Online Slot Tournaments

Online Slot Tournaments

Playing online slots is a pretty straightforward affair and, although there are hundreds to slots to choose from, the main aim is always the same – to get a winning combination of symbols onto a designated payline triggering the payment of an advertised win that’s a multiple of your original stake.

You play ‘against the house’, rather than looking to beat other slot players and win their stakes as you do in games like poker. Unless of course you get involved with an online slots tournament, as we shall explain . . .

The slot tournament is a concept that started in land-based clubs, but is becoming increasingly popular (and hence available as a regular event) at the best online casinos. In essence it’s a time-limited trial to see which player amongst a group of competing players can finish with the highest number of credits showing on their slot.

All players compete with the same game, and all are credited with the same opening amount of coins at the start of the tournament so the ‘playing field’ is completely level. Commonly there is a fee to enter, which is pooled to create the tournament prize fund, but online casinos aren’t averse to staging tournaments with free entrance to reward loyal players, stumping up all the prize money themselves.

That prize pot is ultimately distributed amongst the top-performing players with ranking naturally affecting the size of the prize awarded, so the winner doesn’t necessarily ‘take all’. By way of example a prize pool of £10,000 might be paid out as £5,000 for 1st place, £2,500 for 2nd, £1000 for 3rd with ten runners-up getting £150 each.

Being games of pure chance, strategic play of online slots for a tournament probably boils down to how fast you can re-spin the reels to play through as many games as you can in the specified time. Varying bet levels may prove beneficial but remember that the odds of winning are exactly the same on each spin, so it’s only luck in play if you happen to land a big win after switching up to a bigger stake.

One thing to keep in mind if playing an online slot tournament is that your result only affects your ranking in the tournament, so you aren’t going to exit the tournament being paid the final ‘win’ you might manage to rack up on the slot you played.

That does mean a blistering run of luck might see you rack up a credit count that, if paid out as normal, would far outstrip the value of the tournament’s top prize yet it’s only the tournament prize you can claim.

That said, there is contrasting luck where your final ranking picks up a tournament prize far in excess of the value of the ‘theoretical’ winnings (or indeed net loss) showing on your slot at the end of the tournament!

Playing online slot tournaments is a fun, and sometimes very profitable, alternative way to enjoy slot gaming and with so many free tournaments now beginning to be scheduled at the best online casinos it’s undoubtedly something to investigate if you want to experience an interesting new spin on your favourite way to wager.