Ring Games vs. Tournaments – The Basics

This post will breakdown the basic differences between Ring Games and Tourneys. If you’re new to poker, this is for you. If you’re an old school online poker player, just skip this and hit a tourney…or a ring game. It’s your call.

There are two primary poker game formats in online poker, Ring games and Tournaments. The two differ considerably, with ring games allowing players to come and go as they please. Tournaments on the other hand play down to the last man standing. If a player chooses to leave, they are out of the tournament.

Both formats have many differences and hence different playing strategies. There is also much debate amongst professional players as to winning strategies for each, and which is the most profitable. Playing style for each is markedly different and often players will be naturally suited to one or the other.

Ring Games

Typically ring games are easier to win at compared to tournaments. A tournament only pays a few of the top seats, so the only way to win money is to survive through the levels and place in the final few.

As a result it is much harder to win money in tournaments. Consequently there are not many pros that solely play tournaments, most will play a mix or ring games only. Ring games offer the benefit of being able to cash out when one is winning. In a tournament a monster win will set you in good position to progress, but doesn’t pay off unless you win or place in the money.

Ring games allow a player to leave when they have made money, and hence are generally considered more profitable. They also give you a chance to buy back in and win back your money if it has been lost to a player at the table. These points are strong arguments in favour of ring games.

Tournaments

Tournaments are typically long games where many players choose to employ a varied strategy, differing for each stage in the tournament.

In the early stages, many adopt a loose aggressive style, trying to force big hands pots and wins to create a chip stack advantage for the later stages of the game. In addition to such a style, a relatively conservative approach is factored in, and will normally involve very tight hand selection strategy.

Playing the player is not as useful in tournaments as it is in ring games as players are constantly advancing, being eliminated and changing tables. Ring games provide the length of time required to evaluate play opposing player’s game styles, where tournaments commonly do not.