Live poker tournaments
Live poker tournaments are often televised, which serves to effectively increase the popularity of the game.
The way they work is that poker players must register for a seat in the tournament, often costing as much as $25,000 or more. The tournament begins with players seated at a poker table with up to nine players and a dealer. The number of players depends on the game of poker being played.
Each player is given the same amount of poker chips to start with and the antes (also known as blinds) start low. Blinds increase over each specified time period, making the game more expensive for each player.
When a player loses his or her chips, the player is eliminated from the tournament and the remaining players are moved around to fill up the existing tables. The eliminations continue until one person takes all of the chips from everyone in the tournament.
Live poker tournaments can last for days on end and don’t stop until the last player remains and a new poker legend is crowned (and paid).