Your Questions About Poker Tournaments, Answered

Introduction

You don’t have to be a fan of poker to know that it’s an incredibly high-stakes game. Especially with poker at a pro level, such as the World Poker Tour or European Poker Tour, which are a lot of tournaments where players compete in poker games. These games of both luck and carefully calculated strategy are really exciting to watch and even compete in. 

Here’s a breakdown of some of the common questions about big poker tournaments, including a sneak peek at some tournament poker tricks that you can adopt in your own games as well:

What is the Buy-In for a Poker Tournament?

The buy-in for each tournament ranges from under $1,000 all the way to over $100,000. In 2020, for instance, the buy-in for the European Poker Tour (EPT) hosted online by PokerStars was $5,200. There were 1,300 players in the main event, with a massive prize pool of over $6.5 million! 

With the buy-in, each player is then given a certain quantity of poker chips for the tournament. Since a portion of the buy-in may go to the organisers or commercial venues for running the event, it’s likely that the amount of poker chips you receive is slightly less than the value of the actual buy-in amount. 

That said, the poker chips obtained for a poker tournament have no cash value, and most tournaments offer a re-buy or buy-back option that allows players to purchase more chips in the course of the competition. However, this option is conditional and can be exhausted, and once a player runs out of chips and re-buy options, he is eliminated from the tournament. 

How Many Competitors Are There in a Poker Tournament? 

Depending on the scale of the poker tournament, it can have up to a thousand competitors vying for the top prize. The number of players at the table varies per round, ranging from just 2 players per table (in a heads-up round) to eleven at a table. As the field shrinks, players may also find themselves rotated amongst tables, or playing single-elimination rounds where only the last few players get to move on to the next round. 

In most tournaments, the play continues until there is one player left or if the remaining players have a mutual consensus to split the prize according to how many chips they have. Some tournaments even allow players to cash in the chips in the middle of the tournament at the fixed cash-out rate, where the remaining prize is then awarded to the winning players. 

What is the Playing Format?

There are several playing formats, and some tournaments may even consist of more than one. Here are the most common:

• Freezeout: A freezeout format is common for sit-and-go tournaments, where there is no scheduled starting time for the table to start. As long as all the players have put up their money, the game begins. When a player loses all his chips, he is eliminated and the table shrinks. The remaining players are moved between tables, and the unnecessary tables are closed. Eventually, only one table (known as the final table) is left.

• Re-buy: As mentioned, in these games, when a player loses all his chips, he can opt to buy more chips and avoid being eliminated. However, this option is conditional, as some tournaments have fixed re-buy periods, or maximum re-buy limits to ensure players don’t have too many chips. Once the re-buy conditions are up, the gameplay returns to a freezeout format. 

• Shootout: In this format, players stay in the same table roster until one player remains who moves onto the next round. The players’ final position depends on how many rounds they last, as well as where they were eliminated. 

Can I Join a Poker Tournament?

The short answer is, yes! While some tournaments are strictly invitational or open only to the most high-profile players, major events like the World Series of Poker are open to all players from around the world. The buy-in, however, can be quite large for these prestigious events, so be sure that you buy in only with money you can afford. 

You should also practise, practise, practise before heading into a tournament! In most tournaments, you’ll be competing against both amateurs and pros, so you have to be ready. 

What Are Some Strategies I Can Use in a Poker Tournament?

There are many great poker strategies out there, and winning a game is highly dependent on your own skill and ability to apply these strategies and keep your cool. That said, here are a few poker strategies to get you started. 

• Set-Mining: This means calling with a small, or medium pocket pair — not knowing whether you might actually hit a set. You call pre-flop with your small and medium pocket pairs and then take advantage of your position to make more profitable decisions post-flop. This works well against aggressive opponents who put money in the pot with a wider range. Note that you should also be deep-stacked, just to make sure you really profit as much as you can when you hit. 

• Jam, or Shove: This means “all-in”, or putting all the chips you have in the pot. This is really a brave decision that can make or break your place in the tournament. Some professionals use this strategy to bluff or to confuse their opponents, while others use it as a last resort to earn some chips back. If you want to use this, it’s safer to do it if there’s a re-buy or entry option. 

• Value Bet: This is a bet that players use to up the value of the pot. If successful, your opponent will usually call instead of folding. The bet sizes matter here to maximise your profit. For instance, on dry boards (a board where the chances of drawing hands from the community cards are low), smaller bet size is good as the risk of letting your opponent draw is negligible. 

Conclusion

Many people enter poker tournaments yearly, and it can be a very exciting place to put your poker skills against other players from around the world. That said, the stakes in terms of cash value can skyrocket very quickly, so do ensure that you have adequate means to participate, and enough practise to play meaningfully!