Cash Games vs. Tournament Poker
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When playing poker, the two main formats are cash games and tournaments. On top of different poker games and betting variations, these formats are defined by how buy-ins, prize pools, and blinds work.
In cash games, players buy in with real money that’s converted to chips. The blinds stay the same throughout, and you can leave whenever you like, cashing out your remaining chips. If you lose, you can buy in again and keep playing.
In tournaments, every player pays the same buy-in and receives the same number of chips. The prize pool is made up of all the buy-ins, and blinds increase at set intervals. Once you lose your chips, you’re out—play continues until one player has them all, with payouts based on finishing position.
Cash Games
Cash games are often a player’s first real introduction to poker, commonly learned in casual settings like a kitchen table. Unlike recreational formats using chips or tokens, cash games involve actual money — real stakes, real winnings. This format is played globally in homes, clubs, casinos, cardrooms, and increasingly online.
Each game has a minimum buy-in based on the stakes, and no-limit games often cap the buy-in to protect players. In no-limit or pot-limit formats, buy-ins usually range from 20 to 100 big blinds. For example, in a $1/$2 no-limit game, you can typically enter with as little as $40, though a standard buy-in is around $200.
Fixed-limit games have different requirements — generally at least 10 times the small bet. So, in a $2/$4 limit game, you’d expect a $20 minimum buy-in. Buy-in amounts and stake levels can vary significantly between venues and platforms.
Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned pro, there’s a cash game to suit every bankroll. Online poker platforms offer tiered stakes — from micro and low stakes to medium and high — ensuring accessibility for all types of players. Here’s a look at the typical stake levels available in most online poker rooms:
No-Limit hold’em:
- Micro ($0.01/$0.02 to $0.05/$0.10)
- Low ($0.10/$0.25 to $0.50/$1.00)
- Medium ($1/$2 to $4/$8)
- High ($5/$10 +)
Fixed-limit hold’em:
- Micro ($0.01/$0.02 to $0.25/$0.50)
- Low ($0.50/$1.00 to $3/$6)
- Medium ($5/$10 to $10/$20)
- High ($15/$30 +)
This is just a fuzzy guide to illustrate the range of stakes available when you play online – there’s literally something for everyone. When you play live, such as in a casino, it’s highly unlikely you’ll find stakes as low as the ones listed here. In most casinos the lowest stakes are usually $1/$2 for no-limit and $2/$4 for fixed-limit – although you might find lower stake games in some venues, and in home games people often play for pennies.
Full Ring vs. 6-Max Cash Games
Cash games are often called “ring games” and a table that seats 9 or 10 players is known as a “full ring” game. With the advent of online poker short-handed play has become very popular. Short-handed means the tables are usually limited to a maximum of six players. As such, short-handed cash games are normally referred to as “6-max”. These games have developed a large fan base because they are action packed. Players get to play more hands than in a full game and play their hands more aggressively. This is due primarily to the fact that strategically one cannot just sit back and wait for premium cards as the blinds come around much more quickly.
Even though the size of the table is the only difference between the two formats, they play very differently. These differences are highlighted in our separate poker lesson on full-ring vs. 6-max cash games, but as a beginner you’re much better off starting out by playing full ring games before trying your hand at the more aggressive 6-max games.
Tournament Poker
In a poker tournament, every player pays the same buy-in, which is split between the prize pool and a fee for the organizer. For example, a $55 entry might be $50 to prizes and $5 to the house, with each player receiving a fixed stack of tournament chips (not real money).
Blinds start small and increase regularly, forcing action until players are eliminated. The prize pool is shared among the top finishers, often the final 10%—for instance, in a 100-player, $50 buy-in event, $5,000 might be split among the last nine or ten players, with first place earning 30–50%. Chip counts only matter within the tournament; to win money, you must place in a paying position. Specific structures—chip stacks, blind levels, and payout distribution—depend on the organizer.
Freeze Outs
A freezeout is a tournament where you can’t rebuy or add chips—once you lose your stack, you’re out. The entry cost and starting chips are fixed, making it the opposite of a rebuy tournament.
Rebuy Tournaments
In a rebuy tournament, losing all your chips doesn’t mean you’re out—you can buy back in, often multiple times within a set period (e.g., the first hour). Many also offer an “add-on,” letting players purchase extra chips before a cutoff, such as the first break. Because players can rebuy, they tend to play looser early on. After the rebuy period ends, the event shifts into a standard freezeout.
Satellites
Using our WSOP reference once again, a one table satellite tournament to qualify for the $10,000 buy-in championship would require each of the ten players to post $1,000 (don’t forget the fee of $100) with the winner gaining free entry into the World Championship. “Free entry” actually means he would have put up $1,100, won $9,000, and gained a seat into the tournament for a total cost of $1,100.
Satellites offer a potentially cheap way of gaining entry into high buy-in tournaments. There are also satellites which win you a seat into another satellite, and so on. There are some that start with a free entry (referred to as “freerolls”), or just a couple of dollars. If you play online poker you will notice complete sections for satellite tournaments, for all sorts of events, such as the WSOP, WPT, and other special events and high buy-in tournaments.
PKOs & Mystery Bounties
Bounty tournaments add an extra layer of excitement by rewarding players for eliminating opponents.
In a PKO, part of each buy-in becomes a bounty on your head—when you bust someone, you win half their bounty in cash and the other half is added to your own, making you an even bigger target as you go deeper.
Mystery Bounties take a different approach: once the bounty phase begins, knocking a player out earns you a random prize, which could be small or massive, adding lottery-like suspense. Both formats change the strategy—you’re not just chasing chips, but balancing risk against the value of the bounty.
Turbos & Hypers
These fast-paced tournaments feature rapidly increasing blinds that force action and shorten playtime. Turbos usually have blind levels around 5–10 minutes, while Hypers push the pace even harder with levels as short as 2–3 minutes.
The structure demands looser, more aggressive play since survival depends less on waiting for premium hands and more on adapting quickly to escalating blinds.
Multi-Flight Tournaments
Multi-flight events let players enter across multiple starting “flights” (Day 1A, Day 1B, etc.), with survivors advancing to a shared Day 2. This format builds larger prize pools and gives players multiple chances to qualify without needing to play all in one session. If you bust in one flight, you can usually re-enter in another, making them popular for big series and festivals.
Conclusion
There are many forms this intriguing game of poker can take. Some people prefer the challenge of playing cash games, and others prefer the buzz of playing in poker tournaments. It really comes down to personal preference, so you should decide for yourself if you prefer cash games or poker tournaments.
Each format has it’s own unique strategies and we’ll cover these in much more detail in the poker lessons throughout the site. Many of the poker lessons on Pokerology are applicable to both formats but we also have separate lessons devoted to cash games and tournament strategies. By following all the lessons here on Pokerology you should become skilled in both disciplines.
