Online Poker Tournaments: Introduction to the Glamorous Side of Poker

This course has been aimed at how to win at cash games, and this is the area you should get experienced in first before moving on to tournaments.

Tournaments are a popular format of Poker, where players compete against a field of hundreds or thousands of others with the chance to win prizes many times their buy-in. This format is used for major championships such as the World Series of Poker. It’s quite different from cash games, and the odds of winning money are generally longer.

This section is just a quick introduction to tournaments, the different types of tournament, and the differences in strategy you need to use in a tournament situation.

Types of Tournament

There are three main types of tournament:

Sit and Go Tournament

This is a kind of mini tournament. A Sit and Go tournament will usually have between 5 and 20 entrants at varying stake levels.

To enter a sit and go tournament all the entrants pay the buy in, so for a $5 sit and go tournament all entrants would pay $5 to enter the tournament (plus a small rake fee payable to the poker room). This entrance fee then creates the prize pool, so if it was a 5 entrants – $5 sit and go then there would be a prize pool of $25.

To enter a Sit and Go tournament all entrants pay the buy-in, for example $5 plus a small fee charged by the poker room. This creates the prize pool, so in a 5-player $5 Sit and Go there would be a prize pool of approximately $25. This is an example only and actual buy-in, fees, and prize pools will vary by operator.

Payout structure varies but in general these tournaments will either pay the first 2 places or the first 3 places, so in this example the payout structure may be $17.50 to 1st place and $7.50 to 2nd place.

When the tournament begins each player will start with a stack of chips. Again this will vary, but most common will be a stack of 1000, 1500 or 2000 chips. When a player loses all his chips, then they are eliminated from the tournament.

The blinds will start off at a small level such as small blind 15, big blind 30 or similar. At regular intervals through the tournament the blind levels will increase in stages (25/50, 50/100, 100/200 etc). The period of the blind increase intervals will be based on either number of hands e.g. every 15 hands, or a time interval e.g. every 5 minutes.

You will also find a type of sit and go called a “Turbo”, this is just the same but the interval between the blind increases is shorter, so that the time taken to complete the tournament is shorter.

The tournament continues until one player has won all the chips, and all the other players have been eliminated.

Multi-Table Tournaments

The big multi-table tournaments can have any number of entrants, and usually range from a few hundred to a few thousand.

Due to the number of entrants the prize pool will also be a lot higher, and again will vary significantly from a few thousand dollars to $1million+. The number of places paid will also be higher and will typically range from the top 20 to the top 100 places depending on the number of entrants.

The format is similar to a sit and go tournament however a multi-table tournament will take a lot longer to complete and typically will take between 3 – 6 hours to complete, usually with a 5 minute break every hour.

During the tournament you may be moved from one table to another as players get eliminated, or you may get new players moved to the table you are playing at. Therefore you will be playing against different players at various stages in the tournament.

Satellite Tournaments

Satellite tournaments can take place in the form of a sit and go tournament or a multi-table tournament.

The only difference with a satellite tournament is that the prize is not a cash prize, but instead will be entrance to a bigger stake tournament.

For example a $5 stake Satellite tournament may offer the prize of free entrance into a $100 stake multi-table tournament.

Satellite tournaments are most common for the big stake tournaments with the big prizes. These tournaments may not be accessible to most players because the stake required to enter them is too high, so these satellite tournaments give these players the opportunity to get into these tournaments for a smaller stake.

Satellites are also available for the prestigious big live poker tournaments such s the World Series of Poker, The World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour etc, where you can win a $10k+ seat at these big prize tournaments for as little as a few dollars.

Strategy differences Tournament vs Cash Games

There are significant differences in the strategy you need to adopt in a tournament versus the strategy you have learned in this course for cash games.

The differences are so vast that it warrants an entirely separate course; however, here are just some of the variances:

• Starting hand requirement – you have to loosen your starting hand requirements as the blind levels increase otherwise you will run out of chips.
• Reading Players – this is a harder task on multi-table tournaments as you are regularly playing against new people at your table, or being moved to another table full of new players, so you constantly have to re-assess new players in order to read them.
• Short handed tables – tables with less than 10 players require a different style of strategy with more frantic and aggressive plays such as bluffs.
• Advanced Plays – as the blind levels increase more advanced plays such as Stealing the Blinds becomes increasingly important, and learning to defend against other players using these advanced plays is also very important.

By all means try a small stake Sit and Go or multi-table tournament to get an idea of what they are, but for now, focus on cash games where you have learned a solid strategy in this course. If you have followed the course fully and practised at every stage, you will be developing skills that can help you compete confidently against many players you will come across.

With time and experience, you can continue to improve your game and increase your chances of success as you become more skilled and knowledgeable.

Once you are ready to move on to incorporating Tournament play into your game, then check back here for our Tournament Strategy Course, and you can become a winning tournament player as well as a winning cash game player.

Poker Bankroll Challenge: Time to Reach our $1,000 Goal

Congratulations on completing all the learning lessons in this course. Before you take the end of course exam in the next and final lesson, you can complete the final stage of the Poker Bankroll Challenge aiming to build your bankroll from an initial stake of $25 toward a target of $1,000.

The twelfth and final stage of the bankroll challenge is below. This stage may take different amounts of time depending on individual experience and results. By applying the strategies learned throughout this course, you can work toward growing your bankroll to support play at medium stake levels and beyond.

On average, this stage may require about 10 sessions, but results will vary. Be sure to take regular breaks and play responsibly, only when you feel alert and focused.

Time to Up the Stakes!

We will move up the stake levels to the 25c/50c tables, progressing from the lowest stakes to medium stakes. Bankroll growth depends on many factors and will vary individually, and targets may take different amounts of time to achieve

We are now moving into the more advanced stake levels and this final stage will give you valuable experience at this higher stake level, from which you hopefully will have the confidence to continue to increase your stakes levels after this course as you feel comfortable to do so and as your growing bankroll will support.

At these stake levels, you will face more knowledgeable players, mixed in with less experienced players who may be playing beyond their skill level.

A word of warning: just as your bankroll can build quickly, it can also decrease rapidly if you stray from your strategy or experience losses. If your bankroll drops, avoid panic and stick to your strategy by playing Tight – Aggressive, waiting for opportunities to rebuild your bankroll responsibly. If necessary, consider moving back to lower stakes until your bankroll recovers to a suitable level. Always manage your bankroll carefully and set limits to protect yourself.

Once you have built your bankroll up to $1,000, congratulations on reaching this milestone from an initial stake of $25. With continued practice and study, you may develop the skills needed to compete regularly at medium and higher stakes tables. Remember that success requires ongoing effort, and results will vary between players.

Don’t forget to let us know when you have achieved your goals; we appreciate hearing success stories from our community. Also, remember to take the end of course exam in the next and final lesson.