A Primer On Online Pokies Tournaments

At online casinos you mostly wager against the house. But some online casinos hold events in which players compete against each other. These are online tournaments and are mainly, but not exclusively, held with pokie games. Microgaming powered Australian online casinos are popular for pokies tournaments.

Online pokie tournaments work in the following manner. Each participating player pays the same entry fee and starts with a chip stack of the same amount. You have to wager with the given chips on the designated online pokie for the given time period. The idea is to finish the tournament with as large a chip stack as you can. At the end of the tournament all participating players will be ranked on the leader board according to their final chip stack. The top players on the leader board share the prize pool as stated in the rules of the online pokie tournament.

There are different types of online pokie tournaments and you should have a basic understanding of these before you start participating. Ideal for new players are the freerolls. There is no entry fee. Therefore new players can learn the strategies of pokies tournament play without staking their own funds. The flip side is that the prizes are much smaller.

Online pokie tournaments can also be differentiated on the basis of the prize pool. In some tournaments, the online casino guarantees a certain amount as the prize pool. If the online casino collects less by way of entry fees then it pays the difference from its pocket. If the collection is more than the prize money then the online casino keeps the difference. The other type of prize pool is called the pot. It is the amount collected from the players as entry fees. This amount is distributed as prizes and the online casino neither makes nor loses money.

In single level tournaments the leader board is set once all players complete their rounds and the prizes are awarded on this basis. In multi-level pokie tournaments some of the players at the bottom of the leader board are eliminated and the others progress to the next round, where they compete again. The prizes are awarded after the final round.

Microgaming powered Australian online casinos use specially formatted online pokies for their tournaments. These are essentially the same as the regular online pokies, but provide additional information for tournament play. This includes time left for the player and his leader board position.