In poker, cash chips represent a certain value of money. But in tournaments, chips do not correspond to the same value as in cash games. For example: if we were playing poker for cash, €100 would correspond to 100 chips, and if we won 1 chip, it would correspond to €1.
What if, say, we were playing in a 10-person tournament. The tournament would have a buy-in of €100, the starting chip count would be 100, and the prizes would be €500 for 1st, €300 for 2nd, and €200 for 3rd. Only at the start of the tournament, 1 chip is equivalent to €1. If we were to win first place, we would receive 1000 chips and a prize of €500. That's 1 chip equivalent to only €0.5. The value of the chips has decreased. Thus, the value of the chips does not correspond to the initial value at the time of the tournament.
Thus, in a poker game, a positive EV on chips corresponds to a positive EV on cash. Whereas in poker tournaments, a positive chip EV does not always correspond to a positive cash EV and may be negative.
