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 or Gold.
View - Click the View button (or double click a game in the list) to view the leaderboard and waiting list for the selected ring game.
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 needed to take a seat at the table or leave blank for an open table.
Private - If a password is set for the table, select Yes to make it completely private or select No to allow observers to watch. This setting is ignored if no password is specified.
Observer chat - Select Yes to allow observers to use the table chat feature.
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 1000000 chips.
Max buy-in - Select the maximum buy-in for this table, from 10 to 1000000 chips.
Default buy-in - Select the default buy-in for this table.
Rake - Select the number of chips (0 to 1000000) to rake from the pot for every "Rake every" chips collected in the pot. The main pot and side pots are raked separately but the total is never more than the "Rake max" value and no rake is collected on hands where there is no flop. This is a Pro/Gold version feature. Set this value to 0 for the Trial or Lite versions. The rake from all tables is collected in a special account that can be viewed and reset from the Chips menu on the Accounts tab.
Rake every - Select the number of chips (0 to 1000000) that must be collected into each pot before the "Rake" amount is deducted. This is a Pro/Gold version feature. Set this value to 0 for the Trial or Lite versions.
Rake max - Select the maximum number of chips (0 to 1000000) that can be raked in a single hand. This is a Pro/Gold version feature. Set this value to 0 for the Trial or Lite versions.
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 5000 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 10000 chips. The default value is 20.
Auto online - When this option is set to "Yes", 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 enable auto online for more than one game, you will get an error when you try to start the game server. Only the Pro/Gold version of Poker Mavens supports running multiple games simultaneously.
Description - This is an optional table description, up to 500 characters. It is displayed at the top of the table's information window and may include the same HTML tags that are available in th Site News feature. Be sure to use the target="_blank" option when making links so that the new page opens in a new window and doesn't overwrite the current game window.
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/Gold 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.