Ersinhan Ersin Poker Journal

A poker tournament is a competition with a definite structure where players compete against one another to amass the largest number, if not all, the chips. In poker tournaments, players are not allowed to quit when they want to and exchange their chips for cash. Instead, it will continue until one last player has all the chips.

Here are the some of the more popular kinds of poker tournaments:

Turbo tournaments: This is a very fast-paced tournament with blinds growing at an alarming rate, about once every five minutes. Luck plays a large role in the winnings here. You must show a lot of aggression in turbo tournament, because if you do not, the blinds will use up your chip stack. So, it’s best to steal as many blinds as possible and hope luck is on your side.

Satellite PokerStars tournaments: These are preliminary tournaments, played before players move on to a game with higher stakes than the entry level stakes.

Steps tournaments: These tournaments involve five steps. Those who win the initial steps move on to the advanced rounds while losers move back a step or more or pay an entry fee once again. When players reach the final or fifth step, they are given prizes.

If you’re playing online, choose your poker room with care because poker rooms often extract a high entry fee to make up for hefty prizes. When scouting for a good steps tournament site, choose one that rewards players by moving them to the next level.

Elimination poker tournaments: This is the commonest type of poker tournament. Here, all the players have an equal number of chips. Play continues until one player has all the chips. As players are eliminated, those still in the game change seats to fewer tables. The winner might hold all the chips, yet he has to abide by the reward structure of the game. As he finishes higher, he will be liable to get a larger reward.

Shootouts: These poker tournaments are similar to Steps tournaments in most ways except that the former are completed in a single event unlike Steps, where players move on from level to level and can play the next level some time later. Here, the structure of the tournament decides the game’s strategy.

If only one player moves on to the next round, he must be very aggressive in his playing style and take risks. If with you, many other players also move to the next level, play aggressively. Keep a respectable amount of chips so that your opponents will be discouraged from attacking you.

Rebuy poker tournaments: This poker tournament at Party Poker is structured to be played for a set time. Here, players can “rebuy” more chips once they lose all their existing chips and continue to participate in the tournament. Usually, players of these tournaments play a more aggressive game early on in the game because they are not daunted with the possibility of being eliminated from the tourney if they lose all their chips.