Slots Tournaments

Slots tournaments have proved to be extremely popular online and offline for some time now. The main reason for this is that players buy into tournaments for a set amount, so they’re safe in the knowledge that they won’t lose any more than that amount. On the other hand, players stand to win a substantial amount of money should they be successful in their chosen tournament.

However, for those of you who haven’t competed in a slots tournament, the concept may seem strange. As slots are strictly a one player games it’s not easy to play against other people, so you may be wondering ‘how slots tournaments work.

How Do Slot Tournaments Work?

First of all, you have to choose a tournament that’ll suit you. Many slots tournaments only allow play on one slot, so if that’s the case always make sure it’s a slot that you’re familiar with and enjoy playing. Also ensure that the buy-in is appropriate to your level of play, remember, always gamble within your means.

Once you’ve decided on a tournament to join, you’ll often be required to pay a buy-in fee. This is where you pay a certain amount of money to enter the tournament – and this amount can vary depending on the tournament. The good news is that once you’ve paid the buy-in, you don’t have to risk any more cash.

Your buy-in will be transferred into credits and as all players buy-in for the same amount, everyone starts with the same number of credits. For example, a $10 buy-in may result in being given $500 of tournament credits to start with. In addition to this, a time limit will then often be set and your challenge is to win as many credits as possible while playing the chosen tournament slot. In most slots tournaments, you’re competing for a share of the prize pool – a cash fund which is usually split between winning players, with the overall winner usually receiving the largest share of the pool.

Sometimes slots tournaments have multiple rounds, but more often than not, there will be just one round and at the end of the time limit, the player with the most credits will win the tournament. The pot, which can be a set amount or dependant on the number of players, will then be given in whole to the overall winner, or split among the top few players, depending on the rules of the tournament.

Below is an example of some slots tournaments that you can expect to find online.

Slots Tournament Variations

There are three main types of online slots tournaments that can be found in online casinos or on websites. These are freeroll tournaments, sit 'n' go tournaments and scheduled tournaments.

Freeroll Slots Tournaments

Freeroll slots tournaments are incredibly popular with players, but aren’t always offered by online casinos. First of all, as their name suggests, these tournaments have a major benefit in that entry to them is free! The catch is generally that it costs money to re-buy (purchase more credits to play with). However, this can easily be solved by deciding to use only your free chips and, should you lose them, then not re-buying. This ensures that you’re paying nothing, but still giving yourself the chance to win a share of the prize pool.

Scheduled Slots Tournaments

Scheduled slots tournaments are generally more common to online casinos, when compared with freeroll tournaments. As they sound, scheduled tournaments are tourneys that are run over a set period of time (such as a day, week or even month) and have a fixed buy-in fee. Scheduled slots tournaments can provide huge prizes to players who have only paid a couple of dollars to enter. A list of current and upcoming tournaments can normally be found in the online casino itself or on its website.

Sit 'n' Go Slots Tournaments

The sit 'n' go tournament format is extremely popular with players of all casino games. The idea is that there are a limited number of spaces allowed for players in the tournament and once these spaces have been filled, the tournament begins. In practice this means that if there’s a sit 'n' go tournament that requires ten players and you’re the sixth to buy-in, then you have to wait for four more players to join in before the tournament can begin. While online sit 'n' go slots tournaments have smaller prizes than scheduled tournaments, they’re a much quicker way of playing slots tournaments, as new ones are constantly starting.

Other Slots Tournament Variations

There are many ways in which online slots tournaments can differ. A major difference is the amount of time that a tournament can last for. The time limit of a tournament can vary from just a few minutes or hours, up to a few weeks or even months. Naturally the prizes on offer tend to correlate with the amount of time that the tournament lasts for. This means that the longer running slots tournaments, such as those which take place over a month, tend to have the largest prize pools.

The size of online slot tournament prize pools can vary massively from free to enter tournaments, with small prizes of $10-$50, up to big prizes of $100,000 for monthly tournaments. In these tournaments, there are usually multiple prizes on offer, where prizes go to a number of runners up, as well as the overall winner.

Re-Buy Slots Tournaments

An addition that’s sometimes used by casinos to attract players to their online slots tournaments is the ability to re-buy. This means that if you’ve run out of credits then you’re able to pay a fee to be given more. While this may sound like a massive benefit, it’s worth remembering that the more you re-buy, the more you have to spend. Given the option of re-buying or buying into a new tournament it’s almost always advisable to start a new tournament.

Advantages of Online Slots Tournaments

Online slots tournaments of all kinds have proven to be extremely popular with players over the last few years, so there must be some reasoning for this. Below are some the major benefits of online slots tournaments:

• You can win large amounts of money while only paying a small entry fee or even nothing at all
• A player can play a slot machine for a set amount of time, for just a small price
• Being in a tournament adds an extra sense of excitement and variety to normal slots game play
• There’s little risk of getting carried away and betting money that you don’t have
• Tournaments can be found to suit your level of play (Big buy-ins for high rollers and freeroll for budget conscious players)