Tournament Types & Rules
Like any other kind of tournament, a poker tournament is one in which play continues until there is one winner. In the case of poker that means that one player has won all the chips from the other players. In a single poker game, each hand is an individual entity and players can quit the game at any time. However, in a tournament players must play until knocked out and there is a winner at the end.
There are a number of different kinds of poker tournaments. Here is an explanation of each:
SHOOTOUTS
In most multi-player poker tournaments players are moved from one table to another in order to keep the number of players at each table the same, this culminates in the “final table” where the remaining nine players face each other. A shootout tournament does not work like this. A player will stay at their original table until they are the only player left, at which point they progress to another table which is comprised of players who won their first table.
A Double Shootout tournament is one in which a player must win two tables to win the event. The first table is played until there is only one player left and then the final table is made up of winners of the first round. Often there will be some prize money for anyone to make the second table.
A Triple Shootout tournament is one in which three tables must be won to win the event. A full triple shootout tournament will start with 729 players; they will be divided between 81 tables with 9 players at each table. Each table will play until there is one player left; the winners from each of the 81 tables will then play each other across 9 different tables until each table has a winner. Finally the remaining 9 players will play each other to determine an overall winner.
Shootout tournaments can have as many rounds as the organisers wish and each table does not necessarily have to have nine players.
SATELLITES
The prizes for satellite tournaments are entry into larger tournaments. They are often much cheaper than buying into the main event directly. For instance, a tournament may have a $200 buy-in with satellites available with only $20 buy-ins and entry to the main event as a prize. Satellites are normally multi-table competitions and are played as a regular tournament.
If for instance the buy-in for the large tournament was $200 and the satellite $20, if there are ten players in the satellite first place wins a place in the main tournament, if there are twenty players in the satellite then first and second play would win a place in the main event. Any other left over prize money is won by the runners up.
There is normally an entry fee as well as a buy in for a tournament. For instance, if you see a cost of “$30+$3” it means that the buy in is $30 and the entry fee is $3. Buy-ins go to the prize pool whilst entry fees are taken by the company hosting the tournament.
FREEROLLS
.A Freeroll tournament has no buy-in or entry free, it is completely free and still has cash prizes to be won. You can find freeroll tournaments by clicking on the “Tourney” tab in the main window and then on the “Freeroll” tab. There are many freerolls on a daily basis, some are open to all players and others are only open to certain countries.
SIT & GO
A “Sit & Go” tournament does not have a fixed starting time; they begin when all the seats are taken. They can be found by clicking on the “Sit & Go” tab in the main client window. There are many kinds of Sit & Go tournaments available: single table, multi-table and heads up events. More information on these events can be found in the tournament lobby.
REBUY TOURNAMENTS
Should you run out of chips in a tournament, a Rebuy tournament will allow you to purchase more (with some limitations). In a standard tournament (known as a “freezeout”), once you have run out of chips you are out of the tournament.
Below are some more details on how Rebuy events work:
Buying more chips is only possible in the “Rebuy Period”. This is normally a period of time at the beginning of a tournament, for instance the first hour of an event, after this period rebuys are no longer possible. During the period, the number of rebuys possible will either be fixed or unlimited. As a general rule, the rebuy costs the same as the original buy-in and supplies you with the same amount of chips as the original buy-in.
Should you run out of chips you are automatically offered a rebuy. If you wish to purchase more chips even if you have not run out simply click on the dealer tray and select “Add More Chips”. If for any reason you are not entitled to a rebuy a message will be displayed informing you.
As a general rule, rebuys are possible using the “Add More Chips” button whenever your stack is less than or equal to the starting stack. This means that you can actually rebuy before a tournament even starts.
Occasionally, at the end of the rebuy period, an “Add-on” maybe available. Most of the time this will be in the first tournament break. An add-on is an extra rebuy. Add-ons are not automatically offered, they can be purchased once the message “Players are now on break” appears by clicking on the dealer tray and selecting “Add More Chips”. You can normally purchase an add-on regardless of how many chips you have.
An add-on like a re-buy will normally cost the same as the buy-in and supply you with the same number of chips. Money from rebuys and add-ons go into the prize pool and as a result the size of the prize pool is not known until the end of the rebuy period as more money may be put into it at any time.
All the details described here are what generally happen; each tournament will have specific details in the tournament lobby.
DEEP STACKS
In a Deep Stack tournament, players start with more chips than normal. Generally in a Deep Stack event players will start with 5,000 chips. Blind levels are normally the same as in a regular tournament; this allows each player to stay in the event for longer.
Apart from having larger than normal starting stacks, most Deep Stack events will have half hour intervals between levels as opposed to the normal fifteen minutes. This also allows more play, in particular during the early part of a tournament.
Deep Stack tournaments can be found in the lobby with the words “Deep Stack” in the name.
6-MAX
If a tournament has “6-Max” in its name it means that there are only six seats instead of the normal eight or nine. These events are normally in the lobby with their names in light blue.
TURBO
In a Turbo event, blind levels increase at a much faster interval than in a normal event. The blind levels will go up every five or six minutes in a turbo event instead of the normal fifteen.
A turbo rebuy event will normally have a break at thirty minutes instead of the normal sixty.
FREEZEOUTS (AKA Eliminations)
A Freezeout tournament is the most common kind. You pay your entry fee and buy in and all players begin with the same amount of chips (normally between 800-1500). You are knocked out of the tournament by losing all your chips. The tournament winner is the player who successfully wins all the other player’s chips.
Play begins with low blind levels which are increased gradually over time. As a player is knocked out by losing all their chips, the total number of chips in a game is constant but as the game progresses they are divided between fewer and fewer players. The proportion of the chips that you win is determined by the individual tournament’s payout structure. Generally, the higher you finish the larger the percentage of the prize pool you win, often the prize pool is split between the top ten players on a sliding scale.
