If you want to become a serious poker player, beyond the realms of purely recreational poker playing, then this is a logical step for you to take. However, although you might be regularly playing poker – playing tournament poker requires you adopt some different mental attitudes and one or two playing techniques.

So, if you’re thinking of making the move in to a tournament poker game, then you should find this helpful. The first thing you need to be very clear about is that you will have to pay an entry fee, which is the same for everyone regardless of their standard of play; and, on top of that, you’ll almost certainly be charged a ‘house entry fee’ – probably for the privilege of playing in the tournament that they’re organizing!

If you’re just starting out in poker tournaments then entry fees will typically be around the $500 to $1000 mark; with the prize money being shared out from the entry fees. Of course that doesn’t mean you might only expect to win a few thousand dollars in a poker game – there could easily be 200 or more competitors in the competition; with you all sat at different tables playing poker in a knock-out format until it comes down to the last table of players.

Finally, your entry fee in effect purchases your poker chips to play with – and the person with the most poker chips is eventually deemed the winner. The vast majority of poker tournaments will use just one poker game. Limit or no-limit Hold ‘em, or even Seven card stud and versions of Omaha usually being preferred.

So, make sure you’re fully conversant with the rules of whichever poker game the tournament’s going to use and, of course, make sure you’re a confident player at it. If the tournament does vary the game's) being played then knowing the order they’re likely to occur might influence your decision as to whether to enter the tournament or not.

Most poker players, who aren’t professional or amongst the elite of non-professionals, usually have a strong preference for one particular poker game, even if they don’t like to admit it. However, so long as you’re quite clear how the different games work, that needn’t stop you from playing in a multi-game tournament. After all, if all the tournament players are of a similar standard – then you’ll probably all have your own little pet likes and hates in a poker game, which will probably even things out.