Poker tournaments

Mini tournaments: Small, frequent tournaments, such as a Wednesday-night blackjack tournament, often take place on a regular basis and may draw only a couple dozen players. The entry fees tend to be minimal (typically $5 to $50), and first place rarely pays more than a couple hundred dollars, and the winner is crowned within a few hours.

Medium tournaments: These events typically take place over a couple of days and consist of multiple rounds of play with more than 100 players. The entry fee is much stiffer than that of mini tournaments (at least $100), but the prize money for the final winner is greater (normally $10,000 to $50,000).

Mega tournaments: These big dogs offer potentially life-changing prize money for first place ($100,000 and higher). The entry fee is hefty (usually $500 to $10,000), the time commitment is long (up to a week), but the possible reward is huge. (Who can resist savoring the look of envy on your neighbor’s face when you return home with $1 million in cold, hard cash?) The prospect of a huge payoff is the reason thousands of hopeful players make the pilgrimage to Las Vegas each year for the World Series of Poker.

If you’re the type of person who loves competition, then tournaments are just your ticket. And don’t worry about being a novice — most tournaments are very player-friendly and easy to understand. But before you play in a tournament (and ideally win), you need to know what you’re getting into before you jump in, head first.

Although poker and online blackjack are probably the best-known tournament competitions, tournaments in craps, slots, baccarat, Pai Gow poker, video poker, and keno draw good crowds and a loyal following. And even though hot spots such as Las Vegas host the biggest events, casinos all over the country regularly hold tournaments.

The prize money and number of participants in tournaments vary greatly depending on whether the event is a local weekly competition or a huge, heavily advertised extravaganza designed to attract hordes of traffic. Using the example of blackjack and poker, I split these various tournaments into three separate size categories to give you a quick overview. However, if you’re considering playing in a tournament, I suggest you start off with the smallest tournament possible.

For years, poker was relegated to smoky back rooms. However, today the game is booming, and massive poker rooms now take center stage in the nation’s biggest casinos. When you look at all the different casino card games, poker is clearly the hottest game in town. Television has elevated poker champions Phil Hellmuth Jr., Annie Duke, and Doyle Brunson into cult figures as admired as rock stars. And not just in the United States. Their fame is so far reaching that some foreign fans are virtually ready to bestow royalty status on poker celebs.

The poker bug bites nearly everyone, from Spiderman to Baptist ministers, who practice their skills with the shades drawn. Flip through your cable channels on any given night, and you’re apt to run across more than one televised poker tournaments airing simultaneously-from the World Series of Poker to celebrity tournaments featuring Hollywood stars to the dazzling glitz of the World Poker Tour. And to punctuate just how popular the game has become, poker chips are now a favorite Christmas gift for men (and even women).