Quote:
However, if I used that then I'd be missing valuable information from watching the other players (more important in tournament games than ring games).


You've got this exactly backwards, Jeff. The information about your opponent's play is more important in cash games. In tournaments, tables break frequently and you don't get to play with any particular opponent for very long. On top of that, the money gets short fast and then the play is pretty much mathematically driven (at low m numbers). In a cash game, you can play with that guy for hours and hours, over many days or months or years. Knowing how he plays in detail translates into enormous profits.

I'm not saying that it isn't important to understand how they're playing in tournaments. It is very important. But it is absolutely not more important than in cash games.

In tournaments, it is more important to *quickly* assess an opponent, but you will almost always have less information on him than you would in a cash game. You can typically make much more sophisticated reads and plays in a cash game for this reason. In tournaments, you are more often forced to go with the percentages simply because you don't know the players that well.

FWIW,
Jim