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Texas Holdem Tournaments

Poker tournaments are an exciting twist on the game where you can turn a small amount of money into a very large amount. There are several types of tournaments, all of which have the same basic structure. Before we discuss different tournaments, lets have a look at the basic components that are the same in any tournament that you play in.

In a casino, you pay an entry fee called the "buy in". The buy-in in broken down into two parts: The portion that goes toward the prize pool, and the portion that the house keeps as a fee to run the tournament. Afterall, they ARE supplying the dealers. When you see an entry fee, it will usually look something like this:

$100 + $20

The total you must pay to play in the tournament is $120. Of that amount, $100 goes toward the prize pool, while house keeps the remaining $20. You should look for tournaments with the lowest fee possible (in terms of percentage). In a typical casino, you will pay about 10-20% to the house to play. This amount will severly cut down on your long-term winnings, so make sure you watch this amount closely.

When you register for the tournament, you will be assigned a seat. You MUST sit in that seat. Unlike a cash game, you cannot request a seat change. If you are stuck between two professional poker players, then you might as well make the best of it and get to know them (most pros are pretty easy-going).

The tournament begins with a certain set of blinds. Each blind level will last for a predetermined amount of time. At the end of each level, the blinds will increase. This process serves to ensure that the tournament does not last "forever". The longer the levels, the more time you have to play. Also, the longer the levels last, the more skill it takes to win the tournament. At some point, you might be forced to post an ante in addition to the blinds. Not all tournaments require antes. You should check the tournament structure before entering any tournament.

Unlike a cash game, you cannot simply pick up your chips and leave a tournament. You must play until you either lose all your chips, or win all of the other chips in play. Also, once you lose your chips, you are done and cannot participate in the tournament any longer (the exception is with rebuy tournaments, which is discussed later).  Some tournaments like the World Series of Poker Main Event last upwards of two weeks!

Lets say you are in a tournament with a $100 + $20 entry fee. There are 100 players, creating a prize pool of $10,000. If you are fortunate enough to win the tournament, you are not given a check for $10,000. As a general rule of thumb, most tournaments pay about 10% of the field (it can be more or less - again check the tournament structure). First place obviously gets the most. In our example with 100 players, tenth place would pay about $250 while first place would pay about $4000.

There are several types of tournaments. To read about each type of tournament, click on each of the links below.

Tournament types:

Multi Table
Sit and Go
Rebuy
Satellite
Shootout
Freeroll

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