Poker Tournaments





Online Poker Tournaments

One of the best ways to make money playing poker is to play in poker tournaments. You can either choose to play in a live poker tournament or an online poker tournament. The difference between playing cash poker games and tournament poker games is that in a tournament everyone starts with the same amount of chips instead and the chips are real cash.

Whether you choose to play in a live or online poker tournament you will have to put in money to 'buy in' to the game. When you buy in to a game you will be given a set amount of chips. In online tournaments you will also have to pay a tournament fee which is a small set amount of money that goes to the online poker room. The tournament fees are not added into the prize pool. The prize pool is made up of all the buy in monies, both in live and online games and that prize pool is then divided according to a set prize schedule.

There are several types of poker tournaments in which you can play. A standard poker tournament has a single buy in and the blind levels increase at a set time. Live poker tournaments will usually see those blind levels increase at a slower race than online games. Tournament poker can be played in all types of poker including Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Stud as well as mixed games like HORSE.

The game structure can differ in the way the tournament is played. For example, you can play a turbo tournament where blind levels will increase more rapidly than a standard game. Other types of tournaments are Heads Up tournaments, shoot outs and sit n go games. A Heads Up game as two players per table going head to head until one has all the chips. At that point the winning player will continue to a new competitor and play goes that way until there is only one player left. Shoot out tournaments are played with multiple tables and a single winner from each table will go onto the next round. The advantage of the heads up and shoot out games are that if you are lucky enough to go to a second or third round, you and your competitors will all have the same chip count. A sit n go tournament is typically played just like a standard tournament except there amount of players in the tournament is much smaller.

When you are buying into a tournament you will also need to see what type of buy in you are doing. Certain poker tournaments allow rebuys, and add-ons; and some games either start with a deep stack or micro stack. In a rebuy tournament you can buy more chips, usually if you lose all of yours before a certain point in the game, and you will buy a stack of chips equal to your starting count for the same money you bought in for the first time. Watch for unlimited rebuy games as these are the games in which you will see the loosest poker play. If a poker tournament allows an add-on, this is generally done at the end of the first hour of play. Any play can purchase an additional amount of chips to be added to their stack at that point.

Deepstack poker tournaments are mostly going to be the games where you have a higher buy in to the game, and on the opposite side are the micro stack games where players start out with very little chips and are forced to play aggresively to stay in the game.

Another type of poker tournament that many new players like are Freerolls. A freeroll tournament is one where the players do not have to pay to play but there is a prize pool, which is usually very small. Some of the poker freeroll games have requirements to get in like being a new depositing player or by qualifying with a certain amount of rake.

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