Free-to-play tournaments

You’ve downloaded the PokerStars software, and you’ve logged into your account. You’re all set to play.  But which game? If it’s a tournament you’re looking for there are a few things you need to know.

PokerStars hosts the largest number of free-to-play online tournaments anywhere on the Internet. These are separated into ‘play money tournaments’ and ‘freerolls’. If you’re new to poker you may be asking, “So what’s the difference?” Here’s a brief explanation.

A play money tournament is just that – using your play money chips you can ‘buy-in’ to a tournament with prizes awarded to those who finish ‘in the money’. These prizes amount to more play money chips credited to your PokerStars account.

A ‘freeroll’ tournament, on the other hand, is free to enter – you don’t even have to spend your play money chips. But the top finishers in a freeroll are awarded real prizes. Sometimes this will be dollars like in our weekly Round 2 Astronomer’s Freerolls. To qualify for these freerolls, you will have to finish ‘in the money’ in one of the Round 1 games.

Other times you can win the opportunity to play with the pros in a live tournament somewhere around the world. Keep an eye on the PokerStars blog for news of these events.

To find the Astronomer’s freerolls, go to the PokerStars lobby, and click on the Tourney tab, then scroll down until you find a tournament with a famous astronomer’s name as the title (for example, ‘Hubble’).

Our schedule of play money tournaments can be found below (all start times are ET).

*Note that the "rake" is taken in play money chips.

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