Tournaments Explained

Poker tournaments are competitions where the aim is to win as many of the chips in play as you can. The winner is the player who accumulates all of the chips. There are various forms of poker tournaments available and these have been discussed below. Tournament poker can be played for varying stakes and can be a great way to play with limited finances as each tournament has a fixed entry fee so losses can be easily controlled.

The various types of poker tournament are:

Multi-Table

These are knockout tournaments where the players are seated around multiple tables. Often there may be a few hundred players playing with 10 people around each table. Once some people are knocked out then the tables will balance and there will be 9 or 10 around each table but a few less poker tables. For the larger tournaments 20 or even 30 players will receive a slice of the prize pot although the money doesn't get very high unless your in the top 10 or even 5. You'll find loads of multi-table action at The Poker Room.

Satellites

Satellite tournaments offer a cheaper route into the big money tournaments. They basically allow the player to try to win a 'ticket' into the main event. Commonly they will cost around 1/10th of a full tournament costs to enter and the winner gets to play in the main tournament without having to pay anything else.

Sit and Go

Sit and Go tournaments run only with one poker table, normally with 10 players although sometimes 6. The beauty of the sit and go table is that as soon as the table is full of players then the game starts. The prize pot is normally split between the top 3 players in a 10-player game and in a six player game the first two places are paid.

Poker Freerolls

Freeroll tournaments are offered by the poker rooms and can be played for no cost. The poker management as an incentive for players to play there puts up the prize pot. Freerolls are a great way for players on a tight budget to play poker for real money and to gain experience before paying to enter higher level tournaments.

Specials

From time to time specials will be posted, these are generally multi-table based and may offer special prizes rather than money. It's worth keeping an eye out for these as often you can play for little money and win great prizes