The event was preceded by Poker At Crown in the year before the Aussie Millions was founded, in June 1997, with the final event taking place a year later, in July of 1998. This time of the year was used until the year 2001, when the event was moved from the winter months to the warmer month of January. At the time, they already had 40 entrants and a $5,000 buy-in, and they were gaining popularity with the poker crowd already. Two years later, the tournament went international at last, with the prize pool reaching $1.2 million because of the 122 entrants that were part of the tournament. Most players came from overseas, but those players from New Zealand that have dominated the tournament when it first began still participated, gaining international fame as well. The game begins with nine players in each table, until there are only thirty-six players left, at which point the players play in tables of six. In the year 2009, the prize pool already reached $6.81 million, with the first prize amounting to $2 million. Today, the Aussie Millions is the biggest tournament in the Southern hemisphere, and it is the sixth largest tournament in the world.

Part of the EPT’s initial drawing power came from the fact that it is a lot more open to the public than both the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour are in terms of who can join. The WSOP is joined by the poker elites, and the WPT requires a buy-in of $2,500 to $25,000 for people to participate (most events fall at the $10,000 line though, about the same as the World Series of Poker), and additional regulations added by the government later on made it tougher for people to join. At the EPT, however, they kept the buy-in to a minimum, giving a buy-in amount half of that of the WPT. This made people flock to the EPT to participate. However, because they had limited resources and limited space, EPT officials raised the limit later on, also adopting the $10,000 buy-in that other tournaments required. Also, this tournament has has eight people at the final table instead of six, and so the competition is fiercer when it comes to the end of the tournament.

The tournament is the creation of television director John Duthie. Some of the best poker players in the world join the tournament every year to tour around major cities in Europe for a series of tournaments that are televised. The countries that are part of the tour are the following: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Spain and Ireland. The finals always takes place in one of the gambling meccas of the world – Monte Carlo, in the beautiful nation of Monacco. As of 2009, the EPT has had six seasons, with season 6 finishing in early 2010.

No-limit poker rules state that a player is permitted to bet all of the chips that are in front of him as soon as his turn comes. Unlike in the movies where players throw car keys on the pot, no-limit poker rules does not tolerate anything else to be bet aside from the money you have on the table when the hand started. Presently, poker employs a rule known as table stakes. Table stakes states that you are not allowed to bet anything else than the money you have on the table.

Having mentioned this, no-limit betting actually has a limit to the betting that take place during the game. Nevertheless, keep in mind that no-limit poker is not really a potential danger to your bankroll, because betting is very much dependent on what stakes you play.

Pot-limit poker rules state that the amount that you bet is limited by the size if the pot. A player can actually increase his bet up to the amount indicated in the pot after he calls the previous bet. Pot-limit poker rules are really more complicated. With adequate experience, you can play around with this system in order to master the pot bet. Like no-limit poker, pot-limit poker is not really a hazard to your bankroll that you have to worry about. You just have to understand the game in order to succeed. Even if there is a limit to the size of the pot, pot-limit poker betting is definitely not smaller than no-limit betting, since most bets in no-limit poker are usually the size of the pot or even smaller.

The World Poker Tour is a series of Texas Hold’em poker tournaments which occur all over the world but mainly in the United States. As a result of its growing popularity through the television shows and broadcasts of the tournament, many Americans have incorporated this wonderful table game in their homes. Also, local casino poker rooms and online gaming sites have began to multiply. The casinos and online poker sites are the major sponsors of the World Poker Tour.

The World Poker Tour first appeared in 2002 on the Travel Channel. The show, which ran for 2 hours featured 6 players battling for the ultimate prize. The show also consisted of hole cams, which allowed the viewers to see the players cards in hand. As a result of this distinct feature, the show changed the way people viewed poker and instantly attracted millions of people.

The World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit is a group of poker tournament stops at various casinos which will host the events for players who are expecting top class poker action. The tournament circuit also accommodates players based on their performance at the tournament circuit events and the World Series of Poker in order to grant them qualification for the Tournament of Champions event. The Tournament of Champions event is actually a  free flowing event that does not require the players to set up his or her own funds in order to participate. It is Harrah’s who declares the number of players from each of the tournament circuit events who will secure qualification.

Harrah’s also decided to take advantage on the popularity of poker by having 5 legs of the circuit that is open to any player who wishes to play regardless of skill level. The poker tournament events were held in Atlantic City in 2005, New Jersey during January, San Diego, California in February, Las Vegas, Nevada in March, Lake Tahoe, Nevada in April, and New Orleans, LA in May. The poker tournaments were also recorded and will be shown in ESPN. The players who have won their events were offered World Series of Poker championship gold rings and monetary prizes amounting to six figures for the main events. The poker tournaments had buy-ins ranging from a few hundred dollars to ten thousand dollars per player for the championship main event which happens at each circuit leg. Each of the main events were actually Texas No-Limit Hold’em poker.

A game of HA begins with a round of Hold’em to be followed by a round of Omaha and will continue as such in alternating rounds. There can be as many rounds of the game depending on the numbers of the players on the table. For example, if there are 8 players in the table, it means that there will be 8 games of each to be played. Talk about long hours!

Most players, in order to ensure their victory over the other players, try to learn their opponent’s weaker suit. After finding this out, the player can now put into action their strategy. Even though the two games may be similar most of the time, there are naturally some differences and it is up to the player to be quick to change to another form of thinking (or strategy) asked by the game.

