Cash Game
A cash game is a poker game played for real money, where players can join and leave at any time.
The simple explanation
A cash game is a poker game played for real money: each chip stands for an amount of cash. You can sit down and leave when you like, you can buy more chips if you lose them, and the blinds stay the same throughout. This is different from a tournament, where chips have no cash value and the blinds rise.
A closer look
In a cash game your result is simply the money you leave with minus the money you bought in for. There is no elimination, so you can rebuy as often as the game allows, and you can leave after a single hand. Stakes are described by the blinds, such as $1/$2. Because deep stacks are normal and nobody is forced out, cash games reward patient, position-aware play. The room takes its fee through rake or a time charge.
A practical example
A player buys in for $200 at a $1/$2 cash game and leaves with $350.
Full explanation
A cash game is a poker game played for real money, where players can join and leave at any time.
A cash game, also called a ring game, is a poker game in which the chips represent real money. Players can join and leave at any time.
If a player loses all his chips, he can buy more. When he leaves, he converts his chips back into cash.
The blinds and stakes do not change during the game. A $1/$2 game stays $1/$2 all night.
Cash games are the counterpart of tournaments, in which players pay a buy-in, receive chips with no cash value and play until they are eliminated.