Tournaments and Ring Games Differences

Many experienced and skilled ring games players fail to adapt their strategies to tournaments and vice versa. These are some of the differences you have to consider when you make the switch from one playing form to another.

• All-ins before all the cards are dealt are common in poker tournaments. This is normally not a recommended strategy if you want to maximize your winnings in ring games.


• The participants in a poker tournament are eventually forced to take action since the stakes are regularly raised. It's easier to stick to a game plan when you're playing in a ring game.


• If you lose all your chips in a poker tournament you will be eliminated (if it's not a re-buy tournament). In a ring game you can buy more chips when you're cleaned out.


• In tournaments, the prize structure often influences the game. A player's actions will to somewhat depend on the size of his (or hers) stack size and what phase the tournament is in. When you're playing in a ring game your goal is to winning as much as possible in every single hand.


• In tournaments the tables are broken up as players are knocked out. As a result of this there is a constant shift of players. In a ring game you could very well be playing against the same players for a long time. However, if you're playing in a ring game online, you should be prepared for constantly changing games.