Poker Writer
Online poker tournaments come in different shapes and sizes. But, regardless of the format, they all represent a test of endurance, patience and skill.
Whether you’re looking for strategy tips, or simply want to know how to join poker tournaments online for real money, this guide has the answers. But first, let’s see the best sites at which to play poker tournaments online:
Where to Find the Best Online Poker Tournaments
Different poker rooms have vastly different types of online poker tournaments. Do you want to play for a major prize? Would you prefer something quick and straightforward? Or do you perhaps want to win a seat to a live event?
Whatever you’re after, there’s a poker room for you. Here’s where you’ll find some of the best poker tournaments online:
CoinPoker – Best Poker Tournaments Overall
Launched in 2016, CoinPoker is possibly the world’s leading cryptocurrency poker room. But there’s no question that it’s among the best poker sites for rakeback, thanks to a generous 33% deal available to all players.
It’s also a leading choice for players looking to play their way into live and online Texas Hold’em tournaments. The site is affiliated with the Irish Poker Festival, for instance, and has previously hosted a variety of satellites to the €3,000 Main Event in Dublin.
On the topic of online poker tournaments, CoinPoker offers some of the lowest entry fees around – even for their biggest events. And the lower-stakes games are way softer than many other poker rooms.
Pros
- Satellites to live tournaments
- Generous cashback
- Low tournament buy-in fees
- Weekly specials with six-figure guarantees
Cons
- No regular Sit & Gos
- Only Hold’em and Omaha tournaments
BetOnline – Best for Soft Games
Whenever a poker room also has a casino and sportsbook, there will be inexperienced players filtering through to the poker tournaments. At BetOnline, this makes for some of the easiest games around.
BetOnline hits that sweet spot where the casino and sports betting sections are really well established, but the poker software and MTT schedule are still strong enough for proper poker players.
Tournament buy-ins range from $1.50 to $215, with a $150,000 GTD tourney every Sunday where the skill level of players is lower than you’d expect for such a big prize pool. The best poker tournaments are ones you can actually win, and that’s exactly what BetOnline serves up.
Pros
- Lots of winnable MTTs
- Championship Online Poker Series with $3m+ GTD
- Innovative, fast-paced ‘Flips’ tournaments
- Instant crypto withdrawals
Cons
- Rake is a little high
- Not tons of events for high-stakes players
ACR Poker – Best for Huge Guarantees
Formerly known as Americas Cardroom, ACR Poker is one of the oldest online poker sites. Accepting US players since 2001, it’s part of the Winning Poker Network, which is responsible for some of the world’s biggest online poker tournaments.
The Venom Main Event in April 2024 boasted a frankly ridiculous guarantee of $12.5 million, breaking the record for any online tournament poker guarantee at the site until then. But other regular events, such as the Venom Mystery Bounty and PLO Venom, have still featured incredible seven-figure guarantees.
In addition, few mobile poker apps are as good for online tournaments as ACR Poker. As of December 2024, ACR launched its iOS app alongside its existing Android poker app. It looks fantastic and is very easy to use. It’s also possible to use cryptocurrency for ultra-fast withdrawals.
Pros
- Unbelievable prize guarantees
- Jackpot and regular Sit & Gos
- Industry-leading Android app
- Long-standing reputation
Cons
- Some high-quality players
- Frequent forced updates
How to Enter Poker Tournaments
The best online poker sites for tournaments make it easy for you to sign up. You don’t have to wonder “are these poker tournaments near me?”, as they’re all online and it only takes a few clicks to sign up.
It’s a simple process, But the very first time you try to join an online poker tournament might be a little confusing.
If it’s your first time playing a poker tournament online, here’s a step-by-step guide explaining what you need to do.
Step 1 – Log into your account
If you haven’t already done so, create an account with your chosen poker site and log in.
Not sure where to play? We recommend one of the country’s leading crypto poker sites, CoinPoker.
Step 2 – Choose an event
The best poker sites for tournaments use a straightforward and intuitive layout, with tabs along the top of the screen. Find the one marked “Tournaments” and tap it. Doing so will reveal every tournament on the site. You can easily sort them by start time and buy-in size, or use filters to thin out the options available.
