Tournament poker is one of the worlds hottest fads. While poker has been consistently played for over 100 years, the tournament circuit is still a relatively new thing. In 1972, the grand prize at the World Series of Poker (a $10,000 buy-in) was only $80,000. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker took home a cool $2.5 million. The reason for this drastic increase in prize money is the number of players that have entered tournaments. In 1972, only 8 players entered the World Series of Poker, while 839 entered in 2003.
This will come as a big surprise to our readers, but we are NOT big fans of tournament poker. How can we say that?! Well, keep reading.
Television has made tournament poker look glamorousa competition where skill prevails. But the truth of the matter is that luck plays a much bigger factor in tournaments than in ring games. Think of it this way: if you start with $2,000 in a regular no-limit game, whats the chance that youll end up with $2 million before the night is over? Zero. But to win a tournament where each player has starting chips valuing $2,000 and 1,000 people enter, youd need to win $2 million in chips to win the tournament! Not an easy feat to do unless lady luck is truly smiling on you that day.
In short, the reasons we prefer to make money at ring games instead of tournaments are:
Nevertheless, we dont want to suggest that all tournaments are evil. Were not that biased. We just think that the common perception of tournaments is a bit distorted.
A lot of times, tournaments can still be worthwhile, simply because theyre fun to play and you do have the chance to make some money. But you should realize that winning in tournaments requires not only sound poker strategy, but also some adjustment from regular ring games. The following points are emphasized in tournament poker: