Poker Tourney Blind Structure

1. Poker Tournament Blind Structure
2. Poker Tourney Blind Structure

Maximum bonus offered will be communicated in the details of each Poker Tournament Blind Structure specific promo. SlotsMagic Casino - Free spins Total Bonus -Start Playing on Slot Madness Casino read review. Spain 1-$6000 Bonus. Free poker clock and timer. Use this blind timer in your poker tournaments! Utilisez ce compteur de mise pour vos tournois de poker. The blind structure at Titan Poker's tournaments has been improved, giving a definite edge to skilled tournament players. Starting chips at cash prize tournaments have been set at 1,500. The blind levels increase at a pace determined by the size of the tournament buy-in (from 10 minutes per level to 15 minutes per level for the highest buy-ins). Ignition's sit and go structure is easily the best online, and has lead other poker sites (such as PokerStars) to modify their structure to become slower. As you can see, the first few levels are very low blinds with no antes, and allow you basically 30 minutes of play before you have pressure on your stack.

Tournament poker has become the proving ground for aspiring players looking to make a name for themselves. While more money can be made playing cash games, the prestige and ego boost comes from dominating the tournament scene. If you’re new to tournament poker, welcome to one of the fastest-paced, most action-filled events on the planet.

The first step to dominating poker tournaments is understanding what you’re getting yourself into. Not all tournaments are created equally. Certain tournaments favor more skilled players, while others favor those that need a little Lady Luck to help them get to the finish line. If you’re looking to prove that you have the most skill in the game, you’re going to want to play in the tournaments that predominantly favor the skilled players.

The factor that determines which side of the aisle a poker tournament favors is known as the blind structure. The blind structure determines how much play there will be in a tournament. A structure that favors stronger players is one where the average chip stacks (measured in big blinds) stay the deepest for the longest. A structure that favors weaker players is one where the chip stacks (measured in big blinds) stay the shallowest.

Basically, the more room you have to play and make moves and the longer you have to wait for better cards, the more skill is going to be involved. In tournaments where you don’t have a lot of wiggle room, there is a lot more weight placed on what cards you get. In deeper and longer structures, the variance of the cards will be less.

This is a tough concept to put into words, but once it clicks, it will make perfect sense. Here’s an analogy: let’s say that we’re trying to figure out who the best Tetris player is. If you’ve ever played Tetris, you know that the game spits out random blocks, and sometimes you can get unlucky with what blocks come out. If we only let everyone play three games, it’s very possible that the best player in the world could get unlucky all three times and put up bad scores.

However, if we allow the players to play 100 games, the better players are going to rise to the top, because they’re not going to get unlucky run-outs 100 times in a row. This is the same with poker. A deeper and longer structure gives more time for the better players to utilize their skills and not just rely on getting good cards.

This means that if you really are one of the best and want to prove it, you need to be playing in tournaments that allow your skill to shine through. Sure, you can still get unlucky in the best structure in the world, but it will give you more wiggle room to absorb this bad luck and persevere through.

Now that you understand what we are looking for and why we are looking for it, let’s talk about exactly how you identify one of these great structures.

A Complete Picture

We’re going to start out by giving you a statement about several different tournaments. We want you to decide which of these tournaments has the best structure for skilled players:

• Tournament 1 – The starting stack is 50,000 chips.
• Tournament 2 – The blinds start at 10/20.
• Tournament 3 – The levels are two hours long.
• Tournament 4 – The tournament is called “The Mega Deepstack Invitational.”

Which of these four tournaments has the best structure for skilled players? It’s a trick question. All of them actually have terrible structures. Tournament 1 has the blinds start at 5k/10. Tournament 2 only starts you with 200 chips. Tournament 3 starts you at 50/100 with 1k chips. Tournament 4 has the same structure as Tournament 3.

The point we’re trying to make here is that the only way to know if a blind structure is any good is to have ALL of the information about the tournament. You need to have information about the starting stack size, blind schedule, and the level duration. Putting all of these pieces together will give you an accurate picture of how the structure stacks up.

You also need to be careful of some of the tricks poker rooms will play to try to make you think a tournament has a great structure, like giving the tournament a cool-sounding name.

We’re going to walk you through each of these components individually and let you know what you should be on the lookout for. Remember, though, you need all of the components together, or else you have no idea whether the structure is good or not.

Starting Stacks Sizes

More is USUALLY good when it comes to stack sizes. However, as we stated, it doesn’t mean much if they increase the blind levels along with the stack sizes. Ideally, we’re looking for a tournament that starts you with at least 100 times the big blinds, but hopefully more. For example, if the blinds start at 25/50, you should hope to see AT LEAST a 5k chip starting stack. More than that is definitely going to be better.

Be careful that you don’t let this fool you. We see players all the time raving that you start with 100k chips or 200k chips in a tournament! They’re excited because they are imagining that size chip stack with the blinds they’re used to. You must tie the stack size in with the blind schedule and then see what the ratio is.

Blind Schedule

The blind schedule refers to the different levels that a poker tournament is offering. You’ll have to study this fairly closely to see any issues, but this is one of the most important factors. For instance, let’s take our example from the last section. Let’s say we have a tournament with 25/50 blinds and a 5k chip starting stack. It’s not the greatest, but we’re initially happy with that.

We look at the blind schedule and realize that it goes 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400, 400/800, 800/1600, etc. The blinds double every single time they go up. This is insane and is going to shrink that 5k chip stack in a heartbeat. Though things start out great, the doubling blinds are going to get ridiculous as the tournament goes on. This tournament will turn into a super-turbo in a matter of a few levels.

