At Ignition, we’ve got a huge variety of online poker tournaments. Each month, we have big guaranteed tourneys as well as smaller tournaments with buy ins of just a dollar so everyone can join in. And we’ve got everything in between.

In this article, we’ll cover our most popular tournament types. We’ll explain what makes them so exciting, and we’ll also help you figure out which ones might be right for you. The rewards can be massive, so let’s shuffle up and deal!

Types of Poker Tournaments at Ignition Casino

  1. Prize Pool

The most straightforward poker tournament concept can be thought of as the “prize pool” tournament. There’s a big, guaranteed prize pool and winnings are distributed according to present percentages. They’re rarely winner take all. Instead, the first-place finisher might get 35%, second might get 20%, and third might get 10%. The next ten finishers may share in the remainder. These prize pools can climb into the hundreds of thousands and even millions. A lot of our Big Winners come from tournaments like this.

  1. Deep Stack

Deep stack tournaments set you up with lots of chips and very small blinds, at least to start. This means that you can see a ton of hands on the cheap, or play aggressive without being punished. It will be a while before the blinds start putting pressure on your chip total, so deep stack tournies favor loose play early on. That said, if you’re in a no limit game, you may wind up all in even when the blinds are tiny. Don’t get carried away! You can whether the blind bleeding for a long time.

  1. Poker variants

Many players start learning poker by playing 5-card draw. But once you get online, you’ll find that No Limit Texas Hold’em is by far the most popular variant. This is the version you’ll see in the WSOP Main Event, and it is as exciting as it gets. On any given hand, you could double up or bust out. The energy is always electric.

There’s also Omaha, where you’ll be dealt four cards instead of two. This game can be played in a version called Hi-Lo in which the “worst” hand also wins a pot. You’ll need bigger hands than in Texas Hold’Em, so brush up on strategy before diving in.

  1. Jackpot Sit & Go

This type of tournament is played with only a few players. Each player antes up a buy in, and a random jackpot of up to 1,000x your buy in is added to the prize pool. These are super-fast poker tournaments that give you a chance to win lots of extra cash.

  1. Bounties

In a bounty tournament, every time you knockout a player, you get paid. No matter where you finish in the tournament, if you eliminate another player, you get the bounty. These can escalate in progressive bounty tournaments, making each stack you collect that much more profitable!

Choosing the Right Tournament Type for You

There are several factors to consider when selecting the right poker tournaments to suit your situation, skills, and playstyle.

  • Speed: if you don’t have a ton of time to play, or you know that bedtime is fast approaching, you don’t want to get involved in a long tournament. Choose a turbo tournament or something that you can play in an hour or less. Tournaments with hundreds or thousands of players can kick off in the evening and carry on into the morning of the next day! You don’t want to get impatient and burn your buy in on bad plays.
  • Buy-in: you don’t want too much of your bankroll at stake in a given tourney. Have at least 50x your buy in available, and you should be good (e.g. if you have $100 in your account, $2 buy ins are appropriate).
  • Your situation: is it late at night? Are you tired? Did you just suffer a bad beat in a cash game? Are you on tilt? Take these things into account. You want to kick off a tournament in a stable place ready to grind your way through the crowd and into the final table. Don’t come in if you want to go all in on any two cards.
  • Limit: If you want a calmer game, stick to fixed limit or pot limit tournaments. If you’re ready for big action, no limit is the place to be!
  • Rebuys: do you typically need a couple of chances to get a feel for a particular tournament? Do you want some insurance against ugly knockouts? Pick a tournament that offers rebuys. Then, even if you get booted, you can come bouncing right back.
  • Play your way: filter and sort tournaments using the options at the top of the tournament screen in the poker client:

Examples of tournament types that might be best for different types of players

  • For tireless, good players: long tourneys. Long poker tournaments give good players time to make the math work in their favor. It will be a while before the struggling players will be forced all in, and by then, you’ll have the stack size to take them on without much risk.
  • For newer players who need room to make mistakes: Micro buy ins are available for as little as $0.40 per ticket and are perfect for beginners. The cost is super low, but the fun and excitement may surprise you! A final table is a final table, no matter what the stakes are.
  • For players that are pressed for time: inexpensive Jackpot Sit & Gos are the perfect way to get a poker fix in a short amount of time.
  • For players that want stability: limit games ensure that you’ll never have too much at risk in a single hand.

Tips for experimenting with different types of tournaments to find the best fit

  • If you’re just getting started, stick to low stakes tournaments where you can try different play styles and find out what works for you.
  • If you’re not ready to put anything at risk, try play money tournaments! These virtual credits let you play poker without having to pay a cent.
  • Hit up the Ignition Casino forum to ask questions and get answers from other players. We’ve also got a Help Center that has a ton of info.

Get ready for some fun! There’s nothing quite as satisfying as a big poker tournament cash!