Poker Steps Tournament: Rising Price, Rising Prize

Poker steps tournament goes just as it implies: climbing a ladder. To access the first "step," you need to pay the buy-in as well as the entry fee. To access the next steps, you either win the current tournament or pay the buy-in and entry fee. Thus, the way to get to the top without paying every step buy-in plus entry fee is to win each step. Every time you win, you get to ascend to the next step. The next step always costs larger than the steps it precedes.

The big prize for poker steps tournament can be found only at the end of the ladder. The prize either takes the form of cash, seat to a major tournament, or seat to the World Series of Poker.

Poker steps tournament is a single table satellite tournament consisting of several tiers or "steps." A poker steps tournament, usually, consists of five tiers. The first tier of the tournament has a very low buy-in and entry fee. The buy-in and the entry cost higher as you go farther into the tournament.

At first glance, poker steps tournament seem like a superbly low-cost tournament but in the long run, players end up paying more for the entry fee than they would if the enter a single tournament. Players realized that this type of tournament has been structured to rake more revenues for the cardroom sneakily.

Let's say entry to the first tier costs $10+$1; the second, $50+5, then $100+10, $500+25, and $1,000+50. If you don't win the first tournament, you can get to the second step by paying buy-in and another, costlier entry fee.

If you win every tournament, then you'd be spending only eleven dollars. But if you don't win any tournament, you get to pay $91 for the entry fee alone. Whereas, if you buy a seat to the final tournament without competing in any of the preceding tournaments, you pay only $50 for the entry fee.

Poker steps tournament consist of several levels of single table tournaments. These tournaments act as satellite tournaments and the prize you get at the end of every tournament is a seat to the next tournament. If you don't win that prize and would like to proceed to the next level, you pay the buy-in plus the entry fee. This pattern is repeated until the final tournament, where the prize can be in cash or seat to a major tournament. Because every step tournament costs higher buy-in and, notably, entry fee, poker steps tournament is profit-generating for the hosting poker room, but a bad deal for the tournament player. This perennial rake structure caused the decline in popularity of poker steps tournament among players. It has also made fare low in tournament reviews.