Tournaments -- Big Prizes, Low Risk

Tournaments are a great way to win big prize money whilst risking very little money. In a tournament, you don’t buy chips you just pay an entry fee which can be as low as 2 or 5 or even free and compete for a fixed cash prize.

Everyone in the tournament pays the same entry fee and gets the same amount of chips to play with. You have a specified period of time to play – from a few minutes or half an hour to a whole week or weekend.  The player with the most chips at the end of the period wins the grand prize.

The size of the prize depends on the entry fee and the number of players playing in the tournament. If the entry fee is low and there are just a few players, you may have an excellent chance of winning but the prize will be relatively low. If there are a lot of players you’ll have more competition but since each entry fee contributes to the prize pool you can win a lot more money if you win.  Free tournaments usually have relatively low prize pools, $25 – $100 but a popular tournament with a high entry fee can have a grand prize many times that.

Tournament Games

Most casinos that host tournaments feature slot machine tournaments and many also have blackjack tournaments. Some also have Texas Hold’em tournaments.

Sit and Go vs Scheduled Tournaments

Some tournaments are “Sit and Go” and others are “Scheduled”. A scheduled tournament begins at a specified time regardless of how many players have registered.  Sit and Go tournaments begin only when a minimum number of players are at the table. If you arrive at a casino just as a scheduled tournament is about to begin, pull up a seat and join the game. If there are no scheduled tournaments starting right away just join a Sit and Go table and wait until enough players arrive for the game to begin.

Leaderboards

In a day long or week long tournament, the casino will have a “leaderboard” listing all the top ranking players and how many points they’ve accumulated so far. This will give you an idea of how many more points you need to make your way up the leaderboard and claim your share of the prize money.

Where to Play in Tournaments

Microgaming casinos all have slots and blackjack tournaments all day every day. These are played on some of their most popular slots games including Lara Croft Tomb Raider. (Click here for a list or recommended casinos featuring Microgaming games.)

To join a tournament, go to the Games menu and click on Tournaments. From there, choose either “21” or “Slots”. You’ll be taken to a list of scheduled tournaments coming up in the next few minutes or hours. If there isn’t one starting right away, click on “Sit and Go” to see if there’s a game waiting for one more player.  If you choose the slots tab, you’ll also have a choice of various slots games. Avalon, Loaded, Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Thunderstruck are popular slots tournament games.

The other thing to consider when choosing a tournament to enter is the entry fee and prize money. If you’re new to tournaments you may want to begin with a free tournament or one with a $2 entry fee. If you’re feeling confident and lucky, it might be the right time to join a tournament with a higher entry fee and more prize money to be won

The recently re-designed InterCasino features a Tournaments tab where you’ll find Blackjack, Slots and Texas Hold’em tournaments. Entry fees are usually $10 and prize pools are usually $250 which is split between the top ten players with $100 going to the winner. All players begin with the same balance and have 30 minutes of playing time to get that balance higher than any other player in the tournament. You can play the 30 minutes any time during the 7 day tournament period. If you aren’t satisfied with your score you can play again as often as you like during the week to try and better your score.

Although most online casinos featuring games from Playtech do not host tournaments, Casino Las Vegas and Europa Casino regularly host tournaments. The format here is different from that described above, though. You register to play in their slots or blackjack tournaments but there is no registration fee and you are not given chips to play with. Instead, you wager with your own real money. The tournament winner is the player that wagers the most on the specified tournament day. Prize pools tend to be about $1000 and that is divided up between the top 10 or 20 wagerers. Although these aren’t “tournaments” in the usual sense of the word, they are a good way to win some bonus cash.

The Biggest Slots Tournament Ever

Microgaming casinos recently hosted the biggest online slots tournament ever. The prize pool in the World Series of Slots was $500,000 with the winner receiving $100,000 of that. This was not just a 30 minute tournament with a $2 entry fee though. Over ten weeks, players had to win their way into weekly qualifying rounds and only the winners of those tournaments advanced to the final round.

A Ladbrokes Casino player from South London won the last Grand Slam of Slots tournament. The player, known as Stefan, qualified for the tournament in July after placing a bet of just €2.