Poker Tournament Introduction

A poker tournament is a contest between several online poker players, all competing with each other, in order to win the final prize. Poker tournament games are played by millions of poker players from all over the world.

In every poker tournament some basic similarities are constant:

An initial entry fee is charged by the house in order for the player to participate in the poker tournament.
Every tournament poker player enters the game for the same amount of cash.
The final prize pool is made of all the entering bets made by the players.

The entering fees are usually divided into first, second and third cash prizes. For example, for a poker tournament of 250 players, each entering $400, the total prize money won would be $100,000.

As the poker tournament progresses, more and more poker players are eliminated. As this occurs, the poker tournament approaches a heads-up situation . The blinds also increase as the online poker tournament takes place. This means the risk factor for each game also rises over time, and the pot grows in proportion.

A poker tournament usually involves only one type of poker such as Texas Hold'em poker or Omaha.

There are variations of poker tournament games, according to how the each tournament game is played. Single Table Poker Tournaments will begin at the same time after all poker players are at the table. Players are seated according to the order they arrived to the table. Multi-table poker tournaments have set starting times for games to begin, and players must register some time before the match starts, in order to play in the game. Seating is randomly assigned before the start of the poker tournament. The transfer of players from one table to another is done with consideration to players playing the blinds. During single-table poker tournaments, there are no breaks. In multi-table poker tournaments, there is a five-minute break that happens once an hour.

Another factor that distinguishes poker tournaments are the stakes. Limit tournaments are poker tournaments where there is a set amount of betting stake at each level of the game and each round played, and where only one bet and three raises are permitted for each betting round. In no-limit poker tournaments that amount is opened to the players' decision. Players can raise the stakes how many times they'd like.

There Are several other poker tournament games options that differ from the standard Poker Tournament variation. These variations include Turbo Tournaments, Satellite Tournament, Winner-Takes-All Tournaments and Shootout Tournaments. There are Many poker tournaments you can choose from. The most famous ones are the WSOP and the WPT.

WSOP- The biggest and most famous poker tournament is the WSOP, or the World Series Of Poker. During the 2005 WSOP poker tournament, Texas Holdem poker player Joseph Hachem won $7.5 and became the WSOP champion. The WSOP has been annually played since 1970.
WPT- also known as the world poker tour, this is another major poker tournament that is quite different from the WSOP. This tour is fairly recent, since 2003, and is a televised poker tournament that spans many channels worldwide.

Todd Sanders.
Senior Editor

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