If you’re looking for a place to play poker online, you’re definitely in good company. There are a lot of guides that tell you where the live action is going to be if you really want to play a few hands and go about your day. But what about when you want a little more than what’s offered? For example, you might want to jump into the big world of tournaments already. If you’ve been practicing your hands and looking into the theory of poker, then you might be ready to actually go head to head in a tournament.
But where to begin? There are a lot of casinos that offer poker, but you will want to find a casino that really understands poker tournaments.
We’ve come up with a few places that definitely give poker players the special treatment that they deserve — check ‘em out below:
1. Absolute Poker
One thing that we like about Absolute Poker is that it really does pay to become part of the customer base. For starters, there’s a nice little welcome bonus at the beginning — you can claim up to $500 in free cash without doing much of anything. If you want to practice a little before you go for the tournaments, the low stakes start at 2 to 4 cents — that’s pretty cheap. You could definitely make even $250 stretch pretty far with that type of low stakes.
The tournament scene is hot as well — they offer at least three solid tournaments every week, with the lowest prize starting at 25,000. This means that if you’re really good you could definitely finish in the money and win big. The buy ins aren’t terrible either — $300+$25 gets you into the event.
Like many online casinos that want to make a name for themselves, they will send the best players that win certain satellite games to bigger events offline, like the WSOP. Of course, you definitely have to be good in order to earn that, so it’s not like it’s something that you just want to take lightly — make sure your poker strategy is tight!
2. Bodog
Bodog has managed to maintain a very good customer reputation over the years, and there’s enough variety to keep gamblers playing for a long time. However, we’re here for poker and Bodog definitely delivers. Tournaments go on all the time at Bodog and you can even set up action on the side by watching certain players. Bodog is also one of the many sites that allow you to export your poker statistics, which means that you can look at previous hands to make sure that you’re still doing well.
3. Poker Stars
If you’ve got an eye on sites that will let in US players, you definitely have to look at Poker Stars at least once. It’s a site that not only is very US friendly, but they also cater to players that love tournaments. They have a weekly guaranteed tournament that is absolutely massive, but well worth it — the prize is usually a million dollars or better. Of course, the competition is going to be pretty fierce at that rate.
Knowing what type of tournament that you’re interested in will help you really find the right casino with games such as bingo spill and slots. For example, if you really like the shootout format, then that’s what you will want to target. Shootouts are simply very long multi-table events where you’re definitely battling against a lot of people. If that’s not really your cup of tea, you might want to go with the Sit-n-Go format — the tournament starts when everyone show sup. You can make nice gains in bankroll management by playing tournaments, but you can also lose money the same way. If you’re not sure how to work a tournament, remember: you don’t have to play perfectly, but you do need to have your wits about you so that you can finish in the money — play your hands and play them well!