Poker tournaments are part of the modern gambling world

Cards have occupied a dominant role in the world of gambling for a very long time. Today, poker has become a very popular card game, which is played not only in casinos, but also at home, on the Internet and at special tournaments.

The wild popularity of poker is due to the ability to win decent money without much effort. This game does not require a long training and preparation time – any beginner can be lucky, which greatly increases his passion.

And the ability to break the bank due to an effective bluff without the required combination attracts many psychology lovers and draws them into this game of chance.

The great popularity of the game of poker has led to the existence of some of its varieties, which we will discuss below.

Types of poker

1. The popular form of poker is Texas Hold’em. The hold’em game proceeds as follows: initially, two cards are dealt with each of the players, and the first round of betting takes place, as if blindly. Then three cards are dealt on the table and the trade continues. Then one card is dealt twice (up to five cards on the table), after each card an additional betting round takes place, after which the players show their cards and compare the combinations.
2. Another fairly widespread, but more complex form of poker is Omaha. Each player is dealt four hole cards and five cards face-up on the table. When making combinations, players use two of their cards and three cards from the table.
3. Draw poker. This type of poker differs from the popular Omaha and Hold’em by the absence of table cards, that is, it is a usual five-card closed poker.
4. Stud. There are various subspecies of stud poker, depending on the number of cards dealt – 5,6, and 7. Each player receives 2 faces down and 1 face-up card, after a round of betting, one more open card is dealt, again a round of betting and another deal of one face-up card ( now there are five of them for each participant in the game – two closed and three open). After that, it is possible both to complete the game (with a five-card stud), and to add additional open cards up to 6 or 7, depending on the chosen subspecies.

There are other less popular varieties of poker that players usually resort to at home, modifying and changing the main options considered.

In connection with the development of Internet technologies, a large number of sites have appeared that conduct online poker tournaments.

The growth of their popularity is due to the opportunity for the player to win real cash prizes without leaving home, without spending time searching for opponents, which attracts more and more beginner poker players to online tournaments, of which there are many different types. 

Types of poker tournaments

Let’s look at the main, most common types of online poker tournaments.

1. Tournaments held at several tables at once are one of the most popular types. The game is played simultaneously at several tables. When the player loses all the chips, the seat at the table becomes vacant and the organizers fill it with non-eliminated participants, reducing the number of tables. As a result, one final table remains, the winner of which receives all the chips (bets) of the losing participants.
2. Competitions held at one table. They pass by analogy with the above multi-table ones, only without adding new players.
3. One-on-one game. The name speaks for itself here, two players play against each other.
4. Sit and Go tournaments. These tournaments are distinguished by the absence of a specific start time – the game starts as soon as the required number of participants has gathered.
5. Satellite tournaments. The main feature of satellites is that the main prize is the opportunity to participate in another larger tournament.
6. Freerolls are games with free participation, the prize fund of which is formed through sponsorship or promotions of poker sites in order to attract new users.
7. Rebuy game. It provides for the possibility of additional purchase of chips, the features of which are set by the organizers.

You can also find other subspecies of online tournaments, the features of which are regulated by the sites hosting them.

In conclusion, I would like to highlight the following interesting point. The growing popularity and development of the game of poker itself led to the emergence of such an unusual form as sports poker.

So in Russia in 2006 the association “Russian Sports Poker Federation” was created, this organization holds regular tournaments, the strongest Russian players take part in the European and world championships in sports poker.