04-25-05, LearnTexasHoldem:
Online Tournament Intro
My question:
I would like to progress to a tournament, but there is little information around explaining how to join, how much time is needed (i can only play in the evenings and at weekends) and what is at stake (is it just the buy-in or is more money required to play each round). Could you please reply or add to your site the procedures for taking part in a tournament online and what type of tournament a beginner shoud be looking at entering.
Regards
Abdul
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Answer:
Thanks for the question Abdul. First of all, there are a few different types of online tournaments: free rolls, sit and goes, multi-table tournaments, multiple-rebuys/add-ons, "guaranteeds." A free roll tournament is, of course, one in which you don't have to pay anything to play. These tournaments are free for anyone who is a member of the site to play. They are used as promotional devices. Next there are sit and go tournaments. Sit and goes are ones in which there are just 10 people at a table. You buy-in for a set amount, plus a fee for the site -- an example might be a $100 plus $10.
That means that $100 from each player will go into the prize distribution and the $10 from each player would be given to the poker site for hosting the tournament. As soon as 10 people join, the tournament begins and it continues, rather quickly, until 3 people are awarded money. Sit and goes are the shortest tournaments because they only have 10 players. You could finish a sit and go tourney in less than an hour. Multi-table tournaments are ones where there are many tables. These afford greater prizes because more people are buying in, but that is offset by the difficulty it is to win because of more competitors.
For multi-table tournaments, there are regular ones where you just get a set amount of chips at the beginning for your buy-in. Then there are rebuy and add-on tournaments, where you are allowed to buy-in again if you go bust within a set amount of time. For example, a site may have a tournament that allows unlimited rebuys within the first hour. This instigates action and people play more recklessly for the first hour, trying to build up a big stack. It also adds more to the prize pool. Lastly, in contrast to a tourney where only the money from the player's buy-ins are awarded to the winners, in a "guaranteed" tournament, a set prize pool is backed by the site hosting the tourney. An example of a guaranteed tournament is, $100,000 for only a $100 plus $15. That would mean you have to put up $115 total, for a chance at $100k.
These are also promotional items that sites and cardrooms use to get more live money players. Now that we've covered some of the lingo, let me answer your specific questions. How much is needed to play? For a set buy-in tournament, you just need enough to cover the initial buy-in plus the casino fee. For a rebuy or add-on tournament, I would suggest having enough for 5 buy-ins so you can play more aggressively early on. In both cases, the chips they give you aren't real money chips. In other words you don't need more money to keep playing (as long as you don't go bust). For time constraints, the fewer people who enter a tournament, the less time it will take. If you are short on time (have less than a couple hours), I would just play sit and go tournaments. If you have an afternoon or evening, you can play any size tournament online.
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