Poker Tournaments

The poker boom was fueled by a combination of events, and one of the major reasons was huge poker tournaments that got TV exposure.  Tournaments are a very hot topic in poker, online and live, and this article will lead you through tournaments and break down why they're so popular.

Ready to Play a Poker Tournament?

If you visited this page ready to play a poker tournament, then head over to any of our top rated sites now to play the best online poker tournaments.  PokerStars has the biggest prize pools, and softest competition of all the online poker sites.

Top 5 Poker Tournament Sites

If you want to learn more about poker tournaments before deciding to play one, keep reading for all the info you need.

What is a Poker Tournament?

Poker Tournaments are a variation of poker where each player pays a fixed buy in and receives a fixed amount of chips that have no real money value.  If you're playing online or in a casino, you'll almost always be forced to pay a fee for playing in the tournament, that is usually 10-20% of the tournament buy in.

Most online poker rooms will take a $.50 fee from $5 tournaments, a $1 fee from $10 tournaments, and so on.  So when you buy into a $10 online poker tournament, you are actually paying $11, with only $10 going into the prize pool.

After everyone receives their chips, play ensues just like at a normal ring table.  Some of the differences though are that if you leave the table, you are still forced to pay your blinds.  Also, there are set intervals that blinds increase, to force action and drive all of the chips eventually down to one player.

As you get closer and closer to reaching the money, you'll find that the blinds will place increasing pressure on your stack.  This forces players to play more aggressively, and it is the only reason that poker tournaments actually end with one player having all of the chips.

Payouts usually work as follows.  Between 10-20% of the field will receive a prize, and the prizes increase depending on how high you finish.  The winner usually receives around 20-25% of the prize pool.  So if you're in a $10+1 tournament with 1000 entrants, you can expect the winner to get at least $2000.

Where to Play Poker Tournaments

Poker Tournaments can be found anywhere nowadays.  Any casino that offers poker will usually have daily sit n go's as well as multi table tournaments.  However, the best place to find a poker tournament at literally any time of the day is at an online poker room.

Poker sites run tournaments 24/7, and you don't even have to leave your computer to play.  Also, another advantage is that poker sites can run tournaments with as low as $.10 buy ins, which is something you would never see in a casino.

If you're thinking about playing an online poker tournament, there are two online poker rooms that are far above the others when it comes to tournaments.  These sites are PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

To learn more about these sites and the tournaments they offer, make sure to read either our PokerStars Review or our Full Tilt Poker Review.

Poker Tournament Strategy

Once you decide to enter a poker tournament, you're going to want to be sure you're prepared to win.  We offer an extensive online poker tournament strategy section that will give you all the information you need to go deep and take down a huge poker tournament.