When playing cash games on ceme online, you will find out that they are played on a single table and involve players between two to ten. They use fixed blind levels like 1$/2$, which does not change when the game is ongoing. A player might join an active cash game at any point as long as there is a seat open at the table.
You have to first buy-in to join a cash poker game. It involves having to exchange cash for the value of the chips. There usually is a minimum amount that you can buy-in, and there are some cash games with a maximum amount.
The type of game and the house rules are what will determine whether there will be a minimum and maximum buy-in or not. A typical buy-in usually is 10 big blinds, and a maximum buy-in is typically 100 big blinds.
Your chips in cash games have monetary value, and money is lost and won in every pot. If you decide to put 10$ in a pot and a hand that beats you up, you lose the 10$ actual money. If you win a pot that has 50$ chips, then it means you have won $50 cash. This aspect of cash games tends to be incredibly obvious, but it is the opposite of how you lose or win in tournaments.
If you lose all your chips while playing a cash game or find that you are running low on chips, you can buy extra by exchanging money, but each table minimums and maximums will still have to apply. But it is hard to remove any chips from the table unless you want to leave.
Leaving can happen at any point when you are playing a cash game in poker. Whatever chips you have will then be converted into cash. It is another difference between cash games and tournaments poker.
Which is the best: cash games or tournament poker?
The two formats require different approaches psychologically, as there are other differences in the potential profits to the staked amount and the variance involved. As a beginner, you should know that the two formats have their characteristics with their pros and cons.
To some extent, the pros and cons are a matter of opinion, and thus, it will boil down to individual preferences. Most poker players tend to settle for tournaments or cash games while others prefer both; the choice is yours to make.
