Overview
This video provides a beginner-friendly guide to the structure, strategy, and key considerations when playing online poker tournaments, including tournament types, blind and ante management, and entry strategies.
What Is a Poker Tournament?
- A poker tournament has a clear beginning, middle, and end, aiming to be the last player with chips.
- Entry requires a buy-in, providing chips with no direct cash value, used for scoring.
- Players are eliminated when they lose all their chips; the last player remaining is the winner.
- Prizes are shared among the top 10–15% of finishers, with higher placements earning more money.
Understanding Blinds, Stack Size, and Antes
- Blinds increase over time, forcing players to play hands and affecting chip stacks.
- Stack size is measured in "big blinds"; a healthy stack is over 50 big blinds.
- Calculate your stack in big blinds by dividing your chips by the current big blind.
- As blinds rise, the number of big blinds in your stack falls, increasing risk.
- Antes are extra forced bets added after initial blind levels, increasing pot size and action.
- Most live tournaments now use a big blind ante, paid by the big blind for the whole table.
Tournament Structures and Speeds
- Tournament structure details (starting stack, blind levels) are available in the online lobby.
- Blind and ante increases occur at regular intervals, shorter online and longer in live play.
- Online tournaments have three speed types:
- Regular: 8–15 minute blind levels, 50–400 big blinds starting, duration 3–8 hours.
- Turbo: 5–6 minute blind levels, 50–200 big blinds starting, lasts 1.5–4.5 hours.
- Hyper Turbo: 3-minute blind levels, 20–200 big blinds starting, lasts 1–2.5 hours.
Basic Tournament Strategy
- Regular tournaments allow patience and careful hand selection.
- Turbo tournaments require more risk-taking due to faster blind increases.
- Hyper Turbos force quick decisions as stacks dwindle rapidly.
- With a short stack (e.g., 11 big blinds), it's often best to move all-in rather than fold or make small raises.
Entry Options and Re-Entry Rules
- Late registration allows players to join after a tournament starts, but with a smaller stack and less table information.
- Late entry can result in playing as a short stack and lacking insight into other players' tendencies.
- Re-buy or re-entry options are available for a limited time, after which the tournament becomes a freezeout (elimination is final).