Cash games and tournaments

You just learnt that Texas Hold’em comes in three flavours.

Well, just to complicate things, all these games can also be played in two different ways – as cash games, or as tournaments. Here, we explain the difference between them.

Cash games

In a cash game, all the chips are worth real money. So, if you have a $1 chip, that represents $1 of your money.

Within certain limits, you can usually bring however much you like to the table.

You can join and leave a cash game at any time. You can play for five minutes, or stay for five hours. It’s up to you!

The stakes don’t change. In a cash game the ‘blinds’ stay the same throughout the game. (We’ll cover blinds later – they’re the price you have to pay to stay in the game.)

Multi-table tournaments

In a tournament, chips have no monetary value. Instead, you pay a ‘buy-in fee’ at the start of the game. Everybody’s ‘buy-in fee’ goes into a prize pool, which is eventually split between the winners.

Players are gradually knocked-out. When a player loses his chips, he’s out of the tournament.

The tournament’s top finishers win prizes. Usually, the top 10% of finishers win some money.

Cash games or tournaments?

Most poker players enjoy playing both cash games and tournaments, but a few prefer to specialise in just one format.

Which you decide to play can often depend on the mood you’re in.

Play cash games when…

You want to play for a fixed amount of time, for example your lunchbreak. Cash games allow you to buy in and cash out when you choose.

You want to choose your opponents. You can choose which cash table to play at. You might watch a few tables to choose a table with weak opponents.

Play tournaments when…

You want to limit your potential losses. When you buy into a tournament, you know the most that you can lose is your initial buy-in.

You’d like a shot at winning large amounts of money in a short space of time.

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