There have been Poker tournaments that have lasted on average 12 hours a game, and the shortest ones can be as simple as a 20-minute game, but then there are those that are the biggest of them all, and of course the more serious ones, however, these depend on the number of players, the particular version that is played and the money it starts with.
There are many versions of the game of Poker. Single tournaments can last as long as one day and sometimes even longer. For example, tournaments of up to 1000 people can take anything from 8 to 10 hours online but the live versions can last up to a few days.
If you’re playing something like a Turbo tournament or any of the ones offered on a popular website like GGPoker like a game of “progressive Bounty” or N-Stack tournaments, for instance, they may last anywhere between 5 to 8 hours. Cash games usually take a shorter time of up to 3 hours and some of the fastest ones have lasted one hour. So, as you can see many variations and times are depending on the version you play.
Then there are the “Big Games”, which are played on online casinos or land-based venues. These have the highest stakes of them all and are played at famous venues such as the Bellagio in Las Vegas. These table games feature pot-limit and no-limit games and the wagers on these can get up to $100,000 in cash. The limit games can get as high as between $4,000 and $8,000 with buy-ins of up to $1600 at times.
Games Included in Poker Big and Small Games
There are several different types of Poker games that can be included in these big games, depending on the venue and platform you play and can be either limit or no-limit games, and these would include:
- Razz (limit)
- Ace-to-Five triple draw (limit)
- Texas hold ’em (limit and no limit)
- Ace-to-Five single draw (no limit)
- Deuce-to-seven single draw (no limit)
- Omaha (straight high, eight or better Hi/Lo, limit and pot limit)
- Deuce-to-seven triple draw (limit)
- Seven-card stud (straight high, eight or better Hi/Lo, Hi/Lo without qualifiers, limit)
Difference Between Limit and No-Limit Games
There are two types of games, as mentioned above, the limit and the no-limit big games. Games such as these involve some decision making. The difference between these, for those who may not know, is that in the “no-limit” big games, you could win the size of your opponents stack on the “river”.
In these types of community card poker games such as Omaha hold ’em and Texas hold ’em, the word “flop”, “turn” and “river” is used. The river card, also known as simply “river”, is the last card dealt on the table and is commonly used to recognize the final card in a stud game, but the context is quite different because stud poker games do not typically use shared cards. Every player in a stud game is dealt his or her river card.
Historically the game of Texas Hold ‘em has been the most popular type of limit game. In this type of tournament or competition, you are only considering the size of another “big bet” (the higher tier of betting) when thinking about implied odds for instance a $20 in a $10 to $20 limit game. Bets and raises are considered only in the first two rounds of betting opportunity, also known as “flop” and “pre-flop”. These bets must also be equal to the “big blind”.
In conclusion, how long a Poker game will take and how much money you can make at a “Big Game” will depend entirely on the stakes and the number of players. However, if you are looking to win big, these are possibly the best options to try!