Free Online Poker Tournament

What is the advantage of playing in a tournament?

There are two main ways for playing poker online, either by joining a tournament or by playing at a regular table. When playing at a regular poker table, any bets that are placed will be taken straight from your money. In other words, if you bet two dollars then you are actually betting two dollars. Whatever you sit down with is yours to play with, but understand that you run the risk of losing it all. You also have the option of coming and going whenever you please, and although it is not considered polite, you can choose to leave a table after winning a massive hand.
Tournaments function in a slightly different manner. A tournament, whether it is a single table tournament or a multi-table tournament, will usually have a set buy-in which enters you into the game. You receive a certain amount of chips and play against your opponents until only one person is left. A tournament will then take everyone's buy-in and distribute it based on a preset payout structure among the top players. The amount each player receives will vary from tournament to tournament, but the payout for first place is almost always a generous amount.
The advantage to playing in a tournament is simply that skill will usually win out. Whereas at a table a rookie can sit down and win a hand or two and walk away with undeserving money in their pocket, a tournament will almost always be won through skill and cunning. Therefore you might want to steer clear of tournaments if you like the quick hit and run because it simply will not work at a tournament table.

Why should anyone ever play in a free online poker tournament?

Besides it being an enjoyable experience, playing in a free online poker tournament is a good way to familiarize oneself with how a tournament is played before risking one's own money. It is better to gain experience for free so that you can win in the future when there is money on the table. Additionally there are many online casinos that offer free multi-table tournaments with a cash payout. Although this incentive is often used to help convince people to open a real money account, by winning a free tournament you can still start off your career in real money online poker playing with a good head start! Therefore what could possibly be a negative drawback to playing in free online poker tournaments? By practicing at the free tables you will soon be capable of taking on players for real payouts, and hopefully to rank high enough to make a decent profit.