What is a Poker Tournament?
All players enter a tournament for the same amount of money,
called the buy-in. In addition, the poker room or casino takes out
an entry fee from all players entering the tournament. If the buy-in
is $100 the house might take an extra $10, which means that the
actual amount paid by the player is $110. If there are 100 players,
the total prize pool will be 100 x $100 = $10,000. The pay out
structure depends on the tournament, but usually there is a prize
for approximately every ten players. In this case, it might be 30%
for first place followed by 20%, 13%, 10%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, and
2% respectively, thus making it ten prizes in total.
All players start out with an equal amount of chips and, as the
tournament progresses, the stakes are typically raised every 15-60
minutes. The amount of chips players begin with, the stakes and the
time periods determine whether it is a fast or slow tournament. Good
players generally prefer slow tournaments where you start out with a
lot of chips (as compared to the stakes) and where the time periods
are long. This structure gives the better player a greater
opportunity of outplaying their opponents before the stakes become
so high that they are forced to "gamble" too much.
If there are 100 players in the tournament they will usually
start by playing ten handed at ten tables. As players go broke they
are eliminated (unless it is a re-buy tournament, where a player has
the option of buying in again during a specified time period). Once
players are eliminated, other players are relocated as tables are
broken-up and re-configured. For example, if there are ten players
on one table and eight players on two other tables, two players from
the ten-handed table will move to the eight-handed tables, thus
making all three tables nine-handed. The tournament ends when one
player has all the chips.
Though placing first in a poker tournament is largely reliant on
luck, as in all forms of poker skill plays a major role in long-term
success. It is not a coincidence that you repeatedly see the same
names of top players in the money. For example in the WSOP $10,000
Event, the late Stu Ungar won three times, Johnny Chan has won
back-to-back titles and finished second once, Doyle Brunson won it
twice and made the final table several times, and T.J. Cloutier has
finished second twice and made several final tables. Again, in order
to win a tournament you have to get lucky, but to place in the money
(and occasionally finish in first place) on a regular basis you must
be a skilled player. |
