The Beginners Guide Series: The Advantage of Color Tagging in Rush & Cash
GGPoker offers a unique poker game mode called Rush & Cash. This game mode combines two different variants of poker: cash games and rush games. A cash game is a poker game where a player purchases chips for a set amount of money and can continue to play for as long as they wish. They have the option to buy more chips if they lose part of or their entire original buy-in. These games usually have a minimum and maximum buy-in, and players can leave the game at any time, taking their remaining chips with them.
A rush game, also known as fast-fold or zone poker, is a game variant that involves players being moved immediately to a new table, and possibly a new seat, once they fold their hand. This allows for a faster pace of play and more hands per hour than traditional cash games. Rush games are popular among players seeking a fast-paced and action-packed poker experience.
Rush & Cash combines these two game styles. When a player joins a Rush & Cash pool of players, they are randomly placed at a table. When a player decides to fold their hand, they are automatically moved to a new cash table with new players from the same pool. This results in an increased number of hands played per hour, which can lead to a faster learning curve for players who study their hands.
What is Color-Tagging
In the world of online poker, color-tagging is a popular technique used to identify and categorize players based on their play style or tendencies. By assigning a color tag to a player, it becomes easier to quickly assess the type of player they are and anticipate their moves during gameplay. There are several types of players that one might consider color-tagging, including:
Loose-aggressive players, who play many hands and often make large bets and raises. I like to identify these players with a bright, bold color such as red, as their playing style is quiet and assertive.
Tight-aggressive players, who play fewer hands but still make large bets and raises. I identify these players with a subdued color like black, as they tend to play quietly and stay hidden.
Loose passive players, who play many hands but usually make smaller bets and calls. I use a whimsical color like yellow to identify these players, reflecting their more carefree style of play.
Tight passive players, who play very few hands and make smaller bets and calls. I find a light grey color the best option to mark these players as their playing style is more reserved.
Fish are inexperienced players who make frequent mistakes. For these players, I use the color blue, reminiscent of the water they are learning to swim in.
The last style of player you can find at the Rush & Cash tables are the Big Blind Folders. These are players who fold their big blind, small blind, or button position when facing any size raise. I identify these players with the color green, to remind me to capitalize on their tendency to fold when facing any aggression.
Fold v Auto Fold
In Rush & Cash games, like at any poker table on GGPoker, players have the option to pre-select an action without waiting for the other players to act. By choosing the auto fold option, players are immediately moved to a new table. This can be beneficial when we have a weak hand, but it can also work against us if we choose to auto-fold when in positions such as the Small Blind, Big Blind, or on the Button.
By selecting auto-fold, we may miss opportunities to take advantage of a table where everyone else is showing weakness. This can result in us missing out on a chance to steal the pot. In Rush & Cash games, we see new players every hand, which limits our ability to gather information about the other players. Without this information, it can be challenging to turn a profit in this game mode. It is therefore better to let the hand play out until our action when in late position so that we can gain the maximum amount of information from the pool of Rush & Cash poker players.
While it is fine to opt for auto fold when holding garbage cards like 23o, 72o, or 92o at a normal table, it is better to wait when in late position at a Rush & Cash table. This is because, in Rush & Cash, we forfeit 1.5 big blinds per turn if we fold as normal. Assuming a standard variance, we will probably have garbage hands 35 times out of every 100 hands. If we choose to auto-fold every time, we will lose approximately 9-9.5 big blinds per 100 hands. This can significantly affect the profit we try to earn. Therefore, it is a better strategy to limp along from these positions than to auto-fold. Although it may cost more upfront, variance will eventually balance out, allowing us to benefit from not auto-folding.
Color-coding players at Rush & Cash tables can allow us, as the poker player, to maximize our time at the tables. We can, at a glance, have an overview of how the opponent plays and, when participating in a player pool as large as they are in Rush & Cash games, this will help us make the correct decisions more often.