Poker Stars is the premier online site for poker tournaments, period. This is
not saying that other sites do not have good tournaments; they certainly do.
Poker Stars, however, is the 800 pound gorilla.
Poker Stars has been a strong tournament site since its inception, and Chris
Moneymaker’s 2003 WSOP win cemented this reputation for the site. Moneymaker’s
$5 Million win started with a $40 Poker Stars satellite entry. Greg Raymer’s
2004 WSOP win after qualifying at Stars was another shining moment for manager
Lee Jones and his team.
Poker Stars offers tournaments in every possible configuration of game, limit,
and stack size. Holdem, Omaha High, Omaha Hi-Lo, Stud, and Stud Hi-Lo are on
the weekly schedule multiple times. HORSE games (a mixed game format including
Holdem, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz - seven stud played for low
hand,
Stud - seven card, and stud hi-lo Eight or better) are being
beta tested now, and will be offered in the near future.
Players interested in learning or improving their skills in a certain game
should consider tournaments as a learning tool. A player could bust out
quickly in a cash game, but can see many hands played for a limited risk in a
tournament. The occasional money finish is nice, but this is done primarily
for experience. A player using this method to learn a game must also
understand that the similarities to cash games start to disappear after the
first few levels because of the increasing blinds. Late tournament play is
almost nothing like a cash game.
Common Tournament Information
Poker Stars tournaments are accessed from the main lobby by clicking the
“Tourney” tab. This brings up a listing of all tournaments available to be
accessed. By clicking “Show registering/upcoming only”, you can hide the
completed and running tournaments, to see only upcoming events.
Double-clicking on a tournament name opens the lobby for each individual
tournament. Once the tournament begins, this is where to find information
about the prizes, number of remaining players, the leaders, and the stack
sizes.
Clicking the “Tournament Info” button in the individual tournament lobby
opens the window shown below. This contains information about the game’s blind
structure, length of level, starting chips, breaks, and payout structure. Most
tournaments at Stars use this structure – 1500 starting chips, 10/20 blinds,
and 15-minute levels. The exceptions are:
Turbo tournaments – These tournaments are specifically designed to run
much faster than normal. Luck plays a much bigger factor here.
Deep Stacks – These events start the players with 5000 chips, which
allows for much more play. These structures benefit the more skilled players.
Larger Buy-ins - Tournaments with buy-ins over $150 usually start with
2500 chips.
| Freezeout |
Standard tournament setup. No rebuys. |
| Rebuy & Addon |
Allows Player with less than starting chips to
rebuy during the first hour. At the completion of the hour, a player can
add on a certain amount of chips, regardless of stack size. |
| Guaranteed |
A special rebuy tournament with a guaranteed
amount in the prize pool. |
| Shootout |
An 81-player Double Shootout consists of nine
tables with nine players each. Each table is played as a separate
tournament. The nine individual winners then face off at the final table. |
| Short-Handed |
A tournament that will never have more than
six players at each table. |
| Heads Up |
A single-elimination tournament where two
players face off. The winner advances to the next round. |
| Satellite |
A tournament that awards entries into a higher
buy-in tournament rather than cash prizes. |
No Limit Holdem
In tournament play, no limit holdem is king. More than 60% of Stars
tournaments are NLHE. Buy-ins range from $1 to $1000, and freerolls are also
listed. Over three hundred NLHE tournaments are scheduled weekly, including
five daily guaranteed tournaments, two daily double shootouts, short-handed
events four days a week, two daily heads up matches, and seven weekly deep
stacks.
The two NLHE highlights at Stars are the Sunday Million, a $200 tournament
with a guaranteed $1 Million prize pool, and the daily $150 evening
tournaments.
Limit Holdem
Thirty-nine regular weekly tournaments are played in fixed limit Holdem. These
include a double shootout, a deep stacks, and a short-handed game on Friday
nights, and a double shootout on Saturdays.
Pot Limit Holdem
There are 42 pot limit holdem tournaments weekly. Among these are two
short-handed and a heads up match on Sundays and a deep stacks on Tuesdays.
Other Poker Games
More than 150 tournaments are run weekly in the various formats of stud and
Omaha games. Fans of these games can check the tournament schedule at the
Poker Stars tournament schedule page. Special tournaments including short-handed, heads up, and deep stacks are
available in these games as well.
Satellites
Poker Stars has a tremendous number of satellites running around the clock.
These allow a player to enter a large buy-in event with a small investment.
For example, the Sunday Million can be qualified for with as little as $3.
Most satellites are NLHE.
One feature that sets Stars apart from the pack is the ability to exchange an
entry for tournament dollars (T$). If you win a satellite, but don’t want to
play in the event, you can go to the lobby for that tournament and unregister
yourself. Your account will be credited with T$ in the amount of a direct
buy-in. You can then use the T$ to enter any tournament you wish. T$ can even
be sold for cash (usually for a slight discount) to other players. The Stars
client software has a facility to make these exchanges between players without
risk to either player.
A special type of tournament dollars are called W$. These work just like T$,
but can only be won and used in World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour,
European Poker Tour, and World Championship of Online Poker events.
Have fun exploring the many tournament options at the premier site for
tournaments. See you at the tables!
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