Why Play Tournament Poker?
December 8th, 2007
The recent No Limit Hold’em poker boom has been fuelled “World Poker Tour” (WPT) and “World Series of Poker” (WSOP) being televised. Particularly the success of internet player Chris Moneymaker who was an internet player turned household name. What other arena can you turn $200 into $200, 000 in an evening playing online?
In Multi-Table Tournaments there are a larger group of players but you are playing only against those on your table. So it is essentially like playing a very long SnG. As the game progresses and players get knocked out, tables merge and players move until only the Final Table remains. These MTTs typically pay somewhere around the top 10% of the field with the winner taking the biggest payout (usally about 20% or so). The number of players can range from a handful of players spread over two tables to a few hundred or even a few thousand. You can pay very little to enter these (or nothing in a freeroll) and potentially turn a huge profit if you beat the odds and make the final table. The law of averages says you are unlikely to make the final table often and just making it into the money means you probably won’t even turn a profit.
There are tournament pros out there, both live and online, and many have found fame and fortune through their tournament successes. Players who have done well exceptionally well in live tournaments like Chris Moneymaker, Chris Ferguson or more recently Annette Obrestad (Annette_15) have become minor celebrities and big heroes on the poker circuit.
