Cash games or also known as ring games are when you sit down with a specific amount of money at a Stake that is consistent, and dictated by the regularity of of the blinds. Examples would be 1/2, 2/5, 5/10.... this means the blinds are always and dictated in the title, and each chip in your stack is worth a spasific amount....
In tournaments your buy in goes into a pool, after the house takes thier cut, and is divided up over the top 10% of the remain field.... you play till your chips are gone, and whoever collects all the chips wins the largest prize.... this means we dictate chip value or worth based off a theory called ICM or (Idependent Chip Model).... this is how we dictate our range of play, and actions based off equity....