For online poker, there are two kinds of players: cash and tournament. Before you sit down at the virtual table, get to know the difference.

In online poker, there are two distinct types of players: the cash player and the tournament player.

Cash
For cash players, things are pretty simple. They find a table and test their skill against other cash players on each individual pot, folding when they have nothing and trying to cash in on every good hand. And that’s not even mentioning bluffing.

The tournament player, however, is a different animal.

Tournament
For tournament players, it’s all about the grind. The object of every tournament is to outlast the field. The actual play isn’t much different than a cash game, but there’s no getting out when the getting is good. You’re in it until you bust out or win it all.

While successful tournament players do finish in the money, New Jersey’s online poker sites have another way of rewarding steady tournament players. They’re called leaderboards, and they add bonuses and sometimes even cash to successful tournament players bankrolls.

A leaderboard is a simple concept. Players sign in for a site’s daily poker tournaments and are awarded points for their play. The online poker sites have their own logarithms for awarding points, but obviously the higher you finish and the more tournaments you play, the more points you earn.

Your points and the points of others at the site are tracked on the leaderboard. The higher you finish on the board, the more bonus and tournament dollars you win.

PokerStarsNJ.com, for example, offers a monthly multi-table tournament leaderboard. If you place in the top 15% of a regular multi-table tournament, you will be awarded Tournament Leader Board (TLB) points. How many is determined by the tournament buy-in, the number of entries and how high you finish.

The monthly TLB takes your best 20 results from all the tournaments played during the month. Players who finish in the Top 60 will share a total of $7,500 in tournament dollars, with first place claiming $1,500. Tournament dollars can be redeemed only in tournament buy-ins—but that means essentially you can play tournaments for free.

See? Pretty simple. The point of the leaderboard is to create a little more action for steady tournament players and add some friendly competition. You can monitor your progress on the TLB all month.

Leaderboards are fun, easy and a nice bonus for all that grinding.

Here are some other examples of online poker leaderboard play in New Jersey:

• WSOP.com offers Sit & Go leaderboards for regular players of Sit & Go tournaments (single table tournaments). WSOP.com offers the leaderboards each week. You gain points if you finish in the top 50% of your tournament. The top 15 finishers on the board split a $1,000 cash prize.
• BorgotaPoker.com and partner PartyPoker.com also frequently offer their own weekly Sit & Go leaderboards for Six Max (only six players at the table) tournaments. They’re currently offering leaderboards through September 29. There are two weekly competitions — a High Leaderboard for higher buy-in tournaments with $1,500 in prizes and a Low Leaderboard for lower buy-ins with $500 in prizes. The Top 20 finishers on both leaderboards win cash prizes.

New to poker? We won’t tell. Check sportsquare’s Game Guide to learn the poker basics.