Life and Poker has common ground to share; it’s variety that adds a dash of spice to both. Poker, being present in so many forms makes each and every tournament a different one, both in terms of rules as well as in terms of excitement. While some of the Poker tournaments are based on a mix of several different games (e.g. H.O.R.S.E. events; a combination of Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Stud Eight), others like the Better and Dealer's Choice events allows a player to choose from a menu. However, most of the Poker tournaments feature at least one form of stud (e.g. seven-card stud, seven card high-low stud) or community card poker (e.g. Omaha Hold 'em) offered with three options: fixed-limit, pot limit and no limit.

Though ardent Poker players arrange for informal tournaments every now and then, serious ones have always been the monopoly of large clubs, UK Casinos and online Poker rooms, being arranged on a daily basis. Aside from these, there are Poker cruises that offer tournaments at sea. And the last two years witnessed the World Series of Poker events taking place in Hotel Rio, Las Vegas. Another Poker tournament that took place at the same location is the World Poker Tour championship, though the event never got the media exposure like the World Series that was shown on ESPN.

But if we take publicity under consideration, it’s the European tournament (Poker Million) that takes the cake; the event has now reached its sixth year and is telecasted by Sky Sports on a regular basis. The legacy of the Late Night Poker television show thus continues. However, we must also mention the perennial Poker tournaments besides the seasonal ones. The first name on the roster would belong to the Caribbean Poker Adventure, a series of open tournaments that occur throughout the Caribbean, followed by LA Poker Classic, the World Poker Challenge, the Legends of Poker, The United States Poker Championship and Ultimate Poker Challenge; these all happen to be regular tournaments where a $10,000 entry fee is considered quite normal.

Now it’s the time to explain how Poker tournaments are played; though styles vary, but the basics remain the same. It starts with paying a fixed entry fee or a buy-in, which fetches the player a certain number of Poker chips that translate to the play money, in the form of a multiple of the entry fee. The option of a re-buy or buy-back of the chips is limited; thus once the chips are exhausted, the player is chucked out of the tournament. Though governed by the managing body, the termination of Poker tournaments also depend on the mutual agreement of players at times. It is done just to lower the risk of loss; instead of letting a single player take all the booty, the remaining ones share the prize according to the chips they have won.

Prize distribution in Poker tournaments occurs in three different ways:

•Fixed: Each winner is subjected to a preset payoff amount.

•Proportional: Payouts depend on a scale based on percentage, which is again determined by taking into account the number of participants. The payout amount is variable and is directly proportional to the number of players.