Poker tournaments, no they are not similar to cash games. A poker tournament is a group of cash games bind together. You should not be implementing the same strategy of a normal cash game, in a poker tournament. If you do so, then that would be the big mistake of your life. In a poker tournament you will have fee, as well as buy-in. A buy-in is nothing but buying poker chips, to stay and play and continue the game. Poker chips used in poker tournaments are more in quantity, as well as quality. These poker chips are said to have higher values, in poker tournaments than normal cash games. In poker tournaments, few chips have high values while few of them have low values.

And also in a poker tournament you would be getting higher chips than expected. If you invest $100 buy in then you would be getting chips worth $1000. This is a good benefit right, it will allow you to stay in the game for a long time.