There are many times of poker tournaments, but the most popular and typical tournament type is the freezeout, meaning that once someone lost all chips he is eliminated. This tournaments structure is quite simple: you place the buy-in, you start with the same amount as others, then the blinds begin to increase slowly and players get eliminated as they lose all their chips. The prices are given to the top winners, that means to less than 10% of the players in happy cases (sometimes it doesnt even mean 1%).

But aside this type of tournaments you can also find tournaments that allow further re-buys or add-ons. In these tournaments if you lose all your chips then you can re-buy, paying the same amount you paid initially and receiving the same amount of chips as you did first. Usually the re-buy can be made for a certain period of time after the tournament began. After this period has passed, you cannot re-buy, so if you lose all your chips you will be eliminated. But you can pay to add a certain amount of chips to your stack whenever you feel it is necessary.

There also are the turbo tournaments that basically increase the blinds every five or even two minutes. If you are entering a turbo tournament you have to take into consideration the fact that luck is the most crucial factor here. These tournaments happen fast because all the action is located on the pre flop, player going all-in most of the times.

The satellite tournaments mean that they are not offering cash prices but a “ticket” of entrance to a bigger tournament, like the WSOP. The prices offered are usually relative to the number of people that get into the tournament. But the percent is low, so these tournaments require an aggressive approach.

The steps tournaments mean that you are taking part in more than one tournament. There are a series of satellite tournaments that allow player to gradually qualify for the following step and into the final step the cash prices, collected from all the buy-ins are offered to the best few. The first prize will get the biggest share of the money amount gathered, and then place from 2 to 5 usually receive the rest, a decent prize.

The shootouts are tournaments in which you have to play may single table tournaments one after the other. They are similar to steps tournaments. Players either advance after a table has been finish or are eliminated. The prize will be divided within almost every player at the final table, so the prizes are more but lower than in steps tournaments.

And finally there are the winner takes all tournaments. This are single table usually, and they require an aggressive strategy, as you have to be the first or you lose all anyway. The best example are home games that are usually played this way, mostly to avoid problems. People put an amount in first, and then, after one remains, he will take home all the buy-ins.

As the world of poker players continues to gain members everyday, more and more players are looking for easy ways to win the game. For cheaters, many feel that rather than take the time to hone their skills, they would prefer to master the skill of cheating.

Some players have learned how to mark cards as a way to help them win the game. Depending on the skill level of the cheater, marked cards can be obvious, or unnoticeable.

Sometimes the dealer will use his own deck of cards, or will get one prior to game play. Many cheaters have learned how to mark their cards during game play. To avoid having the marked cards noticed by other players, the cheater will usually make his marks so that they do not go all the way thru the card, because it would let light be seen through the card, thereby showing the mark.

Cheaters card markings are usually just small changes to the back of the cards. They may be scratches, change in design of the card, or possibly a bend in one corner of the card.

Marking the cards gives cheaters an advantage to their game play. They will most always mark all the high cards, or any other they card they think is crucial to the game.

Some cheaters prefer to mark their cards by using what is called shading. They will use a very fine ink to change part of the design on the back of the card. It requires the cheater to be very precise with his markings, but if he does a good job, no one but him will ever notice the marking.

Another technique many cheaters use is called daubing. Daubing uses a special form of ink and a small dauber. The cheat daubs the ink onto the back of the card, and the ink is invisible to the naked eye. Special sunglasses are required to see the markings. The kit to do this with can be purchased at magic or novelty stores.

Corner crimping is a method that many cheaters will use to mark their cards with. The cheater will see a card that he wants to mark and will then move that card away from the other cards and use his thumb or pointer finger to bend the corner of the card ever so slightly. He will be able to spot the marking during the game, and remember the card. Some cheaters when dealing can shuffle a number of cards to the bottom of the deck, and crimp the corners on all of them at one time.

Still other cheaters prefer to use thumbnail marking on their cards. The cheat will see a card he wants to mark, and then drive the end of his nail into the back of that particular card. Players who arent trained to look for these marks will not notice them, while the player will be able to spot them for the duration of the game.