Tournament Poker

Tournament poker differs from traditional cash games or ring games in several ways. Most significantly, players win money based on their finishing position in the tournament, and not on the value of the chips they have won.

The winner of the tournament will have collected all the chips in play and will win the biggest prize. But all of the highest finishers – typically about 10% of the entrants – will win some return on their investment. The higher you finish, the more money you win. The very top places earn payouts many times the buy-in. These are the dizzying sums you often see written on huge bank cheques being handed to a major tournament winner.