Ring Game vs Tournament Play

  The difference between the ring game and tournament play closely resembles the differences between dating and marriage. Much like casual dating, playing the ring game allows you to come to the table with very few limitations or rules, and lets you walk away when you feel uncomfy, or have simply had enough. Tournament play, like marriage, is a commitment. You are there until you are dragged away, kicking, screaming, and out of money.The Ring Game  The ring game is non-tournament poker. It is less structured about who plays, when they play, and when they cash out. In fact a player can typically buy-in and cash-out whenever they wish. The best strategy in this game is to have a big bankroll. A well financed player can simply outlast their opponents and keep raising the stakes till a less financed competitor feels the cold hands of debt wrapping around their throat.  In the ring game if a player buys in for $10 worth of chips and cashes out $50 worth of chips, he or she makes a profit of $40. These conditions do not exist in tournament play.Tournament Play  Instead of the revolving door policy that lets players come and go as they please in the ring game. Tournament play is more like musical chairs. Everyone scrambling to stay in the game as one by one the weaker players are eliminated.  The key to winning in tournament play is chip management. A player will try to keep a medium sized stack of chips in front of them. This will allow them to disappear off the radar of the other players and go round to round in relative anonymity. Those who play recklessly either wind up with a big stack of chips or a small stack. Other players will try to chip away at somebody with a prodigious amount of chips. Conversely those who are lacking in chips will fall victim to poker natural selection and find themselves back in the bar in fairly short order.  In tournament play, rewards are based on your final rank, not how many chips you have sitting in front of you. For example, if 10 people buy in for $10, then there will be $100 in the prize pool. Players would then receive a set amount of chips. These chips can not be cashed out for money; they are used solely for play in the tournament. Play would continue until one person possessed all of the chips.  The first place finisher would get the lions share of the money. In the case of our example, the winner would probably walk away with $50. Second place may be worth $30 while third place would be awarded $20.