Beginners Guide: Types Of Poker Tournament Available Online

Online poker tournaments are available in a bewilderingly large number of poker varieties, game formats and betting structures. These range from single table ‘sit n go’ tournaments to the largest events attracting 1000’s of participants. This article introduces the main categories of poker tournament that can be found online.

#1 – Sit N Go Tournaments

Sit N Go tournaments do not have a scheduled start time – they start as soon as the required number of players have joined. The most common format is a single table with 9 or 10 players and the top 3 being paid, though multi-table Sit N Goes also run with anything from 2 to 20 tables. These tournaments are great for when you have a limited amount of playing time, with an average 1-table tournament being completed in less than an hour.

#2 – Multi-Table Tournaments

These are the ‘standard’ online poker tournaments on offer at all of the leading poker sites. Players buy-in for a fixed amount and are out when they lose their chips. While some Multi-table tournaments cap the number of participants, most do not. Depending on the site, buy-in amount and poker variety you choose to play field sizes can range from less than 100 to several thousand players. 10% to 15% of the field will win a prize with the payout heavily weighted to the final table.

#3 – Satellite Tournaments

Satellite tournaments award seats in larger buy-in events, both online and at live tournaments such as the World Series Of Poker or EPT. These tournaments give players with smaller poker bankrolls a chance to participate in the larger events and often attract fields of very inexperienced (in poker strategy terms) opponents. Poker Satellites are available at all of the leading online poker sites starting from just a few dollars.

#4 – Rebuy / Second Chance Tournaments

Many online poker tournaments allow players to buy-in several times, usually during the first hour of play. These can be distinguished between those which allow you to buy more chips when you have your starting stack or less (re-buys) and those which allow you to buy-in again if you happen to lose all of your chips during the first hour (2nd chance). Both of these tournament types usually allow you to ‘add-on’ more chips at the first break for an additional buy-in.

#5 – Shootout Tournaments

This type of tournament is similar to Sit N Go format – with the winners of each single table going through to further rounds. Shootouts vary in the distribution of prize money, some award prizes for each table won while others award only to the participants of the final table. Shootout tournaments are a popular format for satellite qualifiers.

#6 – Knockout Bounty Tournaments

Bounty tournaments split the prize pool between giving a prize for each player you knock out and the standard payout structure. The proportion awarded for each knockout will vary at different poker sites. This can range from 20% for knockouts / 80% for prize pool through to a 50% / 50% split.

#7 – Freeroll Tournaments

Tournaments which award real prizes but have no entry fee are referred to as ‘freerolls’. These often attract large fields of several thousand players and a terrible standard of play. The best freerolls are those which reward loyal players at various online poker sites, these can have prize pools ranging from a few thousand to $50k or more and require that you collect points during real-money play to enter.

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