Best Tournament Poker Sites

Tournaments are the most popular way to play online poker at most major international poker rooms. The poker tournament volume is often 75% to 85% of the poker room’s player traffic. The best tournament poker sites offer a wide variety of tournaments including scheduled tournaments, Sit and Gos, satellites and freerolls. Players choose a tournament poker site based on the prize pools, tournament types and competition at each poker room.

Best Tournament Poker Site Offerings

Poker tournaments usually play as multitable No Limit Texas Hold’em events, but specialty tournaments for Omaha or other poker variations are often listed in the players’ lobby with the tournament schedule. The prize pools for tournaments are either guaranteed prize pools or variable prize pools with the total prize based on the number of players buying into the poker tournament. When one of these best tournament poker sites offers guaranteed tournaments, it means that the total prize pool will be distributed from at least that amount – even if the house needs to contribute to the pool to reach the guaranteed amount total. Multitable tournaments can have player traffic of up to several thousand players, depending on the size of the poker room.

Guaranteed poker tournaments are the most common for weekly or large prize events. Guaranteed tournaments are usually scheduled tournaments that require players to register and pay entry fees before the tournament starts.

Best Online Poker Sites with Tournaments

Rank Poker Site Bonus Learn More
1. Bwin Poker 100% to $1000 Bonus Bovada Poker
2. Spin Palace 100% to $2000 Ignition Poker
3. Bwin Poker 100% to $600 Bonus Intertops Poker
4. Bwin Poker 100% to $2500 Bonus BetOnline Poker
5. Bwin Poker 100% to $2500 Bonus Sportsbetting Poker

Sit and Go tournament poker offers a faster pace. Sit and Go tournaments are not pre-registered or scheduled tournaments, but rather each Sit and Go tournament starts when the table fills up with enough players. Select Sit and Go from the player’s tournament lobby to choose an open SNG table and begin playing. Sit and Gos are typically the only tournament type that doesn’t require advance registration.

Satellite tournaments are usually low-cost entry tournaments where a player can win seats in larger or more prestigious events. Qualifying satellites may earn winners a place in a WSOP event or a spot in a monthly millions guaranteed tournament. Satellite players are often looking to win big while investing only a little initially.

Freeroll tournaments usually have the fishiest competition. Freeroll tournament poker has a buy-in amount at each level, but there is no upfront entry fee. Since it doesn’t cost anything to enter, novice players are often trying to build a bankroll without spending much. Freerolls are often guaranteed tournaments that have lower prize pool amounts. Some freerolls are also satellites that can lead to larger prize freerolls or poker main events.

Tournament Poker Competition

The top levels of play at most of the best tournament poker sites have very challenging opponents. Lower stakes, multitable tournaments and freerolls usually have the fishiest competition because newer or less savvy players don’t mind low buy-ins for a chance to win big. Smaller poker rooms with lower overall player traffic have a few key tournaments that attract the fish, while the largest poker rooms that regularly have pros at the tables also will offer tougher opponents even at middle stakes levels.

Overall, for the best tournament poker sites, look for poker rooms that have many different types of tournaments on a daily basis as well as the top prize amounts. Freerolls and satellites with low buy-ins and prizes to larger tournaments are great ways to play a lot of tournament poker and maximize the tournament play options. Visit one or all of these top tournament poker sites for the best levels of poker tournament action online.