Roulette Tournaments: What Are They and How Do They Work?

If you’ve been into casino gaming for a while, you might know that casinos host tournaments for various casino titles. Blackjack, Poker and Slots are some of the go-to choices for gambling operators to host casino tournaments.

Besides these traditional options, many casinos now offer players the chance to participate in a Roulette tournament. Playing Roulette tournaments is quite enjoyable and entertaining, given that you know their nitty-gritty. This article offers a comprehensive overview of Roulette tournaments, including their basics and working. Read on!

Basics and working of Roulette tournaments

Roulette tournaments are Roulette competitions hosted by online gambling sites and land-based casinos. Unlike the standard Roulette gameplay, where players compete against the house, Roulette tournaments pit players against multiple opponents. As a tournament player, your main aim is to stay until the end of the competition and score maximum points.

Every Roulette tournament you’ll encounter online differs from the other. But just like the multiple Roulette variations following the same basics, the main components of all Roulette tournaments are essentially the same. Below is a quick overview of what a Roulette tournament looks like:

You pay the required buy-in amount for the tournament.

• A set number of chips are given to you.
• Most Roulette tournaments come with a set time limit.
• You continue playing until you’ve exhausted your chips or the time limit is over.
• The main objective is to have the highest number of points or chips than other players.
• The top player/players share the final prize amount.

As mentioned in the first point, one must pay an entry fee to participate in a Roulette tournament. Some Roulette tournaments don’t have an entry fee. But they are somewhat rarer than the paid competition. 

Fortunately, the entry fee for most Roulette tournaments is low. This makes them accessible to all types of Roulette online players.

After paying the buy-in fee, a chip stack is given to you. You can choose to wager these chips in a variety of ways. But note that many tournaments have maximum and minimum betting limits in place. And your wager amount must fall between those limits.

Many Roulette tournaments are split up into multiple rounds. And each round sees the elimination of some players. The elimination process continues until one or a few top players are left.

Roulette tournaments have a leaderboard to track the chips won or points scored by players. In some competitions, the whole pot amount is given to the winners. But usually, the prize amount is split and given to the top three, five or ten players. Below is an example of how the Roulette prize pool can be split:

• Total prize pool – £100,000
• 1st spot – £40,000
• 2nd spot – £25,000
• 3rd spot – £15,000
• 4th spot – £5,000
• 5th spot to 10th spot – £2,500

Pros of Roulette tournaments

There are numerous benefits of playing Roulette tournaments online. Below we’ve listed the top ones:

No house advantage

As an online casino UK player, you’d know that all casino games come with a built-in house edge. And Roulette is no exception to that. The house edge in Roulette varies based on your chosen game variation. For example, European Roulette – which happens to be one of the most popular variations in Roulette history – comes with a house edge of 2.7%.

But when playing Roulette tournaments, one doesn’t need to worry about the house edge. This is because Roulette tournaments don’t require you to play against the house. Instead, you’ll be competing against the players who’ve participated in the competition.

Chance to try something new

There’s no doubt that Roulette is a highly exciting casino classic to play online. But sometimes, you may want to try something unique and interesting. And this is where Roulette tournaments come in.

With Roulette tournaments, you can play with Roulette players from across the globe. And this is something that players who enjoy socializing love the most. The best part is you’ll still be enjoying the same exciting game of Roulette but in an entirely different setting.

Opportunity to grab significant amounts in potential winnings

As mentioned earlier, most Roulette competitions come with a low buy-in requirement. You can easily participate in these events for a few pounds.

Meanwhile, Roulette tournaments allow you to compete for a much bigger prize pool than the entry fee. For example, you may spend £10 to participate in a tournament whose top prize is £10,000. And if lady luck is by your side, nothing stops you from grabbing significant Roulette payouts.

Cons of Roulette tournaments

As with all other things, Roulette tournaments have their downsides. Below we’ve listed some of them:

You need to understand and follow tournament rules.

With knowing the standard Roulette rules, Roulette tournament players must understand how their chosen Roulette tournament works. This includes knowing things like tournament betting limits, the length of gameplay rounds and so on.

While most tournaments have straightforward rules, they vary from one online tournament to another. As such, tournaments may not always be the best option if you aren’t in the mood to learn something new.

Buy-ins can be costly.

We’ve explained earlier that most Roulette tournaments come with low buy-in amounts. But there are some tournaments whose entry fees can be quite high. This is especially true of events with huge prize pools of several thousand pounds.

Summary

Roulette tournaments are a fun and exciting way to enjoy Roulette online. And if you get lucky, there may be significant prize amounts up for you to grab. Just note that Roulette tournaments have their own rules, so check them before participating in any such event. If you’re new to Roulette and need some practice, our Roulette simulator can help you with the same.