Poker tournaments take varied durations, depending on factors like the type of play and how well you’re at your craft. Usually, they’ll carry on until a player wins all the chips. That can take from several hours to 24 hours.
Several factors affect the duration of poker tournaments. Besides covering these factors, we’ll also help you learn how to select the best tournament. Read on to learn more.
Factors Affecting Tournament Duration
You can estimate how much a tournament will take by considering the following:
- Number of levels and their duration.
- Break durations from when directors chip up to when players rest.
- Players’ pace, depending on how long they take to make decisions.
- Unexpected pauses when directors get to verify winners.
Typical Duration by Tournament Format
Different tournament formats have specific tournament durations as shown below:
Sit & Go Tournaments
This is a small, single-table game where players receive similar number of chips. Sit & go tournaments involve a pre-defined number of players, usually 2-120, and roll on until one player remains.
Experts in the sit & go tournaments have reported to take several hours to complete.
That means that it can take you some hours to get done, if you’re playing in a pool of experienced players. For new entrants, expect anywhere from 15 to 24 hours of play.
Multi-Table Tournaments (MTTs)
Like the name suggests, players are sorted across different sets of tables with chips to take part in the game.
MTTs involve large prize pools from the huge player pools. Here, you all buy in for a similar fee and get a common starting stack before seating at multiple tables. Each table has around 9-10 tables, who compete for a position at the final table.
As such, the size of the tournament directly affects the duration of play! MTTs can take a long time to finish, and might get a bit disappointing if you’re in a hurry. Considering the huge field of players, it’s not likely you’ll cash frequently in this game.
The game takes 10-12 hours but you can go on for more hours depending on other factors like pauses.
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Speed Format Breakdown
The speed format in a poker tournament depends on the duration blinds take to go down. This boils down to the type of tournament you’re playing.
In most cases, blinds go down in 10-15 minutes. But sometimes, although unlikely, you might get into turbos, which go down in as little as 5 minutes. But those are standard durations. There are instances of much shorter durations like 3 seconds.
In other cases, you’ll get blinds going for more than the standard 15 minutes. Remember, tournament duration may increase or reduce depending on additional factors like the pauses and player paces.
Time Management Tips
Know how to manage your time like a pro to avoid stress when playing with the following tips:
- Take time to study the game. Avoid rash decisions, and take time to study the game and plan your moves.
- Manage your bankroll. Your bankroll helps you determine how much time you can spend without exhausting playing funds.
- Always know stack sizes. This might give you a heads-up about expected duration.
- Fold when unsure. This helps you minimize losses and avoid playing to pass time.
Popular Tournament Schedules
There are plenty of tournaments, but here are the 4 most popular and reliable ones:
- The World Series of Poker (WSOP) where you can win over $100,000 between May and July in Las Vegas, competing against players from Europe, US, and beyond.
- PokerStars Players Championship and PCA is a January to February tournament where you can win millions playing against pros from across the globe.
- WPT World Championship has been held in Las Vegas, and can get you home rich with possible wins of as high as $29 million.
- Triton Super High Roller Series is a high roller event you can join if you’re a pro to win $200,000 to $20 million+.
Making Tournament Selections
One key thing to note is your pro level. If you’re a beginner or prefer taking your time to make decisions, go for tournaments with slow blind structure. Here, you can avoid major errors and grow your winning potential.
Size of the field is another marker to look out for. Depending on how much time to have, you can choose from tournaments with few or maximum number of players. Also look at the prize pool and payouts to dive in a game that best suits your needs.
Conclusion
Tournaments are fun and lucrative. You only need to learn the basics of the game to flow with it to win cash. Poker tournaments take between 3 hours to 24 hours to complete, but the duration may change based on other factors like pauses and pace of playing.
Remember to manage your time effectively and make the best poker tournament selection with our tips.
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