Think you’re a poker ace? Why not pit your wits against other players in a Bitcoin Poker Room Tournament?
Tournaments are played by a group of participants, all paying a fixed buy-in and fee to a pool, this pool is used to pay the winner(s). All participants receive the same number of chips (and play until they’ve won all the other participants chips – or until they’ve lost all their own.
The tournament winner is he/she who finishes the game with all the participants’ chips to themselves!
Unlike traditional ring games, the risk in tournament play is limited to the initial sign-up fee. With only this amount to lose, tournament gaming makes an ideal starting point for anyone wishing to experience the potentially lucrative thrill of real money poker!
Multi-Table Tournaments
Tournaments are played on multiple tables simultaneously, unless the tournament happens to be very small in numbers. When participants are ‘knocked-out’ of the tournament, players are moved to other tables to keep numbers balanced and games more enjoyable. When enough seats are free a whole table will be removed, until only one table remains…this table will include the winner player!
Buy in and Fee
To enter a tournament the player must pay the buy-in (this amount goes into the prize pool!) and a fee for the hosting of the tournament. There is no rake in tournament hands.
Starting Chips
After you’ve posted your buy-in and fee, each player will receive a number of chips for the start of the tournament. The number of initial chips may vary from tournament to tournament but is typically 1,500.
Starting Chips Bonus!
In selected special tournaments, it’s possible you’ll be awarded bonus starting chips. These are added to the players starting chip stack.
Satellites – Tickets & Qualifiers!
For your chance to win the big prizes, you can play in the big tournaments through qualifier satellites. This way you can join the really high stakes tournaments for just a few dollars.
In the qualifier tournament, instead of cash prizes, the winner is awarded tickets to another tournament. The ticket is normally valid as a buy-in, so you will not have to pay any additional fee.
There are different qualifier tournaments with different buy-ins. The number of tickets awarded depends on the buy-in and the cost of the ticket for the final. E.g. in the $11+$1 Grand Prix Qualifier, there will be a ticket for every 10 participants. (Ticket prize of $100+$10). Aside from the pure qualifiers, where all the prize pool goes to qualifying tickets, some of the other tournaments also award tickets beside the cash prizes.
To play a tournament you need a ticket. These are either transparently bought when registering or can be awarded as a prize in a previous tournament or some kind of promotion. This way a chain of qualification tournaments can be created, leaving a very healthily accumulated prize pool at the end.
All tickets will have an expiry period. This will vary and will be displayed in the information regarding the tournaments. To start with, the tournament will have a long expiration time to let players find the correct tournaments.
In the tournament schedule and in the client, a tournament to which you have a ticket is denoted with an arrow in the tournament list.
Free Rolls and Added Cash – a little extra!
Occasionally Poker Rooms adds a little extra spice to tournaments in the shape of ‘free-roll’. A free-roll tournament is a tournament with prize money, which is absolutely free to join! The purpose of these tournaments is to help players sharpen their tournament tactics, or perhaps try a tournament for the first time.
Free-rolls are generally extremely popular and you should be quick to register to avoid disappointment.
Added Cash: An added cash tournament is a tournament with prize money added by the Poker Room on top of the regular prize pool! This is a bonus for the participating players. The added cash can be distributed between all the cash winners, or sometimes only to the gamer in pole position.
