Types of Online Poker Tournaments

There are many different types of online poker tournaments to play. The bigger poker rooms like Full Tilt Poker tend to have a better tournament selection simply because they have the traffic to support the events. Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker both have very large tournament selections that will please any poker player. Below we’re going to take a brief look at the different online poker tournaments you can play.

* A sit and go tournament is a regular tournament that can be played in a single table or multi-table format. The common sizes for sit and go tournaments include 6 players, 9 players, 18 players, 45 players, 90 players and 180 players. This is the most common type of tournament played in online poker rooms today and you’ll find them starting every single minute in some poker rooms.

* A rebuy tournament is the same as a regular tournament except you’re allowed to rebuy into the tournament if you run out of chips. Typically you can rebuy into the tournament for the first hour and then in most cases there is an add-on period after the first hour where anyone can buy a certain amount of chips.

* A freeroll tournament is a poker tournament that is completely free to play in. Often poker rooms will offer freeroll tournaments for their players with added prize pools. If you’re trying to build a poker bankroll then the best way to do so is by playing in freeroll tournaments with prize pools.

* A satellite tournament is any tournament where the prize pool is a ticket to another tournament. Most poker rooms have tournaments in the $100+ range with massive prize pools and some people can’t afford to play in them. One way to be able to afford a ticket is by playing in a satellite tournament for $5-$10 and winning a ticket to the $100 event.

* A double-up tournament is a newer tournament format that is typically played with 10 players. The 10 players compete on one table until there are only five players left. The five players left in the event double-up their buy-in and the tournament is over. If you don’t mind winning money slowly then this tournament format could work great for your style.

* A heads-up poker tournament is a tournament where you and one other player compete against each other with the winner getting the prize pool. These tournaments are quick to play, but very difficult to multi-table since you’re always being dealt hands in heads-up tournaments. If you like playing heads-up poker then this is the way to go, but if you’re looking to make money there are better options in my opinion.

* A guaranteed prize pool tournament is a tournament where the poker room guarantees a certain sized prize pool. Often the bigger poker rooms offer these types of tournaments since most of the time the prize pool goes beyond the guaranteed amount. In this type of tournament if the prize pool doesn’t go over the guaranteed amount then the poker room will add the difference. For instance, if the guaranteed prize pool is $200K and the prize pool only reaches $150K then the poker room will add $50K of their own money to the prize pool.