A poker tournament is a tournament at which the winners are decided by playing poker, usually a particular style of poker.
Contrast this to a ring game, where the game is ongoing with no formal structure to determine a single winner in a certain length of time.
Types of poker
While some tournaments offer a mix of games, like H.O.R.S.E. events which combine Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Stud Eight or Better and Dealer's Choice events, at which one may choose from a similar menu of games, most tournaments feature one form of stud or community card poker, such as seven-card stud, seven card high-low stud, Omaha Hold 'em or Texas Hold 'em. Both Omaha and Texas Hold'em tournaments are commonly offered in fixed-limit, pot limit, and no limit forms.
Tournament venues
Informal tournaments can be organized by a group of friends; for example, most colleges feature poker tournaments. Casinos and online gaming sites often offer daily tournaments.
However, these are not the only venues. Poker cruises offer tournaments at sea. The 2005 World Series of Poker primarily took place in the conference hall of the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas.
Major tournaments
The two largest and most well-known tournaments are the World Poker Tour championship event and the World Series of Poker, both held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The World Series has traditionally been featured on ESPN.
The 2005 World Series of Poker was the first held outside of Binion's Horseshoe Casino, though the final few days of the main event were held in the legendary Benny's Bullpen. Future tournaments will be held at one of the Harrah's Entertainment properties; 2005 saw the Rio as primary venue.
Arguably the most publicised European tournament is the Poker Million, which began in 2000 on Sky Sports, following on from the success of the Late Night Poker television show.
In addition to these events, there are other major tournaments throughout the year. The World Poker Tour broadcasts a series of open tournaments throughout the U.S. and Caribbean with buy-ins from $5,000 to $15,000, as well as a European event with a €10,000 buy-in. Some of these events are stand alone tournaments like the Caribbean Poker Adventure, but most are held in conjunction with a tournament series being held at the host casino, like the Commerce Casino's LA Poker Classic, the Reno Hilton's World Poker Challenge and the Bicycle Casino's Legends of Poker.
Atlantic City hosts The United States Poker Championship at the Trump Taj Mahal casino. The Plaza casino in Las Vegas hosts the Ultimate Poker Challenge, a series of regular tournaments that culminates in a $10,000 buy-in event.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
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