A ring game (also known as a cash game) is a single-table poker game where the players are free to come and go as they please. Play continues as long as there are at least two players seated. Ring games have a minimum and a maximum buy-in range of chips. The buy-in is deducted from the player's account balance when they join a table and any remaining chips in their possession is credited back to their account when they leave. Players can add to their chip stack (known as a rebuy) while sitting at the table whenever their chip stack falls below the maximum buy-in limit.
The Ring Games tab contains a list of ring game tables that are available on your poker site. A toolbar of commands just above the list is used to manage the game properties as described below. There is no limit to the number of ring game tables that you can add to the list. However, only one table (ring game or tournament, but not both) can be put online at any given time in the Lite and Trial versions of Poker Mavens. To run multiple tables simultaneously, you must use Poker Mavens Pro.
Add - Click the Add button on the toolbar to add a new ring game to your site. An input form will be displayed as shown below. Click in any field and a description of that property will be displayed in the yellow box.
Ring Game Properties
Name - Enter a unique name for this table or accept the default name, up to 25 characters in length.
Game - Select the game type, either Limit, Pot Limit, or No Limit Texas Hold'em.
Password - Specify a password to make this a private table or leave this field blank for an open table. Players cannot observe or join a private game unless they know this password.
Seats - Select the number of seats at the table, from 2 to 10.
Min buy-in - Select the minimum buy-in for this table, from 10 to 10000 chips. The default value is 500.
Max buy-in - Select the maximum buy-in for this table, from 10 to 10000 chips. The default value is 2500.
Turn clock - This is the number of seconds that the player has to act on each turn. The default value is 30.
Time bank - This is a reserve of time (seconds) available to each player on request. This value does not reset as long as the player remains at the table. A "Request Time" button is displayed when the player's regular turn clock is about to expire.
Small blind - This is the small blind, from 1 to 500 chips. The default value is 10. See Rules of Poker: Texas Hold'em for an explanation of "blinds".
Big blind - This is the big blind, from 1 to 1000 chips. The default value is 20.
Limit bets - This setting is calculated automatically from the big blind and is only applicable when the game type is set for Limit Hold'em. In that case, the stakes are expressed as the small bet (equal to the big blind) and the big bet (equal to twice the big blind).
Auto online - When this box is checked, the ring game table will go online automatically whenever the game server is started. Otherwise, the table will not be visible to the players until you manually put it online via the Action button on the toolbar. If you have the Lite or Trial version of Poker Mavens and you check the auto online box for more than one table, you will get an error when you try to start the game server. Only the Pro version of Poker Mavens supports running multiple tables simultaneously.
Edit - Click this button on the toolbar to edit the properties of the selected ring game. If the game server is running and the selected table is currently online, the Ok button on the input dialog will be disabled. You must first take the game offline to edit any of its properties.
Delete - Click the Delete button to delete the selected ring game tables from your site. You cannot delete tables that are currently online.
Message - Click the Message button to send a short popup message to all players seated at the selected tables.
Action - Click the Action button on the toolbar to display a menu with these commands affecting the selected tables:
Put online - puts the selected tables online. The game server must already be running. Only 1 table can be put online in the Lite and Trial versions of Poker Mavens. Use the Pro version to run multiple tables simultaneously.
Take offline - takes the selected tables offline, either immediately or after the current hand is complete at each selected table.
Pause - this command will pause the action at all selected tables.
Resume - this command will resume the action of selected tables that are paused.