Cash Games

What Is a Cash Game?

Cash games are the foundational format of poker. Unlike tournaments where you buy in for a fixed amount and play until you are eliminated, cash games allow total flexibility. You sit down with real money, every chip has a fixed dollar value, and you can stand up and cash out at any moment. The blinds never increase, the table never closes (as long as there are players), and you can reload your stack whenever you want.

Cash games are identified by their blind levels. A “NL100” or “$0.50/$1.00” game means the small blind is $0.50 and the big blind is $1.00, with a maximum buy-in typically set at 100 big blinds ($100). The stakes range from NL2 ($0.01/$0.02) for beginners all the way to nosebleed stakes like NL10,000 ($50/$100) for the elite.

For many serious players, cash games are the preferred format because they offer the most control over risk. You choose your stakes, your session length, and your table. There is no bubble pressure, no escalating blinds, and no forced all-ins. Every decision is a pure poker decision, which is why cash games are often considered the truest test of poker skill.

How It Works

Buy-In: Most tables have minimum and maximum buy-in limits, typically between 20 and 100 big blinds. You can rebuy or add chips at any point during the session up to the maximum.

Blinds: The blinds remain constant for the entire session. Unlike tournaments, there are no levels or escalation. This allows for deeper-stacked play and more post-flop strategy.

Table Selection: You can choose your table and even your seat in most rooms. Skilled players actively seek out tables with weaker opponents, a practice known as “table selection” or “bumhunting.”

Leaving: You can leave a cash game at any time and take your chips with you. There is no obligation to play a set number of hands. However, many rooms enforce a minimum time before you can sit at the same table with fewer chips than you left with (the “ratholing” rule).

Variants: Cash games run in all poker formats — No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO), Fixed-Limit Hold’em, and mixed games. NLHE and PLO are by far the most popular online.

Example

You sit down at an NL200 table ($1/$2 blinds) with $200. Over the course of a two-hour session, you win several medium pots and one big hand where your set of queens beats an opponent’s top pair for a $350 pot. Your stack has grown to $420. You decide to end your session and cash out, keeping the full $420. The next day, you return to the same stakes, buy in for $200 again, and continue playing. Each session is independent, and your results accumulate over time into a measurable win rate, typically expressed in big blinds per 100 hands (bb/100).

Where to Find the Best Cash Games

The quality of cash games depends on traffic, software, rake structure, and the overall skill level of the player pool.

• GGPoker has become one of the largest cash game networks globally, known for soft player pools and innovative features like PokerCraft hand tracking and built-in staking.
• PokerStars offers the widest variety of stakes and game types, with cash games running around the clock at every level from NL2 to NL10,000.
• 888poker is consistently rated as one of the softest cash game pools online, making it particularly attractive for low and mid-stakes players.
• PartyPoker has invested heavily in attracting recreational players to its cash game tables through anonymous seating and limited HUD functionality.

Use our Rake Calculator to compare cash game rake across rooms at your preferred stakes.

Related Terms

• Rake — the fee taken from each pot by the room, a critical factor in cash game profitability
• Rakeback — loyalty rewards that return a portion of rake paid in cash games
• Fast-Fold Poker — a high-speed cash game variant that eliminates waiting time between hands
• HUD — heads-up display software commonly used to track opponents in cash games

FAQ

What bankroll do I need for cash games?

A standard recommendation is 20 to 30 buy-ins for the stakes you play. For NL100, that means $2,000 to $3,000. More conservative players or those playing higher variance formats like PLO should have 40 to 50 buy-ins.

Are cash games harder than tournaments?

Cash games test different skills. The constant blind levels and deep stacks emphasize post-flop play, hand reading, and exploitation of opponents over long sessions. Tournaments require ICM knowledge, short-stack play, and adaptation to changing structures. Neither is inherently harder, but the skill sets differ.

What is a good win rate in cash games?

At micro stakes (NL2 to NL25), strong players achieve 5 to 10 bb/100. At low stakes (NL50 to NL200), 3 to 6 bb/100 is solid. At mid-stakes and above (NL500+), 2 to 4 bb/100 is excellent. These rates decrease as stakes increase because the competition gets tougher.