There is currently a great surge in the popularity of online poker tournaments because of the advancement and wider accessibility of the internet. Many novice poker players might be under the impression that online poker tournaments are only suitable for experienced online poker players. This of course is far from the truth.
Most respectable online casinos allow players the chance to enter and play poker tournaments for free. These tournaments are known as Freeroll Tournaments, in which players have a chance to win real money for free.
There is no cost to enter these poker tournaments and the prize pool is shared among the top finishes in each of these tournaments.
Freeroll poker tournaments are a good place for inexperienced players to gain tournament experience for free. More experienced players can use these free roll tournaments to hone their poker strategies, but because there are often many entrants in Freeroll Tournaments, high rollers would rather play in poker tournaments that have an entrance fee of $15 or more. Tournaments with entry fees have fewer entrants than Freeroll Tournaments and have a bigger prize pool to share.
At the start of an online poker tournament, each player receives the same amount of poker chips. These poker chips have no monetary value and are considered by the players as ‘play money’. The objective of a tournament is to win more poker chips than the other players in the tournament.
Most poker tournaments progress through a number of levels. After each level the minimum bets are raised and the tournament stakes become higher. The change of level occurs when a predetermined time has elapsed during the poker tournament. The further the tournament progresses through the levels, so more players drop out of the tournament.
Players drop out of the tournament if they have no more poker chips left.
To stand in line to win part of the poker tournament’s prize pool, you must finish in a certain position, for example among the top 20 or 50 players. Before you enter online poker tournaments there is normally a breakdown of the prize payout structure, this will help the player in determining where they must finish in order to start winning money.
Go check out the Party Poker – where you can find online poker tournaments that cater to poker players with varying levels of poker skill.
Written by Stanley Majors
Stanley Majors is an experienced online poker journalist who writes articles on a range of poker topics. Readers can find more of his articles at his site: Texas Holdem Net.