Poker Tournament Selection
	All poker tournaments are not created equal. Selecting those with the most favorable conditions will help to increase your profits.

The majority of poker tournaments take a portion of your entry fee for their profit. This is to be expected. After all, it costs money to organize and run a poker tournament and provide the facilities and personnel to do so. The organizations who run tournaments (casinos) are profit making businesses. Whenever a portion of the entry fee is kept by the sponsor as profit, the total amount awarded as prizes will always be less than the total collected. For a brick and mortar casino, you can expect that this will be about 20-25% of the entry fee. In the area of the country I live, many charitable and fraternal organizations run poker tournaments as fund raising events. It is not uncommon that up to a third of the entry fees go to the sponsor or charity. Online casinos typically charge the least in their fees, which may average around 10%. You can see then, that the more the sponsor takes out of the game, the less advantageous it is to the players. This does not mean that you should not play in tournaments of this type, just that you should be aware of the amount that is actually going to the players. Indeed, it will be relatively difficult to find live tournaments that are not structured this way, although one way great way to avoid fees is to hold your own home poker tournament. See our Tournament page for more information.

Although more difficult to find, especially in a live format, you may come across tournaments that provide a better payout to the entrants. Guaranteed prize pool tournaments occasionally do so. In a guaranteed tournament the sponsor guarantees a certain minimum prize pool. Should the entry fees fail to add up to this minimum, the sponsor will make up the difference. These tournaments are advantageous whenever that occurs. For example, in a tournament with a $100 buy-in and a guarantee of $4000 it will take 40 players to make the minimum. Whenever there are fewer than 40 entrants, the amount awarded will be more than the total in fees. Of course, as soon as there are more than 40 entrants, the tournament become no better than the typical tournament. Be watchful for these types of tournaments, especially on-line. If you find one with fewer than the minimum entrants it is well worth your consideration to enter.

Can you ever find tournaments that pay out more than they take in? Yes, if you can find a “money added” tournament. In this format, which is commonly employed by on-line poker rooms as a promotion, the sponsor will actually add additional money to the prize pool. This can amount to hundred or even thousands of additional dollars up for grabs. (I have been in a tournament with $10,000 added.) When you find these tournaments it is crazy not to take advantage of them.

Lastly, if you have ever played on-line, you will find free tournaments that award cash prizes. Is this too good to be true? The chance to win money without risking any of your own? The answer is “yes”, to a point. The first thing you must do is read the details. The most important detail concerns if there are any restrictions on getting the money if you should actually win some. Some sites will give you the money with no strings attached. Others may have qualifications that require you to deposit your own money and play in real money games. Then, once you’ve met the minimum play terms, you’ll get the “free” money you’ve won. Be very much alert for this, especially if you have no intention of depositing your own money. Obviously, the “no strings attached” sites are the best ones to take advantage of.

The other things to consider in a free tournament is the actual pay out and the time you will have to spend to get it. You will find that the prizes are usually very small and that you must place very high to win one. It would not be unusual to have to place in the top 1-2% of entrants (e.g. top 10 places out of 500-1000 entrants) or even better in order to win a cash prize. The time you spend getting to the payout will vary depending upon the total entrants, but don’t be surprised if it takes several hours. Still, these tournaments can be very helpful for beginning players to learn and gain valuable tournament experience. And, keep in mind, although difficult, it is possible to take the money you’ve won in a free tournament and parlay it into hundreds or thousands more.