Ring games and Tournaments

Ring games are also called cash games or live action games. They are played with chips that are bought with and can be exchanged for real money. Ring games usually run round the clock. Players can buy in as and when a seat is free and cash out when they have finished playing. Someone else can take the empty seat or it can remain empty. The play at the table continues. There are some rules that are considered sacrosanct. A player cannot remove any quantity of his chips from the table. If he does that it is considered a cash out. The player has to vacate his seat and buy in again. Also a player cannot put more money on the table while a hand is in progress.

Poker tournaments have a formal structure with a predefined end when only one player, the winner, is left in the fray. The player pays a fixed entry fee called a buy-in to participate in the tournament for which he receives a certain quantum of play money in the form of chips. Tournaments are played with special chips that are used for playing the tournament but cannot be exchanged for money. When the player loses all his chips he is out of the tournament.

Some tournaments allow a player to buy more chips and are called re-buy or buy-back tournaments. A designated number of players who hold the maximum number of chips move to the next round where they play with the winners of other tables. The prize in the tournament is decided before hand and does not usually have anything to do with the quantum of chips with the winner. It is normally the total entry fee received less the casino’s cost and profits. Such tournaments are called open tournaments because anyone can buy-in.

Invitational tournaments do not have any entry fee. Winners of satellite tournaments are invited to play for a sponsored prize. Such tournaments are also called freerolls. Another type of tournament is the Sit-and-Go tournament. Whereas open and invitational tournaments start at given times and are played over many tables, the Sit-and-Go tournaments are played round the clock and commence as soon as the table is full. The tournament is played over a single table only.

There are several differences between ring games and tournaments. One is that the blind and ante bets in ring games remain constant, whereas in tournaments the blind and ante bets increase as the level of the tournament progresses. In ring games there are special options known as straddles and chops. A straddle is a bet of two big blinds by the first player, who can bet again if the bet is not raised.

A chop is an arrangement between players to take back their blind bets if no one else has bet. These options are not available in tournaments. In tournaments the type of poker game that is being played (such as Texas Hold ‘Em or Seven Card Stud) does not change during the tournament. In ring games some casinos allow players at a table to decide which version of poker to play. Other casinos have separate tables for different versions of poker.