If you’re a first-time player, it’s a good idea to look for free-to-play tournaments. These don’t cost anything to enter and are an easy way to learn the ropes and build your bankroll.
Step 3 – Register for a tournament
Once you’ve chosen an online poker tournament for real money that appeals to you, double click on it. This will cause a new window to open.
Here, you’ll see more detailed information about the event’s structure, as well as a list of registered players. Tap the “Register” button to join the party.
Step 4 – Confirm your entry
Once you’ve pressed “Register”, you’ll be asked to confirm your entry. This is an important step, to make sure you don’t accidentally join a $100 event instead of a $10 tournament, for instance.
After agreeing to join, the buy-in will be deducted from your balance. Your work is done until the tournament gets underway at the designated start time, or when enough people have joined.
Step 5 – Play some poker
Most multi-table tournaments begin at a specified time. Some events, though, like Sit & Gos, are “on-demand”. They’ll start as soon as the required number of players are registered.
Once the competition gets underway, the table pops up automatically and all you need to do is play. Remember that big events usually have breaks built in – often every 60 minutes – so plan accordingly.
Types of Poker Tournaments Online
Online poker tournaments come in a variety of flavors. In the next section of our guide, we’ll explain a little more about how they all work.
Multi-Table Tournaments (MTTs)
The classic way to play poker tourneys is the MTT. Short for “multi-table tournament”, it’s exactly what it sounds like: an event that features more than one table. But that could mean anything from 12 players sitting at two tables, to literally tens of thousands of players.
An obvious upside to playing in a large MTT is the potential for massive payouts. But the chances of actually winning such an event are slim, even for the world’s best players.
The more players involved, the longer it runs, meaning you’ll need to get lucky in more than just a few hands.
Sit & Gos (SNGs)
These on-demand events are some of the most popular online poker tournaments. They’re usually single-table tournaments (STTs) for two, six, nine or 10 players, but you’ll certainly find some Sit & Gos that feature multiple tables.
A popular alternative to cash games for low-stakes grinders, they’re much faster to play than MTTs. But the same tournament strategies apply.
Jackpot Sit & Go
These put an interesting twist on the traditional Sit & Go concept. With regular online poker tournaments, you’ll understand exactly what the prize pool is going to be ahead of time. Everyone pays the same entry fee, so the payouts are predictable.
But, with a Jackpot Sit & Go, nobody knows what’s at stake until seconds before the game begins. As soon as enough players have bought into the event, the prize pool will be determined at random. It could be anything from 2x up to 200,000x the buy-in.
Freerolls
These are free online poker tournaments where you pay nothing to enter, but can still win real prizes. These are often targeted at new players and generally have modest prize pools in the $50-$100 range, but some have juicy rewards.
Freeroll prizes include:
Cash- Entry to another tournament
- Merchandise and other prizes
CashWhen playing free online poker tournaments, you’ll find that the quality of player is generally much lower. In the lower-stakes freerolls, some players might not even show up, and will be blinded out.
Bounty Tournaments
In these online poker tournaments, players carry a fixed bounty. If you manage to knock them out of the competition, you’ll receive their bounty as a cash prize.
Some tournaments feature mystery bounties. In that case, nobody knows what the reward will be for eliminating the player with the bounty on their head. As soon as the elimination occurs, the prize will be selected at random.
Bounty tournaments span different game formats. You’ll find a lot of Texas Hold’em tournaments online with bounties, but you’ll also see Omaha options and more. Keep an eye on online poker tournament schedules to see what’s available.
Progressive Knockout
This is also a type of bounty tournament, but everyone has a price on their head. When buying into the event, half of the fee goes toward the prize pool as usual, with the remainder allocated as bounties.
The action unfolds as usual. But if you eliminate an opponent, you take a percentage of their bounty – usually half – with the remainder added to your own. Imagine a $20 event, so everyone starts with a $10 bounty. If Player A busts Player B, they receive a payment of $5, while their own bounty increases to $15.
