Pokerstars Tournaments

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Pokerstars Tournaments - Poker Tournament Opportunities

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Whether a player prefers 6-max tables, multi-day 5000 player tournaments or simply having a choice of dozens of kinds of tournaments every day, Pokerstars is the place to play online poker tournaments. A regular daily schedule of Texas Hold'em tournaments leads the list of specialty, promotional and standard tournaments of many varieties. Players flock to the Pokerstars tournaments not only for the games but for the full variety of prizes. These prizes range from large jackpots to entries in even bigger worldwide poker events.

Types of Tournaments

Pokerstars offers a dozen different forms of tournaments on a daily basis. The daily and weekly schedule includes small player tournaments and large scale events both live and online. Satellite tournaments offer qualifiers for other live events or larger tournament games like the Sunday Millions or World Championship of Poker (WCOOP).

On Pokerstars' website, the tournament schedule is color coded to help patrons distinguish tournaments by type at a glance. From the player's lobby, a patron can filter tournaments by type to find a particular type to play. If undecided, select "tourney" and "all" to view the whole list of scheduled tournaments at a given time. The tournament lobby also lists details about buy-ins and entry fees for each tournament.

The types of tournaments available at Pokerstars are the following:

• Sit & Go regular
• Sit & Go Double or Nothing
• Sit & Go Steps
• Multi-Table Tournaments including Double and Triple Shootouts
• Satellites
• Rebuy Tournaments
• Turbo
• 2X-Turbo
• Deep Stacks
• 6-Max and 4-Max
• Guaranteed Tournaments
• Freerolls and Play Money Tournaments
• Special Tournaments

Sit'N'Gos

Sit'N'Go tournaments are the only type that don't have a prearranged start time. When the table seats fill, the tournament begins. Sit'N'Gos can have as few as two players in a heads-up format or as many as 360 players as satellite SNGs. Sit'N'Go tournaments can be found for cash tournament play or as satellite qualifiers for larger events. A Sit'N'Go tab in the software lobby allows players to find SNG tournaments easily.

Double or nothing Sit'N'Gos are a particular variation offering players a chance at a double prize pot for finishing in the top half of the places. Players in the lower half of places get nothing at the end of the tournament.

Step Sit'N'Go tournaments allow players to invest a small amount initially and earn their way up tiered levels of SNG competition. At level one of six at the Pokerstars Step SNG, $7.50 or 500 frequent player points starts a player in the tournament with the chance to work up to prizes over $1000. Players are allowed to buy-in directly at higher steps for the amount of that tier.

MTT (Multitable Tournaments) and Shootouts

The format standard for tournament play are multitable tournaments, where a fixed number of players start with the same number of chips. Players work to amass chips and those who lose all their chips are eliminated. The goal is to reach the final table to play for the grand total prize. Several prize places are awarded, based on the total number of players.

Shootouts are a variation of MTT. Instead of moving mid-tournament to a new table to keep full tables as players are eliminated, a shootout runs until one person at each table has won the whole table, eliminating the rest of the players at that table. Then, the table winners play together, repeating the process. Double shootouts require players to win two tables in order to win the whole tournament. Triple shootouts require three rounds of winning to be the event champion.

Satellites

Satellite tournaments have prizes of an entry into another, larger tournament event. They are typically less expensive than cash prize tournaments, offering players only a fraction of the larger event buy-in as the entry for the satellite tournament. One-table and multi-table satellites are offered at Pokerstars, including regular multi-table tournaments that specify the prize to be an event entry, such as a seat for the Sunday Millions.

Rebuy Tournaments

Freezeout tournaments are the standard-form tourneys - when a player is out of chips, he is out of the tournament. Rebuys allow players to restock their chips during the tournament with certain limitations. Rebuy tournaments typically offer the following:

• Designated time in which to rebuy, usually before the first break
• Certain number of rebuys allowed per tournament
• Add More Chips button works any time a player still has chips
• When a player looses all their chips an automatic rebuy offer pops up
• Each rebuy usually costs the same as the original buy-in (but no rake)
• Each rebuy gives players the same new amount of chips as the original buy in
• An add-on may be available at the break to gain an extra rebuy, but it is not automatically offered

Turbo and 2X Turbo

Turbo tournaments speed up the levels of playing time and thus how quickly the blinds increase. Turbo rounds play in five or six minutes before the level increases, where standard tournaments play in 10 to 15 minute rounds.

In 2X turbos, the levels still change at turbo speed, but there are rebuys offered for twice as long as in standard tournaments. Likewise, 3X turbos offer a three-times as long rebuy period during the turbo levels.

Deep Stacks

Deep stacks tournaments offer players a much larger-than-normal starting amount of chips (often 5000) and longer play levels of 30 minutes rather than the standard 15. The idea behind deep stacks tournaments is to give players at each level more play time by improving the factors that tend to eliminate players in regular tournaments.

6-Max and 4-Max

An additional designation on some tournaments is that they are 6-max. Instead of the typical seven to ten players per table, these tables are limited to six players. Four max is the same idea: tables are limited to only four players per table.

Guaranteed Tournaments

Guaranteed tournaments have a posted prize pool amount. If the total player buy-ins for that tournament don't reach the posted prize total, Pokerstars guarantees the pot by filling in any remaining amount to the posted prize amount. At Pokerstars, guaranteed tournaments range from pots of $1000 up to guaranteed $1.5 Million prizes in certain tournaments. When looking through the tournament schedule, players can search using the filter guaranteed or look for titles with Gtd in them.

Freerolls and Play Money

Freerolls and play money tournaments also have a special color coded designation on the tournament lobby. Players looking for a free investment with the chance to still come out with real cash winnings or more Pokerstars chips have a regular opportunity with these free tournaments. Freerolls have real money prizes that range from $2000 to $25,000.

Special Tournaments

Special tournaments run as promotions or unique timed tournaments that are not part of the daily, regular tournament schedule. Special tournaments are often advertised directly to Pokerstars players on the homepage or in the software client. These events change periodically and the prizes are usually guaranteed larger prize pools than the regular tournaments offer. Players register specifically for these special tournaments, following the eligibility requirements as set by Pokerstars for each of these tourneys. Pokerstars special tournaments currently include:

• Sunday Million
• Sunday Warm-Up
• Nightly Hundred Grand

Pokerstars is the largest online tournament host in the online poker world. Hundreds of thousands of players each week find some additional winnings through the wide variety of tournaments that Pokerstars offers. If you're looking for a different kind of poker experience, trying a new type of Pokerstars tournament is a great way to stretch your skills within familiar territory and with good odds of taking home some winnings.

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