Poker Tournaments for Beginners: The Basics
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Poker Tournaments for Beginners: The Basics

Poker Tournaments for Beginners: The Basics

Poker tournaments are a world of their own. There is a plethora of rules, various buy-in amounts and different styles of poker that can be played. These basic tips will help any beginner get their feet wet and learn how poker tournaments work.

 

Poker Tournaments for Beginners: The Basics
Poker Tournaments for Beginners: The Basics

 

Everything is Predetermined

Everything in a poker tournament is decided before a player enters the game, and it is not up for negotiation. If the buy-in amount is set at $20,000, players should not try to buy in for less than that amount. Some tournaments also have a predetermined time limit that is also taken seriously.

Sit n Go Tournaments

Sit and go tournaments are often referred to as SNG tournaments in the poker world. These do not have a specified start time. Instead, players buy into one of these whenever they are in the mood to play, but the tournament does not start until the table is full. Impatient players often get irritated when the table takes too long to fill up, so keep that in mind when playing with new people. After the table is full, the tournament starts. It goes until one player has all the chips, and it is that simple. Different SNG tournaments will have different buy-in amounts.

MTT’s Are Not Complex

Most people hear of MTT tournaments and think they are for an extremely high skill level. MTT stands for multi-table tournaments. This simply means that the poker tournament is happening at several tables at the same time. Tournaments like this give players a chance to win more money because more people are playing in them at the same time, which is why they are so popular. They are just like other tournaments, though, except they are bigger.

There is a Betting Format

When we think of betting in poker, we imagine people that will throw all of their chips in the middle of the table like in the movies, but that is far from what happens in real-life tournaments. Some tournaments have rules regarding bets. A structured betting system means that there is a fixed limit to raises, so no one will be throwing everything they have to raise the other players. Partially structured betting is another way of betting in poker tournaments. In these situations, no one can make a smaller raise than the previous one. If one player raises by 10, the next person has to raise it by more than 10.

Not all bets are structured, though. Some of them have an unstructured betting scheme. This is the one from the movies. Players can raise whatever they want, even if that means sliding all their chips into the middle of the table to dominate the tournament.

Conclusion

These are just a couple of the basics that players need to know about poker tournaments. Before jumping into the first SNG tournament you can find, take the time to learn about the world of poker tournaments. Learn the terminology, the way different games are played and about different strategies to win as much money as possible from your next poker tournaments. 

 

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