How To Fit Poker Tournaments In Every Schedule
Poker Tournaments are specially designed events where a group of players pays an entry fee to compete for the portion of accumulated money. Some tournaments are open for everyone to join, while others are invitation-only.
These table tournaments allow players to win huge sums of money with relatively small buy-ins. Punters would exchange cash for chips and play. Once they lose all the chips, they’re out of the game.
However, such events can sometimes take a long time and energy to complete. For some players, time is money. If for any reason, time plays a vital part in your gambling journey, it’s laudable to know the duration of the poker event before you enroll in one.
After all, nobody wants to end up in a flip-flop, whether to cancel other plans or swallow the pill and keep it running. Thus, we’ll be exploring the length of poker events to help you out with future time management.
Poker Events Types & Duration
Playing against AI is far less challenging than facing real players. As a result, more punters decided to turn to live poker events. Still, they come with a specific cost. Besides the money, tournaments take a lot of your free time, which is relevant for some people more than others.
The time between the start and finish can vary between the tournaments. If we’re to be witty, we would say these events last as long as you can say All In. Apart from that, the exact duration of poker events will depend on several factors. The list of variants includes the number of players, tournament type, and its structure. Let’s take a look.
Rebuy Poker Tournaments
It is only natural for players to lose all of their chips once in a while. The lack of concentration or the wrong strategy can have such defeat as a result. However, rebuy tournaments allow such players to buy their way back into the game.
Hosts usually set an exact time when rebuys are allowed. That way, players can return to the event and restart the game. Moreover, it is not uncommon for others to use the opportunity and buy more chips. Consequently, with more chips on the table, obviously, the estimated time of the tournament is much longer than in other variants of poker events.
Furthermore, these events usually introduce the ante, which can be a big blind type or other. Moreover, the number of entries in the first few levels can be unlimited. Games can have 20 levels or up. Breaks, as a necessary and integral part of the game, occur on every 6 levels and take 15 minutes. All in all, all these tiny details can prolong the game and make it 6-8 hours long, or even more.
Multi-Table Poker Tournaments
As the namesake suggests, MTTs feature a more significant number of punters. The game will usually divide players into several tables. Eventually, the best players will end up playing at the same table. Players who lose all of their chips are out of the game. Those with the most perseverance, patience, and discipline will get all the chips and become winners.
These poker events can count hundreds and thousands of people. Suppose the tournament counts around 100-150 people, and without rebuys, the event can last from 3 to 4.5 hours. In contrast, if you have a larger number of participants, like WSOP, which has around 5,000 people, it can take weeks.
Turbo-Poker Events
In its essence, a turbo-poker tournament is no different than the regular events. The rules are the same, and the number of players is somewhat similar. However, due to the nature of the game, the length of blinds is reduced. As a result, these tourneys are between 50-75% faster than regular ones.
In the regular tournament game, you have a 10-minute blind level. In turbo mode, this level will be set to 5 minutes. Overall, with around 1,000 players, it can take up to 6 hours to complete.
Then, there are hyper tournaments as well. The blind levels in such events are set at 3 minutes. Consequently, such tournaments can last around 3 hours with the same number of runners. Usually, the more players one event features, the more money is at stake. Consequently, if you’re skilled enough, these tournaments can become a more regular source of income, like any other profession.
Sit-And-Go Poker Tournaments
As a poker tournament player, you may have to spend some time waiting in the lobby until the event kicks off. Some players find these waiting times extremely daunting. In response, sit-and-go tournaments emerged as a way to enjoy the game of poker but with less time involved.
These events typically have fewer players. As a result, they’ll often last between 20-80 minutes. But, this also depends on the sit-and-go game variation and the number of participants. A 9-handed poker tournament with an 8-minute blind level will have an average 60-70 minutes time span. Thus, if you like playing poker but you’re short on time, sit-and-go events will fit perfectly into your schedule.
Extra Tips To Save More Time When Playing Poker Online
If you want to hit a game or two, but time is not your ally, here’s what you can do. Choosing the right type of tournament, based on the number of players, rebuys, and blind levels, try selecting the right virtual casino.
If you’ve ever deposited at an online venue, you already know about the procedure. You click on deposit, enter the transaction details and wait until your money is reflected on the account. Depending on which bank services you use, it can take between a couple of hours to almost one whole day. As a result, you’re losing the valuable time you could have spent playing poker tournaments.
We’ll tell you a little secret; here’s what experienced punters do. Some of the players place crypto deposits. That way, not only can they enjoy secure and anonymous transactions, but their accounts are funded immediately. The processing time for bitcoin and other digital coins payments is almost non-existent, as there are no intermediaries between transactions. As a result, you can enjoy instant deposits and withdrawals using crypto – without any fees. If you’re out of the loop, unfamiliar with crypto casinos, you can use various online resources. Bitcoin online casino reviews can help you pick the right venue and keep an ear on the ground. Ultimately, you will have more time to play, plus save up some money.
Final Thoughts
Poker enthusiasts are usually in two minds when joining tournament events. Considering these events can take some time while players have other commitments elsewhere, their thoughts are reasonable. That said, many punters wonder what the average time of a poker event is – to prevent forced folding.
Tournaments in poker can last from 20 minutes to a couple of hours—some last even for a couple of days. Luckily, based on the tournament type, the number of participants, and in-game rules, you can roughly determine the estimated end time of the event and fit it into your schedule. You can also join crypto casinos as they typically come with no fees and are more time-savvy.
