Some tournaments, home games or not, offer side bets on certain outcomes.

In a poker game I played last night, the buy in was $100, but you could put an extra $10 for whomever won with the highest hand during the tournament. This side pool creates extra action. I also believe it is not raked, as the tournament obviously is. In a tournament of 40 players, I’d say at least 10, maybe even 20 players put $10 up to win this pool. Now, keep in mind, this has nothing to do with your skill, but all luck. So, if you get a straight flush on the first hand and no one gets a better hand for the rest of the tournament, you’ve parlayed your $10 into a few hundred, just for being there. If you have the money, this is a no brainer, assuming a lot of people are doing it.

However, some other side bets are based on performance, rather than luck. Some people make last longer pools. The person who lasts the longest out of all of the players in the pool, wins all of the poker money. To last longer than someone else, you have to play well and accumulate chips, and usually, reach the final table. So, in essence, this bet often makes a winning night a bigger win. If you get the last longer prize, you’ve often reached the regular payouts, and the side bet is a little extra. Keep in mind, the bigger this side pool is, the more players you have to outlast, so the money you win is directly related to the number of players your have to outlast.

This is unlike the high poker hand, which can be a stand alone win for someone who gets knocked out early. Also, the high hand is less reliant upon the number of opponents you have. If you get a straight flush or 4 of a kind, it is unlikely to be beaten based on the odds of difficulty, regardless of how many people are attempting to do so.