Online Poker tournaments give you the chance to make a huge return from a low buy-in, and with the amount of competition amongst poker sites, tournament guarantees are getting higher and higher.

In this article, we’ll be giving you our best tips in making money playing online poker tournaments.

For those who’re just getting into poker, an online poker tournament is an event where players pay a buy-in for a chance to compete for a collected prize pool. Each player is given a set amount of chips and the blinds start at a low amount. After set intervals, the blind levels increase and antes are introduced.

As players are eliminated, tables are balanced to make sure there is an even number of players on each table. Once enough players have been eliminated, usually around 85–90%, the remaining players are “in the money” and are guaranteed a return even if they are knocked out.

The tournament continues until there is only one table of players remaining — this is called the final table. As the biggest prizes are given out at the final table, the players have an option to make a deal with each other about how the remaining prize pool is distributed but the decision has to be unanimous.

If no deal is made the tournament is played until one player has all of the chips in play . This player is declared the winner and wins the top prize.

Sit-&-Go Tournament

A sit-and-go tournament works in the same way as a regular tournament but it has a set number of players and will start once the number of players has registered to the tournament. Sit-and-go is often comprised of a single table of players, but some online poker tournament sites offer sit-and-go for up to 180 players.

Multi-Table Tournament

A multi-table tournament is what most people think of when they think of an online poker tournament. There are no limits to the number of players that can register and the players are playing for cash prizes. The play takes place over multiple tables until they get down to the final few players.

Satellite Tournament

A satellite tournament is similar in structure to a regular tournament but the difference lies in the prize pool. In a satellite tournament, you’re playing for an entry or a ‘ticket’ to a larger buy-in tournament. This is a way for players to play in big tournaments, even if they don’t have the bankroll for it.

Re-Buy Tournaments

A re-buy tournament is akin to a normal tournament but in the first couple of hours of play, if a player is eliminated they can buy back in. Once the re-buy period has been completed, the tournament plays out in the same way where players are eliminated until they reach a winner.