What are tournaments?
Tournaments are played by a group of participants, all paying a fixed buy-in
fee to a pool, this pool is used to pay the winner(s). All participants
receive the same number of chips and play until they've either won all the
other participants chips - or until they've lost all their own. The tournament
winner is the player who finishes the game with all the participants' chips
to themselves!
Unlike traditional ring games, the risk in tournament play is limited to
the initial sign-up fee. With only this amount to lose, tournament gaming
makes an ideal starting point for anyone wishing to experience the potentially
lucrative thrill of real money poker!
Find out more about the different types of tournaments you can play
Single Table Tournmaments ('Sit and Go' tournaments)
A single table tournament takes place on one table of nine players. Single
table tournaments don't have a scheduled start time and registration period,
but are 'fill and go' games. This means that as soon as nine people have
sat down at a table, play begins. Once a game has started, another table
usually then opens for the next single table tournament to start.
Each player pays the buy-in fee and receives an equal number of chips.
Play commences and continues until one player has won all the available
chips at that table. The prize pool is usually divided between the top 3
finishers, with the winner usually taking 50% of the pool.
Multi Table Tournaments
Multi table tournaments can feature up to 450 players, and mirror how real
world poker tournaments work, where you pit your wits against other players
to take often substantial prizes.
Each multi-table tournament has a set start date and time, with all players
registering to play in advance. You can register at any time from when the
tournament details are posted up until about 5 minutes before kick off.
When registering, you'll need to pay the buy-in together with the registration
fee, which is typically 10% of the buy-in. Sound confusing? Don't worry,
it's not. For example, if you wanted to play in a £10 No Limit tournament,
the buy-in would be £10 and the entry fee £1, giving a grand
total of £11.
When you buy-in, each players starts with the same number of chips and
is assigned a random seat on a randomly selected table. The number of tables
in play will reflect the number of players who have entered, so if 450 players
have entered, then there will be 50 tables at the start of play. As the
tournament progresses, and players get knocked out, tables are closed and
players are reseated to make sure that tables remain well balanced. Table
and seat reassignment is again conducted at random, but takes into consideration
your position in relation to the blinds so you don't lose out. Eventually,
nine players will remain on the final table where they'll battle it until
one player has all the chips.
The real beauty of multi-table tournaments is that all the buy-ins form
a prize pool, a prize pool that you'll be playing for a share of. The pool
is determined by a range of factors, such as the number of entrants, the
stakes and any possible add-ons, and the payout structure is similarly determined
by the number of entrants.
Speed Tournaments
Speed Tournaments offer double the fun in half the time. With blinds increasing
every three minutes, they offer some of the fastest, most exciting tournament
action to be found anywhere on the web, and if you're looking for an exciting
poker experience but don't have hours to spare, we think that you'll like
these.
Re-buy and Add-on
During a tournament, if you run out of chips, you're usually knocked out
of the game. In some tournaments, however, you're allowed to post another
buy-in to get more chips when you run out.
Re-buys are limited though – both in number (e.g. once in a tournament)
and in time (only within the first hour). The re-buy will affect the prize
money and it is therefore not possible to make a re-buy after the first
winning person has been knocked out.
It's possible, if permitted, to make a re-buy during the tournament, as
long as the players chip stack is less or equal to, the starting chip stack.
An 'add-on' is a special re-buy available at the very end of a re-buy period.
The add-on is available for all players, regardless of the size of their
chip stack.
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