What Are Poker Tournaments?
Poker is a group of card games where players bet on the best hand based on the game’s rules. The game is popular globally, but regulations can differ in certain regions. Although originally, played with only 20 cards. The game is now typically played with a standard deck. In some countries where short packs are popular, they can be played with 32, 40, or 48 cards.
Poker tournaments are one of the most popular ways to play any of the poker games. They make large wins possible from a small buy-in, in comparison to the potential gains. A poker player playing in a large tournament could win thousands of dollars overnight if they finish first. The WSOP Main Event pays its champion $10 million most years; it paid $12.1 million in 2023! Winning such a massive sum of money in a short time grabs the poker media’s attention, with frequent winners becoming poker legends in the community.
Tournaments sound like a dream come true for novice poker players, but continue reading some potential downsides before you log into your online poker account and start playing poker tournaments.
The time required to dedicate to the tournament grind can be substantial. Online poker tournaments sometimes take several hours to conclude because thousands of players pony up the buy-in.
Also, a typical tournament at poker sites only awards prize money to the top 10-15% of the field, meaning you could grind for several hours and still not make any money. The first payout levels barely cover the cost of entering the tournament, with the bulk of the prize pool dished out to the top three finishers.
This can lead to long losing spells where you can play your best poker and still come away empty-handed. A solid MTT player will finish in the money places approximately 12-15% of the time, so they need that cash to be large to ensure they are profitable.
What Are Mixed Games in Poker?
Mixed games are traditionally poker variants where several poker games are played in rotation. For example, H.O.R.S.E. is a game where players play Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud Hi Lo in rotation.
Modern-day poker players refer to any non-Hold’em or Omaha game as a mixed game. This means if you love nothing more than grinding Crazy Pineapple, Badugi, 2-7 Triple Draw, or Kansas City Lowball, you are a mixed game player.
It is common for mixed games to be played at a home poker game where some weird and wonderful variations of mainstream poke games are dreamed up.
Some poker sites are better than others for mixed games. PokerStars is the best poker site if you like to play non-Hold’em poker games because it spreads a dozen formats and types in addition to having plentiful traffic in those games.