Types of Texas Hold'em Tournaments Online
Texas Hold'em tournaments offer great opportunities to make money. If you are a poker enthusiast, register for these events. Texas Hold'em tournaments start with the distribution of equal number of chips to all players. During the game, every player tries to win the maximum number of chips. The player, who has the biggest number of chips at a tournament's end, is the winner. The prize pool offered in such tourneys is generally shared by the top ten finishers. Online poker tournaments are played according to various formats. Here is an overview of the key variants of Texas Hold'em tournaments played online.
Re-Buy Tournaments
Re-buy tournaments are those which allow players to re-enter an event after being eliminated. Such tournaments are highly popular among poker enthusiasts. For example, if a player gets knocked out in the third hand and wants to continue playing, he can do so by paying for extra chips. Most re-buy tournaments allow players to re-buy chips only till a stipulated time. Players cannot enter the tourney after the specified period is over. Re-buy tournaments allow gamers to play with less stress as even if they lose all chips, they have the option to re-enter.
The general tendency in poker tournaments is to add-on chips when you are at the verge of finishing them. However, under certain circumstances, add-ons are not recommended. It is best not to re-enter a tournament when your opponents are more skilled than you.
Turbo Tournaments
Turbo tournaments are also referred to as speed tourneys. The reason is that the blinds in the events rise very fast. Every 10 minutes, the blinds increase. Turbo tournaments are largely based on luck. The events generally end pre-flop. Sometimes, they also end at the flop, but this rare. In turbo tournaments, players either go all-in or opt to 'fold'.
Turbo tourneys require gamers to play aggressively as there are chances of big blinds leading to a player losing his entire chip stack.
Satellite Tournaments
Satellite tourneys are held by most poker rooms before a big event. Through satellite tourneys, players can make their way to grand poker events like World Series of Poker (WSOP) and World Poker Tour (WPT).
Satellite winners are offered free entries to big poker tours. Such tournaments take place at a scheduled date and time announced by poker sites. To be a part of satellites, players have to register for the event. Satellite tournaments generally record a large number of participants. Aggressive game-play is required since only a few players can receive the free entry packages.
Steps Tournaments
Texas Hold'em step tournaments are conducted as a series of single table events with different buy-ins. In most cases, steps tourneys come with 5 key stages. The player, who wins the first step, gets an entry to the next level. At the second stage, players again compete to move to the next level. The tournament continues in this format, until the final stage is reached where attractive prizes are offered.
Players have to pay for a buy-in at each level. Buy-ins are more expensive at the higher stages than at the initial stages of steps tourneys.
Shootout Tournaments
Similar to steps tournaments, shootouts are also held as a series of single table events. In shootout tourneys, a player either gets eliminated at a particular stage or goes to the next level. For example, in a particular shoot out tournament, the total number of participants may be 100. Ten tables will be run with 10 players at each table. A single player from each table moves to the next level. Hence, the final table will consist of 10 players - winners of 10 tables.
Cashout Tournaments
Cashout tournaments are offered by selected online poker rooms. These tourneys allow players to cash-out their entire win or a part of it, before the event completes. Apart from regular tournament prize pools, these events also have a separate cashout pool. The buy-in paid by a player is divided between the tournament prize pool and cash-out pool.