: When I play no-limit hold'em, I play the games with a $10,000 or $20,000 buy-in, if the games are good. If there are no good games, I'll play a smaller game with a $5,000 buy-in.

LH: What are the highest stakes you have played?

AF: I am pretty sure that the biggest game I have been in was when I played on High Stakes Poker. It was $300-$600 with a $100 ante. I have played in some $200-$400 games that were pretty big, and some $100-$200 games in which everyone had $80,000 or $100,000 in front of him.

LH: How should a player determine when he is ready to move up in stakes?

AF: If you can consistently beat the game in which you are playing, you should move up in stakes. You have to control your bankroll, though; you do not want to put all of the money you have made in a smaller game into a bigger game. You should take 10 percent of your bankroll to play in a bigger game. Play about five sessions. If you win four out of five and the session you lost was due to bad beats or just getting unlucky, you can move up. You should challenge yourself to move. If you can play with the better players and not let the money in front of you be an issue, you should keep trying to move up.

LH: What is the most common mistake you see inexperienced cash-game players making?

AF: For the most part, amateur players are very curious. A lot of times, they will call off their money with any marginal hand because they want to see your cards. That is the biggest difference between amateurs and pros. Pros can lay down a hand that amateurs would never be able to lay down. Because of this, it is not a smart idea to bluff into amateurs. They just want to see your cards, so if you don't have it and you bluff into them, they are going to call you if they have any piece of the board. They do not have the patience to sit around. The main mistake that amateurs make is calling off their money with marginal hands.

LH: What skills are more important in cash games than they are in tournaments?

AF: Since the limits never go up in cash games, you are not rushed. In tournaments, you are forced to play because the blinds go up. In cash games, you are not forced to play; you can sit there all day long.

LH: Did you ever receive any advice that changed the way you played cash games?

AF: One specific piece of information is to play position a lot. Good players will try to play a lot of hands in position.

LH: What advice would you give a successful tournament player if he wanted to move into the cash-game arena?

AF: Play as small as possible to learn. Do not let your ego get in the way of the stakes you play. Play where you are comfortable. If you get lucky in your first tournament, don't play big cash games. Look at Jamie Gold as an example; he won $12 million and decided he could play at any stakes. Obviously, money was not an issue for him, but it changed the way that others played against him. You don't want to jump into a really big game; you want to start small and work your way up.

LH: Which poker players have most influenced your game?

AF: Paul Darden helped me out early in my career. A few years back, Gabe Thaler helped me with my no-limit game. J.C. Tran has helped me improve my game a lot recently. Also, I hang around with Nam Le, Tuan Le, and Tim Phan. Watching the cards and position that they play has helped my game a lot.

LH: What characteristics do great cash-game players share?

AF: I would say money-management skills, but I keep hearing about all of these big-name pros going broke, so maybe that isn't it. I think it would be poise. They all have been able to withstand the ups and downs throughout their careers.

LH: Which cash-game players do you most respect, and why?

AF: I recently watched Lee Markholt play, and he had a really big win in a fairly small game. It was a $20,000 buy-in game and he had an astronomical win. He was playing well and was very confident. He was enjoying himself, and the cards were coming to him, so he stuck with it and kept playing.

LH: Any others?

AF: Arthur Azen is a New York player; he is good. There are a lot of cash-game players who are not well-known because they do not play too many tournaments. It is like how some people play the lottery and some people don't. Playing a tournament can be like a lottery, because you can play perfectly and still have aces cracked multiple times. In a cash game, you can have your aces cracked and then get all of your money back on the next hand. In a tournament, if you get knocked out, you just go on to the next tournament.