As your bounty continues to grow, you’ll find yourself targeted more by other players, adding an extra layer of strategy.
Turbo Tournaments
Some online poker tournaments are intentionally structured in a way that prioritizes speed over skill. The blind levels increase much more quickly than usual, perhaps every five minutes. And when the blinds do rise, they jump sharply.
The benefit of Turbo tournaments is that they don’t take nearly as long to complete. It’s a great way to take a shot at a big prize, without giving up an entire day.
The trade-off, though, is that you don’t have as much room to play. So, if you’re a skilled tournament player, you’d be much better off playing in a slow-paced event with larger stacks and smaller blind increases.
Other Tournaments
Let’s quickly run through a few other popular online poker tournament formats.
Hyper Turbo. Essentially just a turbo tournament, only with even quicker and sharper blind increases.- Deepstack. The opposite of a turbo tournament, with extremely large stack sizes and long blind levels.
- All-In Or Fold. This fun, fast-paced real money online poker tournament removes all post-flop play entirely. If you want to play your hand, you must go all-in.
- Satellite. A special tournament where at least one player wins a paid-for seat in a later tournament with a much bigger buy-in.
Hyper Turbo. Essentially just a turbo tournament, only with even quicker and sharper blind increases.Difference Between Poker Tournaments Online and Cash Games
The main difference between online poker tournaments and cash games is that the former has a clear winner.
Cash games run for as long as there’s enough players willing to sit and play – forever, in theory. But a tournament has a finish line that all players are striving to reach.
Chips
In a cash game, whether online or in-person, the chips you purchase have a cash value. That’s real money sitting in front of. If you win more, you’re free to cash those chips out and walk away. Similarly, if you lose, you can simply buy more and keep playing.
But, when you buy into a tournament, the chips you receive are worthless in the real world. Everyone receives an equally-sized stack, and the aim is to play until one players has all of the chips in front of them. That person is crowned the winner.
You can’t cash out your chips halfway through a tournament. You’re in it until you’re out.
Structure
In classic online Texas Hold’em tournaments, the blinds increase after a fixed period of time. How quickly they rise depends on the structure of the event.
Many tournaments are designed to be fast-paced, with blinds that increase sharply every 5-10 minutes. These “Turbo” events force players into action, making for a more exciting game.
On the other hand, some are deliberately set up to be slow, which allows skilful players to shine. They might have 30-minute levels, with smaller increases each time the blinds are raised. These are usually called “Deep Stack” tournaments. The best poker sites for tournaments will have a mix of structures so you can pick what works for you.
But, in a cash game, the blinds remain fixed throughout. Even if the action runs for hours, they won’t increase unless all players agree to change them.
Payouts
Cash games don’t really have an ending. As long as there’s a free seat at the table, you’re able to sit down, purchase chips and join the action. When you’ve had enough, you can simply cash out and leave, regardless of whether you’re up or down.
But when you play tournament poker online, it doesn’t work like that. All of the money paid to enter is pooled, before later being distributed to the best-performing players as prize money.
For example, a single-table tournament of ten players might share the funds between the top three finishers, like so:
- 1st place: 50%
- 2nd place: 30%
- 3rd place: 20%
But some online poker tournaments are huge, with thousands of entrants, which creates massive prize pools. In this instance, the prizes may be split by among the top 15%-20% of players.
It’s not uncommon for some events to pay over a million dollars to the eventual winner. So, if you’re looking to win a lot playing poker, an online tournament is probably the best way to go about it.
Excitement
For many players, it’s more exciting to play live and online poker tournaments than cash games. After all, there’s a certain jeopardy involved.
If you bust out of a cash game, you can just reach for your wallet and buy more chips. Once the variance evens out, you may very well get your money back, or even make a profit. But you can’t do that in most tournaments. Once you’ve lost your chips, it’s game over.
In addition, tournaments allow you to see what you’re playing for. The prize pool is shown on-screen throughout, and you know exactly what’s in store for the winner. If it’s a very big event, there may even be a trophy, a bracelet or some other kind of prize up for grabs.
