If you're hosting, the format you pick decides how much work your night is. Here's how the two compare, and what to expect when the money gets paid out.
Cash games
Players buy in for chips at a fixed value and can rebuy whenever they like. You can join late, leave early, and the game runs as long as people want to play.
Good for: small groups, flexible nights, groups where people arrive and leave at different times.
What it asks of the host: consistent chip values, a record of every buy-in, and cashing people out as they go. Settlement is by net result: what you left with minus what you put in.
Tournaments
Everyone pays the same entry, gets the same starting stack, and plays until one player has all the chips. Blinds rise on a schedule. Prize money is paid by finishing position.
Good for: bigger groups, a set start time, and a clear winner at the end.
What it asks of the host: a blind schedule and a timer, a clear policy on rebuys, and a payout structure agreed in advance. A game of eight can take three to four hours.
How tournament payouts usually work
The prize pool is every entry and rebuy added together. It's split between the top finishers. At a small home game, that's typically the top two or three.
Common splits:
- Top 2: 65 / 35
- Top 3: 50 / 30 / 20
- Winner takes all: simplest, and the most exciting for the last two players
Example: eight players with a 50 entry make a pool of 400. Paying three places at 50 / 30 / 20 gives 200, 120 and 80.
If there are rebuys they go in the pool too. Three rebuys at 50 add 150, so the pool becomes 550, and the same split pays 275, 165 and 110.
Rebuys in tournaments
Most home tournaments allow rebuys only in the first few blind levels, and often only when you're out or below your starting stack. Say so before the start. Players who bust in the last hour have a very different view of "just one more rebuy" than players who bust in the first.
Which to choose
- Four to six players, relaxed night: cash game
- Eight or more, and a fixed evening: tournament
- A mix of experience levels: tournament, because the loss is capped at the entry
- People arriving whenever: cash game
You don't have to choose forever. Plenty of groups run a tournament once a month and cash games the rest of the time.
Tracking either
Both formats come down to the same record: who paid in, how much, and who gets what at the end. How to track buy-ins and rebuys works for either. Bink has a mode for cash games and for tournaments, including prize pool splits, and our free calculator covers cash game settlement.