My Complete Guide To OnGame Poker Tournaments Big And Small
Update: I'm personally a little sad to say that OnGame is no more... this network has closed it's doors after more than 10 years online. To be fair, traffic had been declining, though I'll miss the Fishmarket, the Grand and the rest of the schedule.
You’ll find a lot to like about the OnGame Network – a group of smaller to mid-sized poker sites who pool together their players. With fields more likely to be in the 100’s than the 1000’s, the games are softer than at larger sites. There are plenty of guaranteed prizes on offer – with big ‘showcase’ tournaments giving some very large prizes away. I should note that this network is now known as the 'NYX' Network, though the sites, bonuses and tournaments remain the same.
This guide to OnGame Poker tournaments will give you a flavor of what to expect. First covering the different types of tournament available in summary format, before going into more detail on the big showcase games, SNGs and satellite qualifiers.
My favorite site on this network is Red Kings Poker, who have been around for years now. This cool site offer a choice of 6 welcome bonuses, and give you an extra €300 bonus the first time you get dealt the two red kings in a cash game – making them an easy recommendation for the OnGame network. You can check them out for yourself via this link.
Poker Tournaments On The OnGame Network – Quick Overview
Here is a bullet point summary – this will give you a flavor of what to expect from the tourneys at OnGame, even if you have never played there before.
- Smaller Buy-In Games With Manageable Fields: Instead of 3000 players, the €2 to €11 evening games get 300, you do not need to stay up half-the night just to bust out in 167th like you do on PokerStars!
- Plenty Of Choice And Guaranteed Prizes: PLO, Rebuys, Turbo, SNGs, Satellites and more – there is a huge number of guaranteed prize pools too, ranging from a few hundred in the €3 buy-in range to €10,000+ for the mid buy-ins and €200k for the Sunday Champion Chip.
- Grand Series Of Poker: Online tourney event with some great prizes which happens several times a year, there are also GSOP Live events which you can qualify for online.
- Champion Chip Sunday Major: This is the big weekly tournament with a €70k guaranteed prize pool each week. Qualifier games to this run all week, so a lot of players get to take a shot at the big cash.
- Overall ‘Recreational’ Feel: Compared to some of the bigger sites, which host groups of pro grinders, OnGame has a more recreational player base. You’ll find the tournaments noticeably easier to beat, and a lot more fun too.
I should note that one of my favorite tournaments is on OnGame – The Fishmarket. This promo game happens once every months or so, and is €11 to enter. What makes it great is that all new depositors get to play for free – since many of these players are new to poker, this makes it one of the easiest tournaments online… The prize-pool is €10 000 guaranteed, and there are usually give away prizes like iPads and football shirts too. Check out RedKings.com for the date of the next Fishmarket.
Poker Tournaments On The OnGame Network – The Big Prizes
There are three events to cover here. First the ‘Sunday Major’ called the Champion Chip. Second the High Roller and Grand Prix €50k guaranteed weekly events + €75k gtd weekly rebuy, and then the GSOP online events, which also have big prize tournaments.
OnGame’s showcase tournament is the Champion Chip, which kicks off at 18:00 CET (19:00 UK) each Sunday. This is a €75 guarantee (though this does change with the seasons (summer = lower) section) and costs €190+€10 to enter.
Qualifiers for this tournament run all week and include SNG satellites as well as multi-table tournaments – a lot of players each week get their seats this way, which means there is a good mix of players in the big event, so anyone can win it!
Bigger Regular Tournaments: There are many games to list here, starting with the high roller each Tuesday at 20:30 CET with a €525 buy-in and €50,000 guarantee. If this buy-in is a little on the large side for your poker bankroll you can always check out the €162 Euro Grand Prix on Saturdays or the Sunday €109 rebuy – these games have a €50k (Euro GP) and €75k (Rebuy) respectively.
The Grand Series Of Poker comes around approx 3 times a year on the OnGame network. Abbreviated as the GSOP, this is a series of tournaments with buy-ins ranging from €50 to €500 (+fees) and prizes going up to €300,000 guaranteed. These include Omaha and Omaha hi-lo events as well as a ton of Holdem! There are also live GSOP events, which you can qualify for online.
OnGame Poker Tournaments At The Cool Red Kings – Regular Tournaments
There are a ton of tourneys to choose from at OnGame sites, with games kicking off every 10 to 15 minutes off peak and every 5 minutes during peak times. Buy-ins start from €1.20c with the biggest choice up to the €22 level. There Stud, Draw and Omaha games as well as all the usual Holdem variations like turbos, rebuys and 6-max games.
There are two things you’ll like about these games. First the guarantees cover a lot of the tourneys, with plenty of small guarantees as well as the huge ones already covered. Second of all, the fields are a great size! These are big enough to make the prizes worth winning, but not so big as to mean you are sitting up until the next morning battling through 1000’s of players (like on PokerStars).
Sit And Go Tournaments: I have covered these separately in a very detailed article – to summarize the choice is decent (for Holdem fans particularly) and the average skill level of your opponents is low compared to some of the bigger poker sites. You can read my Red Kings SNG Review here.
>Satellite Qualifiers: You can hit the WSOP, the GSOP and many more events besides at OnGame, who have a choice of MTT satellites which lead to €320 ‘Live Event Finals’ and what they call ‘Super Steps’ which are Sit N Goes where you move up levels by winning each game. These games vary throughout the year, keep an eye on the Red Kings Website for details of the latest qualifiers – which often come with associated promotions.
OnGame Poker Tournaments – My Summary And Next Steps
These games hit the sweet spot for me, smaller fields, tons of guarantees and soft opponents combine with cool promotions like the Fishmarket free €11 token and GSOP events. If you are looking to build experience and a bankroll playing MTTs then OnGame are my top choice – if you already have some favorites at other sites then why not add in a couple of these games for some quick-profit potential.
You’ll get a choice of 6 welcome bonuses at Red Kings, my personal favorite OnGame site, and get another €300 in bonus cash the first time you are dealt the two red kings in a cash game (goes up to €500 if you lose the hand at showdown). This is a great network and I expect even greater things in 2016 – check out Red Kings Poker for yourself now!
