Every year thousands of Poker tournaments take place around the world. The tournament can be as simple as only two players playing on a table (heads-up), to thousands of players playing on different tables. The champion is the one who wins all the chips and does not get eliminated till the end. In a poker tournament the chips cannot be cashed. They can only be used to determine the player’s position.

For entering a tournament the player has to pay a fixed “buy in”. When the game begins he is provided with definite quantity of the tournament chips. No money but only the tournament chips can be used during the tournament. These chips have only notional value. There are options of re-buying and add-on for players who are low on chips. When a player is out of all options and hi is out of chips he is eliminated from the tournament. As the game proceeds and players get eliminated the remaining are rotated from table to table to keep the number even. However in some tournaments called the shoot-outs the last players of each table play each other. The player who remains in the end is the winner. At times the tournament is ended by the mutual consent of the remaining players and the prize money is distributed. In some tournaments which are called bounty tournaments, a bounty is placed on certain players. Whoever knocks those players out wins the bounty.

A poker tournament can either be open or the players are sent invitations. The most prestigious poker tournament “The World Series of Poker” is open. Multi-table tournament is when countless players are playing on hundreds of tables. Satellite tournaments are held before high profile expensive events. The winners of these satellite tournaments are given participation in lieu of their winnings. Single-table tournament is played on a single table as the name itself suggests. The number of players is usually nine or ten.

Mostly the format used is the “Knock out” or freeze out. Players are eliminated as soon as there chips are lost. A multi table tournament shrinks to the final table with Knockouts. In some tournaments players can buy their way back in the tournament. These are known as the re-buy tournaments. In a shootout tournament there are 2 to ten players on a table. The players are not rotated in this method and only the last man to stay at that table moves to the final table.

There can be three types of betting. Bets are restricted to a fixed amount in structured or fixed limit betting. In semi structured betting there are certain ranges. In unstructured or no limit betting players are allowed to bet as much as they want to.

World Poker Tour Championship and World Series of Poker are the most known tournaments of USA. European Poker Tour is the famous tournament in Europe. In Asia the place is held by Asia Pacific Poker Tour. Latin American Poker Tour in Argentina and Crown Australian Poker Championship in the Pacific region. Other major poker tournaments are Caribbean Poker Adventure, North America Poker Tour, The United states Poker Championship, National Heads-Up Poker Champion ship.