The amount of money that a player puts down at the table when they first join a ring game. Most tables allow further buy-ins at a later point in the game.

Almost all tables have a minimum buy-in. It indicates the minimum amount of money a player will need to bring to the table. Fixed limit tables usually have no maximum buy-in whereas no limit tables have a ceiling on the amount of money brought to a table. Players may, through playing, acquire more money than this maximum but they are now allowed to exceed this maximum through a buy-in.