What are Overlays?

Online poker rooms often run tournaments with guaranteed prize pools. When not enough players enter to make the guarantee, the room has to make up the difference. That difference is called an overlay, and it basically amounts to money added to the prize pool of a tournament - a great value for online poker players.

We review dozens of guaranteed tournaments every week and let you know which ones have an overlays and which don't. By reviewing the past performance of a tournament, you get a very good sense for what tournaments are likely to have overlays in the future - and those are the tournaments smart players want to enter.

Weekly Picks

Top Poker Tournament Overlays For The Week Of May 12th

Make sure to check out these great overlay tournaments this week…

1. Ultimate Bet 200k guaranteed - Overlay approached the 50k mark this week.

2. Poker Heaven E100,000 guaranteed - This tournament overlayed by a quarter of the guaranteed prize pool.

3. Bodog 100k guaranteed - Overlayed at 35k. Great weekend tournament to regisiter for.

May 13th, 2008
Buy in $55+ / Sundays

PokerStars $1,000,000 Guaranteed $200+15 Does Not Overlay

Date and Time: Sunday, 4:30pm est.
Site: pokerstars.com
Buy in: $200+15
Prize Pool Guarantee: $1,000,000
Estimated Overlay: No Overlay
Details: The PokerStars Sunday Million event did not overlay. However, this week the prize pool was over $200,000 short than what it is for most weeks. Players should not expect to find overlays for this advertisement horde of a tournament. The attendance could have been lacking due to the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS tournament that was also running on Sunday.

May 13th, 2008
Weekdays

The Cake Poker 6k Guaranteed $30+3 Does Not Overlay

Cake Poker

Date and Time: Monday, 12:00pm est.
Site: cakepoker.com
Buy in: $30+3
Prize Pool Guarantee: $6,000
Estimated Overlay: No Overlay
Details: The Cake Poker 6k guaranteed event did not overlay. This is the very first time the event did not overlay when we reviewed it. Players should not expect to find many overlays in the future for the tournament. This is due to the low buy-in and the few weekday tournament offerings by Cake.

May 13th, 2008
Buy in $55+ / Sundays

Carbon Poker 20k Guaranteed $55+5 Overlays At $6,580

 Poker.com

 CarbonPoker.com

Date and Time: Sunday, 6:00pm est.
Site: carbonpoker.com
Buy in: $55+5
Prize Pool Guarantee: $20,000
Estimated Overlay: $6,580
Details: The Carbon Poker 20k guaranteed event overlayed at $6,580. This is an excellent tournament to participate in if you are a moderately skilled player with an decently determined bankroll. We do strongly recommend this event based on the minimal buy-in, good overlay, and big prize pool.

May 13th, 2008
Buy in $55+ / Sundays

Ultimate Bet 200k Guaranteed $200+15 Overlays At $45,600

Date and Time: Sunday, 5:00pm est.
Site: ultimatebet.com
Buy in: $200+15
Prize Pool Guarantee: $200,000
Estimated Overlay: $45,600
Details: The Ultimate Bet 200k guaranteed event overlayed at $ 45,600. This tournament again dispelled any notion that it will hit its guaranteed prize pool in the near future. This big weekend offering at Ultimate Bet overlayed by almost a quarter of the total prize pool. With a prize pool of $200,000, this is pretty good.

May 13th, 2008
Buy in $55+ / Sundays

The Poker Heaven E100,000 Guaranteed Event Overlays At E25,240

Date and Time: Sunday, 4:00pm est.
Site: pokerheaven.com
Buy in: E120+10
Prize Pool Guarantee: E100,000
Estimated Overlay: E25,240
Details: The Poker Heaven E100,000 guaranteed tournament overlayed at E25,240. This is an exceptional overlay for the premiere weekend event at Poker Heaven. The overlay represented a quarter of the total prize pool. If you are a non US player make the jump over to Poker Heaven on Sunday afternoons and take part in this juicy tournament experience.

May 13th, 2008
Buy in $55+ / Sundays

Bodog 100k Guaranteed $100+9 Overlays At $35,400

Date and Time: Sunday, 4:00PM est.
Site: bodog.com
Buy in: $100+9
Prize Pool Guarantee: $100,000
Estimated Overlay: $35,400
Details: The Bodog 100k guaranteed overlayed at $35,400. This is an absolutely sensational overlay for the premiere weekend event on the site. Players should expect consistent overlays for the event. However, overlays approaching the $40,000 amount will come only seldom.

May 13th, 2008
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Overlays by Buy-in Level

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Daily Poker Quiz

Overpair on safe flop, no limit 6 max tournament - DailyHandQuiz

Game type: NL 6 max tournament, Full Tilt Poker
Your image: A little tight
Opponent's image: Very aggro
Your hand: Qs Qd

The setup: You're at a pretty active table in this tournament. This hand, UTG raises to 3x and change. You think about repopping when it gets to you, but you've seen the BB try pickup re-raises preflop several times, especially against the very aggressive player TUG who has been raising a ton of pots, so you decide to call. No luck - the rest of the table folds. You flop fine:

2c 2h 4s

UTG leads for pot. What's your play?


Vote and comment at DailyHandQuiz.com