Cash game
also called ring game
A cash game is a game where the chips are money at their face value, so you can join, leave or reload at any time and the blinds never go up.
That single difference drives almost everything else. Because a stack can always be topped up, busting has no special cost, and the correct play is simply the one that makes the most money in this hand rather than the one that keeps you alive.
Stack depth is also stable rather than shrinking. Most cash games are played around 100 big blinds, so postflop play matters far more than in a tournament where the average stack keeps falling relative to the blinds.
an example
your cards
You have 100 big blinds and call a raise with a pair of fives, hoping to flop a set. That happens 11.8% of the time, and it is worth it only because the deep stacks mean the times you hit can pay for all the times you miss.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find cash game in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
MTT
A multi table tournament is an event where every entrant starts with the same chips, the blinds rise on a clock, and pla ...
Buy in
The buy in is the amount you put on the table to join a game: in a cash game the chips you sit down with, and in a tourn ...
Deep stack
A stack is deep when it is large relative to the blinds, usually taken as more than about 150 big blinds, so there is ro ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
The full order of play, from the blinds to the showdown.