Playing in an online poker tournament can be an exciting experience, especially when you win! Before playing in a tournament, however, you need to be sure that you are familiar with playing online poker, since it can be different than playing poker in a 'real' setting. If you are just starting out in the online poker world, play a few friendly games first, or play some 'fun' online poker games that don't require risking any money.

Once you think you are ready to try playing in an online poker tournament, your next step is to figure out what type of tournament you would like to play in. One of the best ways to get your feet wet in online tournaments is to start by playing in a ?freeroll?. Freeroll tournaments don't require any entrance fee; you simply sign up for the tournament and play. The great thing about these tournaments, however, is that if you place high enough at the end, you usually win some actual money. Freeroll tournaments rarely have large cash prizes, though; if you want to win some real online poker tournament money, you'll need to pay an entrance fee into one of the larger ones.

Entrance fees for an online poker tournament can be as low as $2 to as much as $1000 or more, depending on the cash prizes that can be awarded. Often, players will enter into an online poker tournament in hopes of winning entry into a real-time poker tournament, such as the World Series of Poker.

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