Poker is not only great fun when played with a few friends – as you’ve probably seen on TV, it’s also serious business, with countless poker tournaments ranging in stature and size played across the world each and every year. Tournament poker, of course, differs from a regular game of poker in that there is a more active long-term strategy component, with tactics extending way beyond the next two or three hands. It’s imperative, as a serious competitor, to understand the format of poker tournaments, and how that’s likely to impact on your style of play before you get involved and throw your first chips down.
Perhaps the most common type of poker tournament format is the ‘freeze out’, where players play until they lose their last chip – at which point, they’re frozen out of the game. The tournament, which will be conducted over a number of different tables, will see players constantly rearranged to full tables as more and more players are eliminated from the runnings, until a final table remains with the select few that have made it round to the final stage. Those players then play out until they lose all their remaining chips to crown one ultimate winner, who will scoop the bulk of the prize money on offer. Often, the remaining finalists will also receive prize-money of varying degrees, relative to their finishing position.
An alternative and not uncommon structure for poker tournaments is the so-called ‘shootout’ format – designed primarily to save on time as compared to freeze out tournaments, which can take numerous more hours to reach the closing stages. With shootout tournaments, each table plays until it has just one winner, rather than amalgamating tables as players are eliminated. Once each table has a player to put forward, the finals phase can commence which sees those winners from the preliminary rounds pitted against each other until an ultimate winner can be decided.
The third type of structure which can be seen, particularly with higher value tournaments, is the rebuy – where those eliminated within a set timeframe are afforded the opportunity to buy back into the game by paying more into the pot. This leads to rapidly accelerated prize funds for the eventual tournament winner, and allows players to be more gung-ho in the early stages to make for a more exciting first few hours. The timeframe in which buy-ins are allowed varies depending on the exact nature of the tournament, and as such players are more aggressive during the period in which they’re total downside risk is diminished (i.e. when there is no total elimination from the tournament).
Whether you’re a pub player or a professional, tournament poker provides a new and distinct challenge that requires an altogether different strategic and psychological approach to the game. Nevertheless, the ability to play against other players of varying levels of ability in online and offline poker will help develop your skills as a player, and enable a better understanding through experience of how to react to different situations and plays as they arise.