Hold’em

Omaha

Razz

Seven Card Stud

Eight or Better (Stud High/Low)

One must wonder though how it is possible to play five different poker variations. Well, a certain rotation is being followed and poker variations will change whenever the dealer ends a full round. Others use the pre-set time. For example, allotting an hour to Holdem, another to Omaha and so forth.

This game of course are played by players who believed that they are skilled enough with the ins and outs of the five poker variations. It is a real challenge for any poker player not only to excel in each round but also to win what is at stake. HORSE follow the same traditional rules so, players can still use the same strategy they usually use in each game.

The simplest strategy a player can find useful in a HORSE game is to play with their strengths. They may play as aggressive as they want in games that they normally excel at and may play passively in games that they do not think they are great at. Players have their strong and weak games so it is imperative that they must learn how to utilize these differences in order to put the odds in your advantage. A good thing to remember though is if the player intends to do this game in a long run, they need to learn to change into every poker variation game. If you can be the type of player who don’t get disturb each time a new round starts, then that could be an advantage on your part.

Things to remember before starting a game of Razz:

* The Ace is the lowest card and the King as the leader

* Straight and Flush does not count.

* There is no restriction for a qualifying hand. Players must simply develop the lowest possible hand to win.

The lowest possible hand in Razz would be A2345. It is often played with a fixed limit betting structure although there might be some occasion when one can stumble a no limit or pot limit game. Fixed limit means that no player may bet more or less that what is at stake.

In a game of Razz, there are five rounds of betting with the first and second rounds have bets leveling to the low-end stakes. The last three betting rounds must have bets and raises equal to high-end stakes. Unlike Texas Holdem, Razz do not require blind bets instead it uses Ante bet and Bring-In. Betting options are explained below:

*Ante is a small bet placed by all players prior to the distribution of the card usually 10-25% the low bet.

*Bring-In is placed by the highest door card (the sole card facing up after the initial deal). It is a forced bet half the small bet. For instance, in a $2-$4 game, bring-in would be $1.

Game will begins with a small ante placed by all players to create the pot. Each player is dealt three cards, two of which are facing down. The bring-in bet is placed by the worst third street (card dealt face up). Players now have the choice to bring in bet or raise the bet to the full amount. The fourth card is now given to the rest of the players. The best hand opens the round of bets. The fifth and sixth cards will be received face up and one final hole card with betting allowed after each. The lowest five-card hand wins the pot.

Even if the game started with a high number of players, eventually these players will be lost until there are only two players left for a heads-up. But this is quite different from the rest of tournament, requiring an altogether different attitude. When you hear other people saying that this is a fast-paced game with sometimes little or no time to think, they are right. Players who intend to go for a heads-up must mostly rely on quick thinking to pull them through.

As for strategy, the best a player could ever adopt is to be aggressive. It is a mean game of winner-takes-all situation that if you are not determined and does not show any sign of aggressiveness, your opponent will surely get you that you won’t even realize what’s gotten into you.

Some helpful tips in heads-up:

* For many players, position is everything. Actions done after every flop, turn and river can be an advantage because in this way, players can see what his opponent is doing and based from that opponents moves, one can now act their next move.

* Reading your opponent can be a vital piece of information. A player must know when their opponent has the hand, when they are bluffing or when they are going to draw. A player must work out as fast as they can in their head if their opponent is going to raise, check or call your bet. Of course, this may not always be precise but having an idea when your opponent is going to act is a must if a player wants to succeed in heads-up poker.

* Sometimes it is better to fold than winning a hand due to the fact that there are players who win small pots and also loses big pots. A player must know when they don’t have a winning hand than just keep going on thereby sacrificing too many chips in the pot. It is actually one skill that many poker players overlook.

* Bluffing. Admit it, most of the time the two matching opponents won’t always have a good hand but the player who bluffs the most almost always wins. Look for opportunities where you can bluff your opponent out of the pot but make sure that it is worth it.

There are two primary types of poker tournaments: the single table (also called as sit and go) and the multi-table. Single table type usually involves the winner taking all the prize. For multi-table tournaments, players begin with the same amount of chips until one player has gathered all the chips. Elimination falls under the multi-table type. Tournament types of poker are explained below:

Elimination or “Freeze out” Poker Tournaments

Perhaps, elimination is the most common type of tournament there is. This starts with all players having the same amount of chips and continuously playing until only one player has acquired the chips. Whenever players get eliminated, active players are transferred to fewer tables. While it may be true that only one player can accumulate all the chips in an elimination, the payout structure though can be rewarded to several players. Players in the final table may get prize money but less than what the overall winner gets. For instance, the 2nd placer gets more prize money than the third placer and the third placer gets more prize money than the fourth placer and so on.

Rebuy Poker Tournaments

In this particular type of tournament, players who lost all their chips are allowed to “rebuy” more chips so that they may continue playing. But this is only allowed within specific “rebuy” periods. This type often features more aggressive kind of players because they can not be eliminated easily even after losing all their chips. More often, rebuy ends up with having a larger pot because players contribute more money through the rebuy process.

Satellite Tournaments

Satellite tournament is considered the first leg in a larger poker tournament where a group of players compete against each other with the winner advancing to the main event, to an even larger poker tournaments without ever posting a major sum of cash.

Shootout Tournaments

Shootout poker tournament is a variety of elimination tournament, no wonder they are similar. In shootout, tables retain individuality even after elimination of players. Instead, each table plays until a single winner emerge, then table winners proceed to a finals portion. If for example there are 20 tables that started, then 20 table winners will be competing against each other in either a shootout round or elimination style until a winner is produced. This type of tournament usually takes longer hours than other elimination events.