What is a Deepstack Poker Tournament ?

April 24th, 2008

A type of poker tournament that is growing in popularity in recent years is the deepstack poker tournament. When poker tournaments first came into existence, they were simply freezeout poker games. They were mostly $5,000-$10,000 events, so all the participants got $5,000-$10,000 in chips.

Read on to find out what are Deep Stack tournament and where they came from …

Early Poker Tournaments

As organizers began to set up smaller buy-in tournaments, they found that a dollar per chip ratio was not sufficient. Players buying into a tournament for $500 couldn’t get much play for 500 in chips, even if the blinds were relatively small. In the 21st century, players could enter some poker tournaments for as little as $50, which really would have created a chip count problem if there were an even exchange.

Small Stack Poker Tournaments

To handle this, most card rooms and poker sites created a standard amount of chips that a low buy-in tournament could buy. This would vary but was usually around 1,000 chips. This gave the participants some play, but also ensured the tournament would move fast enough to get these players back to the raked games quickly. There was not much Texas Holdem strategy involved in these tournaments.

Deepstack Poker Tournaments

However, eventually players realized that their poker heroes were getting all sorts of play for their big buy-ins. Meanwhile the lower buy-in players had to rely much more on luck because they started with so few chips. The players spoke up and the casinos responded with deepstack or big stack tournaments.

In a deepstack tournament, players start with more chips than the 1,000-3,000 one might expect from a low buy-in arrangement. Players usually start with at least 5,000 chips and maybe more. This allows players to feel they are getting more action for their money.

It’s important to note that if the blinds go up extremely fast, the benefits of a deepstack tournament are wasted. It’s better to have 1,000 chips with 45-minute rounds than 10,000 chips with 15 minute rounds.

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