PokerWorks

Ever get confused by all the different types of tournaments that poker sites offer? If so, Mansion Poker has put together a nice tutorial explaining the differences. Here you can learn everything you ever wanted to know, so picking what type tournament is right for you will be a snap!

What is a tournament?

A poker tournament is a poker game where all players start with an equal amount of chips. As players lose all their chips they “bust out” and are eliminated. The game continues to be played out until all players have lost all their chips except one – the winner.

Tournaments are a very popular way to play poker, mainly due to the fact that participating in a tournament allows you to play for hours on a set buy-in or even for free (such as in Freeroll tournaments).The other reason players like them is the fact that the prize pool is big and divided among a certain number of players, so you don’t even need to win to make money.

What is the cost of playing?

The cost of entering a tournament consists of a buy-in amount that contributes to the prize pool and a registration fee. The fee is typically 10 percent of the buy-in and goes to the house (or poker site) as an administrative fee for hosting the game. Buy-in for tournaments range from Freerolls (totally free to enter) all the way up to thousands of dollars. Most online tournaments (except freerolls) however generally have buy-ins of $1.00 to less than $1,000.

Types of Tournaments:

•    Guaranteed tournaments - A guaranteed tournament is one that has stated, before the start of the tournament, that there is a minimum prize pool guaranteed, regardless of the number of participants. The prize pool can increase above the guaranteed amount depending on the number of entries. Mansion Poker has many guaranteed events, including the $2,500,000 Grand Event.

•    Sit and Go tournaments - A sit-and-go tournament (SNG) begins as soon as enough players have joined in. Usually, a SNG consists of nine or ten players around a single table, but there are also SNGs of two or three tables.

•    Multi-table tournaments- A multi-table tournament (MTT) starts at a preset time. It may be open to hundreds or even thousands of players.

•    Scheduled tournaments - Scheduled tournaments are very popular and provide players with the opportunity to invest a small amount of money to win a large cash prize. These tournaments start at a scheduled time, which is visible in the lobby. Players are able to register once the tournament is visible in the lobby. Play takes place on as many tables as necessary to accommodate all players that register for the tournament. During the tournament, as players are knocked out, remaining players are moved until play reaches the final table. These are generally the tournaments with the biggest prize pools, like Mansion Pokers $2,500.000 Grand event held the end of each month.

•    Satellites - A Satellite is a tournament where the first prize is not a cash payout, but a seat to another tournament with a prize pool. The idea is that you can enter an expensive tournament by winning a tournament that is not as expensive. For example, if ten players sit down and play a $10 tournament, the winner could win a seat to a $100 tournament. In large satellites, there may be several seats up for grabs.

•    Turbo tournaments - Faster than normal tournaments, in a Turbo event, the blinds increase every 3 minutes so you have to be very quick in making your decisions.

•    Short-handed tournaments - Five players on a table instead of ten; the button comes round quicker and so does the big blind.

•    Heads-up tournaments - One-On-One, Head-To-Head – this format has many names. Whatever you call it, there are just two of you playing off for the pot. In a heads-up tournament, both players sit down with an equal amount of chips and play until one of them has all the chips.

•    Freezeout tournaments - A tournament with no rebuys or add-ons is called a freezeout. You can buy-in only once. When your chips are gone – you’re gone.

•    Freeroll tournaments - Freerolls are tournaments where the prize pool has been entirely funded by Mansion Poker. They cost nothing to enter, but still have cash prizes for the top finishers.

•    Added prize money tournaments - When Mansion Poker adds extra prize money to the prize pool over and above the paid entries.

•    Rebuy tournaments – Tournaments where you are allowed to buy more chips – or make a rebuy – but only during the so called rebuy period at the beginning of the tournament. Depending on the rules of the specific tournament, you may make a limited or unlimited number of rebuys. When the rebuy period ends, you may make a last rebuy, called an add-on.

Now that you know all the terminology and tournament types, are you ready to play? To get started, Download Mansion Poker and take advantage of the incredible first deposit bonus of 100% up to $500 when you use Bonus Code: POKERWORKS. Then log-in and find your perfect tournament at Mansion Poker!