Cash Game Or Tournament

Cash games, also sometimes referred to as ring games or live action games, are poker games played with 'real' chips and money at stake, often with no predetermined end time, with players able to enter and leave as they see fit. In contrast, a poker tournament is played with tournament chips worth nothing outside the tournament, with a definite end condition (usually, only one player left), and a specific roster of competitors.

Rules[edit]

Players may freely buy into or cash out of a cash game between hands.^[1] However, it is normally prohibited for a player to remove a portion of his or her chips from the table. This is known as 'going south'.^[2] For example, if a player buys in for $100, then wins $100 (for a total stack of $200), the player may not remove the original $100 buy-in while remaining seated. He would have to forfeit his seat, possibly wait to rejoin the game, and buy in again for $100; however, many cardrooms prohibit the practice of buying in again unless a certain time period has elapsed before the player rejoins. Similarly, cash games are played for table stakes. If a player attempts to put additional money onto the table (from his/her wallet) in the middle of a hand, he may not do so until the conclusion of said hand.

1. Cash games, also sometimes referred to as ring games or live action games, are poker games played with 'real' chips and money at stake, often with no predetermined end time, with players able to enter.
2. Tournaments Tournament strategy is quite the opposite to that of cash games. Tournaments are usually very top heavy in the pay scale, meaning to get a good amount of winnings you need to finish in the top.

GamerSaloon.com is the place to compete in online video game tournaments and win real money prizes. GamerSaloon.com makes it possible to play your favorite Xbox Series X ©, Xbox One, PS4 ©, PS5, Switch ©, PC, and iOS Mobile games for cash. As a beginner to online poker games, which types of poker games should you play for real money; Tournaments or Cash games? These two poker game formats are readily available at online poker. Cash games are the purest form of poker. This is the game commonly seen in movies where the hero sits down at a game already underway and starts playing. This happens because unlike tournaments, cash games.

In 'no limit' poker cash games, some cardrooms have a maximum buy-in for cash games. In limit poker games, there is seldom a maximum buy-in because betting limits already limit the amount a player can wager on each hand.

In a casino, a rake is usually taken from a pot if a flop is shown and the pot reaches certain values.^[3] Some games take a time rake instead of a pot rake. In these games players pay a seat charge every half-hour.

Ring games[edit]

While the terms 'ring game' and 'cash game' are often considered synonymous in common usage, opinion differs on the true definition of 'ring game'. For example, in the glossary of Doyle Brunson's Super System 2, a ring game is defined as 'A game with a player in every seat, that is, a full game—as opposed to a shorthanded game'.^[4] As such, the term 'cash game' may be considered a more precise depiction of the kind of game commonly found in most casinos or home venues; that is, a non-tournament game played for actual money (or chips representing actual money), without regard for the number of players seated at the table at any given time.

Comparison with tournament games[edit]

Tournaments and cash games have different basic strategies. One difference between tournaments and cash games is that the blind/ante structure of tournaments increases periodically over the course of the tournament, whereas the blind/ante structure of cash games remains constant. Another difference between the tournaments and cash games is that a tournament sticks with a predetermined style of poker, and cash game players, depending on house rules, may have the option of playing other types of card games. Some online cash games offer a variety of choices limited only by the game software.

Other differences between cash games and tournament poker are that, in cash games sometimes straddles and chops are allowed. A live straddle is a dark bet of two big blinds by the player first to act, who is then entitled to bet again if the bet is not raised. A chop is an agreement between the players in the blinds to retract their blind bets if no one else has bet. A chop prevents the casino from taking a rake from the pot. Also, cash games sometimes allow players to reduce the element of luck (often called 'variance', especially by professional players) by splitting large all-in pots. Since online platforms can instantly calculate each player's pot equity at the time they go all-in, some online cash games allow such pots to be split based on this equity. Players who opt for such an arrangement will receive a share of the pot based on his or her odds of winning (from the time all players still in the pot exposed their cards) once all of the cards have been dealt. An alternative method of reducing variance, used both online and in live games, is to run the board multiple times to ensure that the person with the best odds of winning gets the largest share of the pot more often.

Examples[edit]

An example of a cash game is broadcast on the United Statestelevision networkGSN as High Stakes Poker. The Bellagio casino's 'Big Game' is a famous high-stakes permanent cash game, featuring a wide variety of rotating poker games with and without limits.

References[edit]

1. ^Kinds of games: Ring games vs. tournamentsArchived February 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
2. ^Faith, Hope and Ratholing
3. ^How to Calculate the Rake in Poker
4. ^Doyle Brunson; et al. (2005). 'Glossary'. Super System 2. Cardoza Publishing. pp. 663.

There are two different game formats in DFS, cash games and tournaments. They are both very different and require a different strategy when drafting your team. In this article we will go through both and help you understand the main differences between the two.

Cash Games

Cash Game Vs Tournament

Cash games only pay out the top 50% of the field. They can consist of as little as 2 entries (known as head-to-head), to as big as tens of thousands of entries. Everybody who finishes in the top 50% gets paid the same amount, double their buy-in. Because of this, we don’t care about finishing first, we just want to make sure we get into the top half of the field.

To do this, we need to make sure we pick a draft team with the highest floor possible. A floor is the lowest possible score we can expect from a player.

In NBA, Steph Curry has a remarkable high floor, as he generally never scores below 40 FPS. By creating a team with a high floor, this should mean that we are guaranteed enough points to get into the top 50%, even if we are no where near the top of the leaderboard. There is no need to take risks in cash games, so steer clear of players who are unpredictable.

Tournaments

Tournament strategy is quite the opposite to that of cash games. Tournaments are usually very top heavy in the pay scale, meaning to get a good amount of winnings you need to finish in the top 1-5% of the field. To do this, you generally have to take some risks. Unlike in cash games where we are looking for players with high floors, in tournaments we need players with high ceilings.

Play For Cash And Prizes

A high ceiling is the highest possible score we can expect from a player. Of course, as we want to score as highly as possible, we need to create a team with the highest ceiling as possible. Again, a player like Steph Curry has a high ceiling too, as he can score upwards of 70 FPS a night.

Generally players with high ceilings are the highest priced players, but not always. Some players, known as “boom or bust”, can have high ceilings but very low floors, meaning you don’t know what to expect from them. They are needed in your teams, but of course make the amount of points you will score very unpredictable.

Cash Game Vs Tournament Strategy

As well as finding players with high ceilings, another strategy is to make contrarian plays, or “plays against the grain”. This means going for players who most other DFS players may dismiss, for a number of reasons. By doing this, you are differentiating your team from many of the field, which means if that player has a great game, you will find yourself shooting up the leaderboard.

Hopefully this article will help you to identify the differences between cash games and tournaments and the need to change your lineups depending on which type you are playing.