Nowadays, we have seen the massive growth and popularity of poker tournaments, especially Texas Holdem poker. Mostly what you see on the screen pretty much follows the same basic structure such as the sizes of a stack, the time limit, buy-ins, and the blinds. While a lot of poker tournaments are held in a famous casinos and aired on TV, tons of them are also held online. Whether you’re a poker newbie or an advanced player, there's a lot to learn and win in a poker tournament. Learn how they work and how to find the right poker tournament for your playing level and style right here.
Online Poker Tournaments
Online poker sites normally offer two types of games - one is the real money poker cash game, and the other is the poker tournament. In cash games, you have the option of sitting down at the table with whatever amount you like. You could say, place as little as $50 or as high as $1000 (the decision is entirely up to you). Any player who wishes to participate in a cash game can place any amount he wants. You can even sit down or leave the table anytime you want. The best part about this is that you will be able to get the money you win immediately.
A poker tournament, on the other hand, works in a different way. Although the same rules still apply, every player in a tournament will have the same number of chips, therefore, allowing each of the players to play fairly. The concept of a tournament is pretty simple - be the last one to remain and take home the prize.
How Poker Tournaments Work Online
To get a better understanding of how a poker tournament works, let us take a look at the basics.
- In a tournament, you will have to win as many chips as you can to stay in the game, you will be eliminated in the event you lose all of the chips.
- The typical buy-in for a tournament often includes the prize pool plus the tournament fee. For example, a $20+5 buy-in would mean that $20 will go to the prize pool while the remaining $5 will go to the ones who hosted the event.
- All players receive the same number of chips, meaning it will be fair play.
- The last one remaining will get to take home the top prize, which is determined by the total number of players multiplied by the buy-in amount. So if there are a total of 1,000 players who participated with a buy-in of $25, it would mean a total prize pool of $25,000.
- The prize pool is actually divided among the top-ranked players, instead of being claimed only by the champion. So with a prize pool of $25,000, it would mean the champion would get $10,000, the second placer will get $5,000, and so on.
Different types of tournaments
There are actually almost unlimited styles of poker tournaments available online these days, because they are so popular and exciting and each online casino keeps coming up with new twists and turns to keep their poker players drooling at the bit! Ever since poker tournaments gained popularity, more and more games have been offered. Here are some of them:
- Deep Stack - a deep stack tournament is distinguished by a larger number of starter chips in relation to the blind. On average, a deep stack poker tournament starts with 5,000 chips or even higher depending on the poker site. The higher number of chips allows players to play in the tournament for a longer period of time.
- Freeze out - a freeze-out tournament is where players make a single buy-in and try to win as many chips as possible. In the event a player loses all his chips, he will then be eliminated from the tournament until only one player is left with all of the chips in his possession.
- Limit - this is a type of tournament wherein the bets and raises have a fixed limit. The word “limit” often means the level of stakes, or perhaps the maximum wager when the tournament reaches a certain point.
- Speed poker - this is one of the best kinds of poker tournaments for poker newbies because the game is fast and furious, there's a stack of cash to win AND there's no time to play with advanced strategies. Speed poker tournaments level the playing field!
