Casino Tournaments Guide

While competing against the house in different gambling games is always fun and exciting, sometimes it’s nice to jump into a tournament and compete against fellow players. Of course, it’s always easier to do this if you narrow down what kind of tourneys you’d like to play. So if you’re interested in gambling tournaments, here is a guide on the different casino tourneys you’ll find.

These tournaments are among the most popular mainly due to the fact that blackjack is one of the biggest casino table games. There are several different types of blackjack tournaments, and the most popular one is elimination blackjack; here the person with the lowest amount of chips from each table is eliminated every 10 minutes (or whatever predetermined time limit is imposed). There are also events that use an overall leaderboard to determine who wins prizes.

There isn’t a whole lot of skill involved in slots tournaments because they mainly entail pushing the bet button as fast as you can. But just because there isn’t much strategy involved doesn’t mean that slots tourneys aren’t popular at casinos. In fact, they are so popular that the prize pools sometimes reach six figures! So if you love the idea of competing against others in a slots tournament, get ready to bet as fast as you can and win big.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from slots tournaments are poker tournaments because they involve a high degree of skill. The best and most experienced poker players are able to make a “consistent” living with the game, and some people even manage to become multi-millionaires. Besides the big money aspect, another nice thing about poker tournaments is the large variety of casino events offered. There are heads-up, shootout (one player from each table moves on), bounty (every player has a bounty on their head), satellite (win seats in bigger tournaments), freerolls (free entry) and sit and go (single table) tournaments. 

Baccarat is no doubt one of the best casino games in terms of a house edge (1.06% with correct strategy). But if you’re feeling a little lucky, you can always jump in a baccarat tournament and compete against other players. These are very similar to blackjack tournaments where both elimination and leaderboard-based events are offered. In addition to this, the strategy is also very similar since people vary bet sizes based on how their chip stack is looking.

Though more rare than the other tournaments in this article, roulette tourneys are an excellent way to enjoy the game in a different format. Some roulette tournaments are time-based and some are spin-based, so your strategy will be affected by the specific type. One fun thing about roulette tourneys is that the wide variety of bets enables people to weave between risky and conservative casino strategies. For example, if you need to catch up in a desperate tournament situation, you could make straight (35:1 payout) or split (17:1 payout) bets.

Craps tourneys are often run in an elimination format, where one or two players from each table will move on to the next round. Aside from the overall format, craps tournaments often have their own little nuances and differences, so be aware of the rules going in. For instance, some events force people to make pass line and don’t pass line bets on every turn - in addition to the other casino wagers they can place. In any case, be sure to closely read the rules and structure of a craps tournament beforehand.