Multi Table Poker Tournaments – What are MTT in Poker?

Multi table poker tournaments require specific strategy and offer the potential for huge prize pools.

Multi table poker tournaments are essentially the same as single-table tournaments, except that they start off with far more tables. At a minimum, they involve 18 players. As players are eliminated from play, the number of tables decreases until you are left with one final table. Multi table poker tournaments can host tens or even hundreds of tables. Online multi table tournaments can have up to 1000 or more participants.

How Multi Table Poker Tournaments Work

Each player is seated at a designated table of ten. The blinds rise with time, often quickly, in order to encourage participants to play. As players are eliminated, the remaining players shift seats so that the number of tables is reduced. Eventually, the tournament will be left with one final table and then two final players who will play against each other until one player wins all of the chips. The prize pool is then divided up between the top players.

Dividing the Prize Pool in Multi Table Poker Tournaments

The overall winner of the multi table poker tournament wins the largest amount out of the prize pool. In multi table tournaments, however more players are generally awarded prizes than in single table tournaments. Often 5-10% of participants will win a share of the total prize pool.

Famous Multi Table Poker Tournaments

Multi table poker tournaments are the most popular type available and are often televised for home audiences. Some of the most popular poker tournaments today include the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour.

Dividing Multi table Tournaments into Periods

Multi table poker tournaments can be divided into three stages – early, middle and late or final tables. The early stage will include all the loose players and fish. The middle stage will leave the fair to excellent players, plus a few lucky fish and the final table will leave almost solely the excellent players.

Multi Table Poker Tournament Strategy

Multi table poker tournaments generally offer large prize pools due to the fact there are so many participants. Because of this, you will find many players who are in a frenzy to win as much as they can and try to build up the biggest stack of chips as they can in the shortest time. This loose play can be risky. It makes a lot more sense to play a conservative, tight game in the beginning. Ideally, you should wait until you are holding a good hand and then attack the loose players at the table in order to maximize the number of chips that you can win in those hands. As you progress in the tournament, you can loosen your play as at that stage you need to make a push to reach the final table and so more aggressive play is important. Patience is very important in multi table tournaments. Due to the large number of players involved, these tournaments take long periods of time to play. Rushing your game will not speed you to the final table – if anything it will cause you to be eliminated in an early round.