Tournaments – Multi Table Tournaments
Multiple tables are when a tournament has over ten players. ‘multi-table’ tournaments are very popular, but take much longer and usually scheduled in advance. Instead of just starting when 10 people enter a tournament, the poker room will schedule a multi-table tournament and begin at the predetermined time with however number of people that signed up.
When the tournament starts, the software sits people down at as many numbers of tables as are necessary to fit everyone that registered for the tournament. As people get eliminated, the number of tables is reduced bit by bit until people reach the last table. For example, let’s say 80 people enter a multi-table tournament. The tournament would start with 8 full tables of ten people each. About 20 minutes after, 10 people are eliminated (spread over the different tables). The poker room will eliminate one of the tables and move those people to all of the other remaining tables (now there would be 7 full tables of ten people instead of 8 semi-full ones). if the software decided to eliminate one of the tables with 9 people on it, those 9 people would fill in the gaps of the other tables.
The prize pools of multi-table tournaments vary. Again, the higher you place, the more money you will win. However, all of the money does not go to the top three places. The prize pool is divided among more finishers, generally at least the top 10% get money (the big prizes are skewed towards the top). For example, if 90 people entered the tournament, you would expect first to get 30%, second 24%, and third 16%, all the way down to 10th who would get 2%. To understand the payout structure of the tournament, check the poker room’s website for a payout sheet. In a casino multi-tournament, the payout sheet is usually available near the sign up desk. If not, ask the tournament director for a copy.
Multi-table tournaments are very popular because you can win a lot of money for very little investment. While the expected value is not great (you will not win any money the vast majority of the time), you can often have a practice play for three or more hours of poker for a small price. On the other hand, they do have $10,000 tournaments out there!
All types of poker can be played in a multi-table tournament setting, though the hold’em events are always the most popular and bring in the most players.
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