With a cash game, though, you never really know what’s at stake. You can only win what the other players bring to the table. If it’s a slow game, full of tight and disciplined players, that might not be very much at all.
The Biggest Online Poker Tournaments
Some of the best poker tournaments online offer unbelievable prize pools. Here are a few of the biggest you’ll find anywhere on the internet.
Venom Main Event
The Venom, hosted by ACR Poker, runs anywhere from twice to four times per year. Many would say it’s in one of the very best poker tournaments online.
It launched in 2019, with an impressive $5 million guarantee in the Main Event. But, by April 2024, that amount had increased to an incredible $12.5 million, making it one of the best online poker tournaments for US players.
Venom Mystery Bounty
The Mystery Bounty is part of the same series, but naturally smaller than the Main Event. Think of this as Venom’s younger sibling. But there’s nothing small and annoying about the massive $8 million guarantee.
The Venom Mystery Bounty is available at Black Chip Poker, as well as ACR.
Online Super Series Main Event
The Online Super Series is held several times a year, though the exact frequency varies. Available at Ya Poker, it’s normal for the $200 Main Event to boast a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million.
This runs alongside both the Bigger and Mini Online Super Series, which feature different buy-ins and prize pools.
Golden Spade Poker Open Main Event
Players at Bovada and Ignition can take part in the Golden Spade Poker Open series of online tournaments.
It typically hosts a $425 Main Event featuring a $500,000 guarantee, and the tournament is usually held annually.
Crypto Series of Online Poker Plus Main Event
In 2024, two versions of the CSOP+ took place – one in May, followed by another in September. Hosted by CoinPoker, there are four Main Events at a range of different stakes.
Although the High Roller tournament usually features a bigger prize pool, the smaller buy-in events draw bigger crowds. In May, the $1,000 Main Event carried a $400,000 guarantee.
The late-2025 edition boosted the overall guarantee up to $6 million. As far as online Texas Hold’em tournaments go, you won’t find many schedules as rammed and with such huge guarantees.
Biggest Online Poker Tournaments Compared
| Tournament | Guarantee | Buy-In | Fee | Poker Room | Rakeback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Venom Main Event | $12.5 million | $2,500 | $150 | ACR Poker | Up to 65% |
| The Venom Mystery Bounty | $8 million | $2,500 | $150 | Black Chip Poker | Up to 65% |
| Online Super Series Main Event | $1 million | $200 | $15 | Ya Poker | Up to 65% |
| Crypto Series of Online Poker Plus Main Event | $400,000 | $1,000 | $40 | CoinPoker | 33% |
| Super Millions Poker Open Main Event | $330,000+ | $425 | $25 | Bovada | N/A |
How to Win Online Poker Tournaments
There’s no way to guarantee success when playing poker tournaments online. But, if you work the following tips into your game, you’ll certainly have a far better chance of success.
Focus on One Format
It’s tempting to play all of the many different games and tournament structures, but it’s better to try and master one specific type. The more you play a specific kind of event, the more experience you’ll gain, making it easier to refine your strategy.
So, whether you prefer playing multi-table Texas Hold’em tournaments online, or PLO Sit & Gos, pick one and stick to it.
Understand the Different Tournament Phases
Online tournament poker isn’t a uniform experience. The way you play at the very beginning should be completely different to when there are just three players remaining, for example.
Break each event into three parts: the early, middle and end game stages. To start with, follow the “tight is right” mantra. You can’t win a tournament in the first few blind levels, but you can definitely lose it.
In the middle stages, loosen up. Target shorter stacks with well-timed aggression to pick up additional chips. Towards the end of the game, relative hand values change and you’ll need to be more aggressive with a wider range.
The best poker tournaments have a balanced structure, which means you have plenty of time in each phase. But, if you’re playing a hyper-turbo or other fast-paced event, be ready to adjust your strategy even faster.
Learn About ICM
The Independent Chip Model (ICM) shows that not all chips are equal and that their relative values change throughout a tournament. Learn this concept and understand it, as it will help to improve your overall online poker tournament strategy – especially when nearing the money bubble.
