Free Poker Online Fact Guide On Whether You Should Play Poker Tournaments Or Ring Games
Friday, April 27th, 2012This free online poker article is a follow on from the last in which we examined the differences between poker tournaments and ring cash games. To follow on now we’ll get into the nitty gritty and discuss some key things you need to know or adapt your game to in order to choose what game type to play.
With tournaments the number 1 thing to do is make sure you have the time free to play before you sign up.
An online large field regular speed or deep stack tournament can easily take 6 hours to complete, if not more! It takes until the 2 or 2 and a half hour mark until the money stages are reached.
Realistically, we only make the money 10 or 15% of the time (and final table the tournament a fraction of a percent, assuming a large, multiple thousand player field, or just a few percent of the time in a multiple hundred player field).
So this is not something that’s going to happen much if you’re playing just 1 or 2 tables at a time and late tournament is where all the cash lives.
If you’ve invested 5 hours playing a tourney, have built a big stack, and are looking to convert a big score, how would you feel if you suddenly had to leave because you made plans with friends? Or maybe your wife or partner needs you to do something or go somewhere?
Naturally unexpected events can turn up that can’t be avoided or planned for. But otherwise not planning the time to play to the end of the game if you are in deep can cost you a lot of money, hundreds even, in equity even in a single $3 or $5 buyin event, your day or evening out will not be as fun then for sure!
If we take Pokerstars as an example, there the micro and low stakes tournaments have thousands of dollars in the pools every time so you can lose a hell of a lot even in small risk events.
Of course, this is why many players choose to play sit n goes. An 18 man turbo SNG (on pokerstars, again) takes about an hour start to finish.
So if I have 2 hours to play, I can fire up a session of 18 mans, load games for about an hour, stop loading after that time passes, and run out my games before I have to leave.
Playing SNGs is simply a much lower time commitment than for a big field tournament, there you need to be prepared to commit a lot of hours after you register for the last game.
While on a site like NoPayPOKER with small fields (so tourneys wrap up quicker) and less money on the line (sure, you might lose a few hundred FreeDs in equity, but that only equates to a couple bucks), this is much less of a problem.
To summarize, always be certain you know how long the events you are thinking of playing might take to finish in the “worst case” be it a 10 minute hyperturbo, 45 minute SNG or 8 hour large field Multi-table tournament (MTT). If you can’t set the time aside do not play. Look for a shorter game instead or one where you can bail out anytime.
For fun or to learn how to play poker better before moving up to micro and mini cash games then free online poker at NoPayPOKER is the place to play.
The poker is free, there is no risk of loss at all but you can win a bit of real money and later, if you want, you can cash it in at cash table partner poker sites.
There is also a big free online poker tournament education blog library that’s open to all and has free poker lessons ranging from complete beginner level to expert.