Online Poker Tournaments (Not Only) in Texas Hold'em Poker
Do you think that you are a real good Poker player? You can make sure in the Poker tournaments played over the Internet! First of all you should check, whether it is legal in your country. You can play for free in the freeroll tournaments or for real money. The tournament style of play offers long entertainment and is friendly to a player's wallet, since you play with the chips exchanged for the buy-in. The only limit remains the player's courage and temperament.
Texas Hold'em Poker is currently the most popular Poker game in the world. With little exaggeration we can say that Texas Hold'em is the synonym for playing Poker over the Internet. In online Poker playrooms there are, of course, also the other Poker variations available: Poker Draw, 5-Card Stud, 7-Card Stud, Omaha and Omaha Hi Lo.
How It Works & How You Can Play Poker Online For Free?
The Poker tournaments are held by online casinos and betting shops, which also enable you to play Poker online and win without the need of initial buy-in (see the Freerolls in the chapter below).
Before you can play there are two steps needed – registration and download of Poker client. If you consider playing for real money you also need to transfer some funds to your playing account. The usual currency of the Poker tournaments is American Dollar, but you can well use any other currency as the conversion is automatic.
There is a plenty of transfer methods (bank transfer, Pay Pal etc.). When using Visa card the transfer takes a minute and you can start playing Poker immediately. Let us first familiarize with the possibility to play for free and win real money at the same time.
Freerolls – Poker Online For Free
The Freerolls are the subsidized tournaments for new Poker players. The online casinos and betting shops offer them within their promotions, usually for the period of 90 days from the registration. The good thing is that you can win real money (without the need of any initial buy-in) if you are placed on one of the high-ranking positions.
The freerolls are usually held for 100 up to 1,000 Poker players. They are highly popular and therefore available only for the quickest registrants. If the registration begins in 6:00 p.m., then at 6:01 p.m. you might not stand a chance...
After the 90 days most players gain enough experience and additional playing is available for real money only. However there is no need to worry – the principle of online Poker tournaments is quite ingenious and brings long entertainment even with as low as $1 buy-in.
The Principle & Participation in Online Poker Tournaments
Preliminary it needs to be said that the principle of the online Poker tournaments is the same, whether you play for free (Freerolls) or for real money.
The Poker tournaments are usually played by 6–10 players at a single table. However there are also large tournaments for up to hundreds or thousands of players. The prize pool is determined by the number of participating players and tournament's buy-in.
Each player usually receives 1,500 chips for their buy-in (e.g. $1). The players are organized into groups so that every table is occupied by 10 players at maximum. The players who lose all their chips – either at once if they go All-in or in successive steps during the course of play – drop out (please note that there can be re-buy available in some tournaments), as long as the last ten players compete for the victory at the final table.
The whole prize pool, created by the players' buy-ins, is always divided among the winning players. The facilitator of the Poker playroom receives only a commission from every player for organization of the game (tournament). The amount of commission (aka Rake) is usually 10% of the buy-in. For instance buy-in $3+0.3 means that $3 is the stake of each player (that creates the prize pool by multiplication of the number of players) and $0.3 is the commission.
→ Bankroll Management – Learn the rules used by professional players.
The prizes are usually guaranteed for the top 50 players in case of 1,000 players tournaments. The winner receives 30% of the prize pool, the runner-up 20% etc. The reward scheme is available in the tournament propositions. Therefore the win can be quite interesting in case of higher positions. The other ranked players receive their stakes at worst.
Small tournaments for only six people are also quite popular. They have got a quick drift of events, whereas the prize pool is split between two winning players in the ratio 70:30.
The Conclusion to the Online Poker Tournaments
Texas Hold'em Poker is the phenomenon of the present time and the tournament style of play is an excellent compromise between gambling and entertainment. It is definitely worth trying and competing with the players all over the world.
If you are not too confident or do not intend to risk too much, you can play the tournaments with as low as $1 buy-in. The great entertainment, almost addictive, is guaranteed!
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→ The first fine imposed on poker tournament organizers in the Czech Republic (2012-05-31)
→ Is poker a game of skill or luck?
→ Final game Heinz-Staszko at WSOP 2011
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