The gist of it is that you shouldn’t be making risky moves if there’s more value in preserving your current chip stack. ICM considerations help you to decide whether or not an all-in is worth it, particularly in the latter stages. This will be particularly important in the best online poker tournaments if you reach the final table.
Target Players
Tournament success isn’t just about outlasting the others; you need to steal chips and steadily build a stack. Targeting weaker players makes this process easier.
If your chosen site allows it, invest in some poker software and a heads-up display. This will give you all the information you need to figure out the tendencies of the players at your table.
The stats allow you to see how often players enter pots, for instance. If you see that someone is limping in too often, punish them with raises and use them to execute squeeze plays.
All the best online poker sites for tournaments will also allow you to keep notes on specific players. Even if it’s an anonymous table, you should be able to take notes for that specific session. Jot down your early impressions and list specific actions players have taken so you can keep tabs on them.
Poker Tournament Online Withdrawal Methods
Okay, so you’ve entered some of the best online poker tournaments for real money and now you’ve managed to win. What happens next?
Well, there are many secure, reliable and fast ways to extract your tournament winnings. Let’s take a look at the best options.
Cryptocurrency
Not everyone is on board the cryptocurrency train just yet. But honestly, we don’t know why. These digital currencies, such as bitcoin, tether and litecoin, allow anonymous transactions. Better still, they’re exceptionally fast.
Withdraw using a debit or credit card and you may still be waiting to receive your cash after three or four days. But with crypto, most poker sites will pay you within just a few hours.
E-Wallets
A solid alternative to cryptocurrency, e-wallets are also pretty quick when it comes to processing withdrawals. Some online poker rooms pay you on the same day if you request your funds in this manner. Additionally, such transactions are often free.
Like a cryptocurrency wallet, e-wallets are a good way to safely store your bankroll away from your day-to-day bank balance. But the likes of Neteller and Skrill are often excluded from poker bonuses. They also lack anonymity, as they’re linked to bank accounts and cards.
Other
If you’re not up for using crypto or e-wallets for online poker tournament entry, you can opt for more traditional payment methods.
- Debit and credit cards. Secure and reliable, but also quite slow. There may also be additional charges.
- Bank wires. Often the slowest way to withdraw, sometimes taking more than a week to arrive. Usually has a high minimum deposit limit and a fee attached.
- Mobile payments. Apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay are great, but not many sites offer them. And they’re still not as fast as cryptocurrency.
Tools for Online Poker Tournament Players
Tournament players can use all kinds of special tools to help improve their experience. Some of this software is free, though others require a subscription.
Here are some examples:
- Multi-tabling software. Jurojin is a free program that helps online tournament players to optimize their performance when juggling multiple tables at once.
- Hand trackers. Tools like Holdem Manager and PokerTracker log every hand. These are essential for reviewing your past tournament performances and improving.
- Analysis tools. Combined with hand trackers, analysis software like PokerSnowie and ICMIZER help you to improve your tournament decision-making skills.
- Heads-Up Displays. Real-time assistance tools, such as DriveHUD, display useful stats about your opponents on the screen as you play.
- Bankroll management. All serious players, not just those playing online poker tournaments, should investigate financial tools like Poker Bankroll Tracker.
Finally, it’s worth pointing out that some online poker sites don’t allow players to use third-party software. Check the site’s terms and conditions before playing, to make sure you’re not breaking any rules.
Key Takeaways
We’ve covered a lot of ground in this guide to the best online poker tournaments. Here’s a recap of the most important points to take away.
- Try MTTs and cash games – Online poker tournaments and cash games are two different beasts. Styles and strategies that work for one won’t necessarily work for the other.
- Tournament diversity – There are many different tournament formats. A single-table Sit & Go requires a completely different approach to a Progressive Knockout MTT.
- Practice makes perfect – There’s no substitute for in-game experience, but countless poker tools exist that can help you improve your tournament results.
FAQs
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References
- https://irishpokerfest.com/ (Irish Poker Festival)
