Largest Overlay Poker Tournaments

Best Poker Sites Online for Poker Tournament Overlays

The biggest attraction for most players to playing at some of the biggest poker sites online is the life changing poker tournaments some of these poker rooms provide. With guaranteed tournaments running into the millions, it’s hard to not to test your skill (and luck) in these huge events. Sure you may battle hundreds if not thousands of players in a single event, but a first place payout can award you with more than $200,000 in cold hard cash.

For most players, these life alerting events will fall short from ever becoming a reality. For most players they will be lucky to bubble, let alone make a final table when over 2000 players are also fighting to make that same final table. Of course the payout justifies the game, but for a player who wants to maximize their poker bankroll their best solution is to enter into overlay poker tournaments rather than focusing solely on the big money events.

Below we have compiled a list of the top online poker sites offering regular overlay poker tournaments. You will also find recent percentages and details as to the amount of money these poker rooms end up adding to their events. Regardless of your skill level, poker tournament overlays are an excellent way to manage your bankroll.

All of the poker rooms accept US players and provide excellent software, customer support and of course frequent promotions and a player rewards program. If you have any questions about any of the poker sites you see listed on this page, we also provide a comprehensive poker review guide outlining every aspect and feature these rooms support.

What is a Poker Tournament Overlay?

Simply put it’s a guaranteed tournament whereby the poker room guarantees the prize pool will meet a minimum amount. Once the player buyins equal the guaranteed amount the prize pool will increase. If a tournament falls short and the buyins do not make up the amount of the guaranteed tournament, the poker room will then kick in the additional funds to match what the tournament originally offered. The amount of money the poker room adds to the prize pool is called the “overlay”.

Advantage of Playing in Poker Tournament Overlays

There are two huge benefits to playing in tournament overlays. First and foremost is the added value the tournament provides players based on the buy in vs. the amount of the prize pool. As an example, let’s say a tournament guarantees a $75,000 prize pool and each buy in costs $125. The tournament would need to draw in at least 600 players in order for the event to pay for itself. If say for example the playing field fell short by 200 entrants, the poker room would need to add a total of $25,000 to the prize pool to offset the guaranteed amount. This means that a $75,000 GP has a value of $187.50 per player, even though each player only paid $125.

Using a real tournament payout structure let's say a tournament guarantees a $10,000 prize pool with a buy in of $5.50. The tournament draws in 3600 participants, and because of that the prize pool jumps from $10,000 to a whopping $19,500. In order for a player to cash in this event they would need to place in the top 450, and even then, the tournament won't pay anything significant until 15th place where you see a $50 return on your original investment. Now if we were to look at as an overlay. That same tournament draws in 256 players which generates a total of $1408 in buyins, giving each entry a cash value of $36.06 instead of the original cost of $5.50. The lack of entrants also forces the poker room to kick in an additional $8592 into the prize pool. In this scenario the event would pay a total of 36 places with 15th place receiving 1.35% of the prize pool which amounts to $135. Of course the payouts will differ dramatically since the playing field is significantly smaller but the ROI a player sees on his original buy in this event is that much greater than the other tournament.

The second benefit is of course the playing field. While the major poker tournaments offer millions in cash for their tournaments, these events will draw in thousands and thousands of participants. With the huge play field the average player will rarely ever make a final table. In fact, most poker players will never see a final table playing these big events regardless of how many attempts they make. In an overlay, the playing field is marginally lower than what you would find in the big events and because of this it’s significantly easier to cash in an overlay than it is in a highly populated poker tournament. Think of it this way – how many final table events could you make with a playing field of 85 or 100 players vs. a tournament that attracts 2000 or even 3000 players.

In the end, the overlay poker tournaments give you more bang for your buck and provides players with a better ROI.