The Poker Lab Rat

We’ve all seen the big poker tournaments on TV where famous players battle against Joe Schmuck for the big money at the WSOP & the WPT surrounded by TV cameras.  Well, you can get into poker tournament action in the privacy of your own home and for very small stakes. You can get a whole lot of entertainment for as little as $1.

POKER CASH GAMES – WHAM BAM – WHAT HAPPENED TO MY MONEY?
Let’s face it, while cash games may pay the rent for seasoned poker professionals, they’re not so much fun for the average Joe (or Josephine), as you’ll frequently find yourself facing off against some shark carrying a $500 bankroll & playing on the $1/$2 tables. If you’re carrying just $30 in loose chips then that puts you at a big disadvantage before the cards are even dealt. There is a simple way to make sure that you’re starting off on a level playing field though – play in online poker tournaments instead!

MULTIPLAYER POKER TOURNAMENTS – JUST THE TICKET FOR ONLINE MONEY MAKING!
Poker Tournaments are big news, & most online poker sites host as many as 20 tournaments an hour. Buy-ins (entry fees) range from as little as a buck to as much as $1000. The bigger the entry fee the bigger the prizes (& probably the smarter the opponents too). You pay your fee, grab the same amount of chips as everyone else & play against like-minded individuals on a series of tables battling it out for the final table and all the chips.

You don’t have to win the poker tournament to win cash -  usually the top 10% of players will be paid out in cash (credited to your poker account). No matter how many chips you have (& possibly lose) you can never lose more than your initial entry fee. So multiplayer poker tournaments are fun and exciting - and surprinsingly inexpensive to learn to play well at.

So who has the best Multiplayer Poker Tournaments Online?

OUR TOP 4 RECOMMENDED POKER TOURNAMENT SITES

Bet365Poker - UK-owned, Netherlands Antilles licenced, top site on the Microgaming Prima Poker Network - sorry, no US players
Spin Palace Poker - UK-owned, Kahnawake, Canada licenced, Microgaming Prima Poker Network - no US players
Eurobet Poker - Ongame Poker Network, huge European player base - no US players
Full Tilt Poker - stand alone, just FullTilt players (35,000+ at peak though so plenty of action at all levels) - US players welcomed

FREEROLLS.  PLAY ‘EM, LOVE ‘EM – THEN LEAVE ‘EM!
You can play for free in some online poker tournaments – they’re called Freerolls – and as the name suggests they cost nothing to enter. Freerolls vary from site to site (and not all poker rooms offer them). Usually you need to make a deposit, or play a certain amount of real money poker at cash tables to be eligible enter a Freeroll.

The problem with freerolls is twofold 

1. Firstly as they’re free the majority of players don’t care about risks & go all-in quickly to try & get as many chips as soon as possible. Yawn.
2. Secondly, Freerolls can have thousands of entrants & so it’s hard to do well in them. (Sometimes the tables fill within minutes anyways… why stress it to play with total munters?)

Freerolls have their place (as a bit of fun on a rainy afternoon), but they’re nothing like playing in a smaller tournament where every has paid in a (say) $5 entry free & is playing hard to win. In the same way that the “play money” tables didn’t prepare you for “cash tables” – Freerolls are not that much like tournaments either.