Poker Tournaments – types of tournaments and how they are played

Poker tournaments are available for players of all skill levels. Although live poker tournaments or casino poker tournaments are a good choice, many players choose to play in online poker tournaments. In this article, we’ll discuss the types of poker tournaments.

There are 4 basic types of poker tournaments: Elimination, shootout, rebuy and satellite. The most common type of poker tournaments online or poker tournaments in casinos is elimination tournaments. In an elimination tournament, participants play until there is one single winner, i.e., until all players but one have been eliminated. In elimination poker tournaments live, players move from table to table to assure that each table is balanced. Eventually, the final contestants end up playing on a single table. In online poker tournaments, electronic groupings substitute for physical tables.

In a shootout poker tournament play, there’s no balancing. Players stay at their tables until only one player is left at each table. Then the winning players from each table compete against each other in another round of play. This is commonly called a double shootout, because there are two rounds. A triple shootout has 3 rounds.

Rebuy play in poker tournaments permits eliminated players to buy additional chips and reenter the tournament. While this makes for a larger prize pool, it also encourages overly aggressive play since players are never truly eliminated. Some tournaments limit the number of rebuys a player can make while others do not. Related to the rebuy is the add-on, which is a one-time opportunity for active players to purchase a set amount of chips. A tournament with no rebuys is called a “freezeout.”

A satellite tournament is usually a small tournament with a low buy-in. While other types of poker tournaments offer cash prizes, winners of satellite tournaments win entry into bigger tournaments. For example, a player who wins a $100 buy-in satellite tournament may win a seat in a $1000 buy-in tournament that he couldn’t otherwise afford. Satellite tournaments are a great way to break into tournament play, since they are relatively inexpensive and give players the chance to advance in high-value tournaments.

Poker tournament play is a great way to increase your playing experience and sharpen your skills so that you’ll eventually begin to win poker tournaments.