Introduction to poker tournaments

Increasing popularity
Poker tournaments have become extremely popular, all over the world. There are many reasons for this but some of the most important factors are increased television coverage, the explosion of Internet poker and online qualifier Chris Moneymaker's success in the 2003 WSOP, where he was crowned world champion.

An exciting poker form
Tournaments are an exciting way to play poker. One of the biggest advantages of this playing form is that any player can get lucky and win a life-changing amount of money from a modest investment. For example, the winner of the 2004 WSOP $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Event (Greg Raymer) received $5,000,000 in prize money, which was 500 times what he paid to enter. This, combined with the possibility of entering events like that almost for free via qualifying tournaments, makes such tournaments virtually impossible to resist.

Winning takes luck - and skill
Placing first in a poker tournament obviously takes a lot of luck, bud solid poker skills are equally important if you want to achieve long-term success. It is not a coincidence that you see the same names of top players in the money in big tournaments over and over again. The late Stu Ungar won three WSOP main events. Johnny Chan has won back-to-back titles and in addition to this finished in second place once. Doyle Brunson has become World Champion two times and reached the final table on several occasions. Again, to win a poker tournament you need luck, but to place in the money regularly you have to be a very skilled poker player.