What you should be looking for is a blind schedule that follows a much more “typical” progression. Below, we have what you’ll see in most tournaments. We have a few levels colored in red, and we will address why. It’s also important to point out that we have not included antes in this example, though they are commonly seen in tournaments. We have yet to see a tournament abuse the ante schedule, so it’s not necessary that we cover it here for you. We also only went to the 1500/3000 level, but the structures usually continue on much further. Most of the issues you can find will be visible in this first set of levels.

• 25/50
• 50/100
• 75/150
• 100/200
• 150/300

• 200/400
• 250/500
• 300/600
• 400/800
• 500/1000

• 600/1200
• 800/1600
• 1000/2000
• 1200/2400
• 1500/3000

If you see this structure, you can give the tournament a check mark in this category, at least. If the stack sizes and level durations are good, then this would be a great structure. We marked several levels in red because we wanted to point out the levels that get dropped by tournaments the most frequently. Usually, if a tournament has these levels, the structure is going to be good. If a tournament does not have any of these levels, it’s going to be a much faster and less favorable structure.

Should you not play a tournament that doesn’t have the red levels? That’s going to be up to you. We’ve seen some great structures before that are missing one or two of these levels. If they are missing all of them, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play. It just means that you should be aware that the tournament is going to be a faster structure where luck is going to play a larger role.

Great players can still win in faster structures. They’re still going to have an edge. That edge is just going to be diminished some, and not as big as it would be in a more favorable structure.

Level Duration

Finally, we reach a criterion that is uniform across the board! Well, sort of. Longer level duration is always going to mean a better structure. The longer that is spent on each level, the more play and “wiggle room” you’re going to have to let your skill shine through.

Now, we did say that this was almost uniform across the board. What were we talking about? It’s possible for a structure to be too good. If the levels are so obnoxiously long that the tournament takes forever, it might not be the most effective use of your time. You want to be able to let your skill shine through, but you don’t want to be playing the same tournament for three weeks, unless it’s a huge tournament.

Make sure that you weigh the prize pool versus how long the tournament is predicted to last. If it’s too much of a time investment for a small prize pool, the structure might be over-the-top too good. There really is no magic formula here for what is best. All we can say is that you need to weigh the two factors and make sure that you’re happy with it.

The Tricks of the Card Rooms

Card rooms and casinos have gotten pretty masterful about making tournaments that seem to be great structures that are actually turbos. Why would they do this? Well, they know that players want great structures, but it costs them a lot more money to run a good structure. You don’t pay additional rake for the tournament if it runs longer. You pay the exact same entry fee whether the tournament takes five minutes or five days.

We wouldn’t say that this is scummy or anything like that. We understand what the poker rooms are trying to do. What is a little shady is when they try and hide the fact that the tournament has a quicker structure.

Here are some of the more popular tricks to look out for:

Just because a card room calls something “deep stacked” does not mean that it actually is. Card rooms and tournament directors love to give tournaments catchy names that lead players to think that the structure is better than it really is. We’re all for catchy names, but we just want you to make sure that you don’t “take their word for it.”

We talked about this earlier, but wanted to reiterate it again. Be careful of events that start out great and turn sour quickly. Make sure you look at the entire structure before you make your assessment of whether or not you want to play the event. A few dropped levels are fine, but if a lot or crucial ones are missing, then that could be a red flag.

We couldn’t think of what to call this one, so “piggybacked structures” is the new phrase we are coining. Imagine this: you play in an event this year, and the structure is incredible. Next year, the same event comes around, and you don’t take the time to look at the structure. You assume that it’s the same event, because it’s put on by the same people, with the same name…it has to have the same structure. Right?

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Sometimes tournament directors will change the structure of a tournament from year to year without drawing attention to it. They will piggyback on the fact that everyone knows that the structure the year before was great and will just assume it will be this year. Make sure that you check a structure each time you play the event. If anything has changed, you need to reassess whether it’s an event you want to play in.

The Key Takeaways

The idea here is that if you’re a good player, you want to be playing in poker tournaments that favor skill over luck. Tournaments that do this are ones with a structure that allows for more play. If a tournament has a deep structure, your skill will have much more time to shine through. You’ll be able to survive some unluckiness and push through to the victory.

Remember that in order to determine whether or not a tournament is good for you, you need to have the complete picture. You need to avoid the casino tricks and assess the starting stack, blind schedule, and the level durations together. The only way you can get an accurate picture is by combining all of these factors together.

Lastly, we want to point out that just because a tournament does not have a great structure does not mean that you shouldn’t play it. It just means that the lucky ducks are going to have a slightly better shot at beating you. You will still have a skill edge, but you’re also going to have to catch some cards to go along with that skill edge.

We are the world’s biggest online poker room and home of the biggest tournaments, with the biggest fields and the biggest prize pools. We run the most tournaments, in the most poker variants, in the most tournament types. You’ll find links above to explanations of all of our different tournament options, from Sit & Go’s to Multi-Table Tournaments, to Satellites.

Click here to find Tournaments available to play right now.

How Poker Tournaments work

All players start a standard poker tournament with the same amount of chips. As play goes on, the compulsory blinds and antes increase at regular intervals, and when a player loses all of their chips, they are out of the tournament. The last player standing is declared the winner, and is rewarded with the biggest portion of the prize pool.

How to play in one of our tournaments

You can find tournaments listed under the Tourney tab (desktop), or under the Tournament tab accessed via the Lobby (mobile). Other types of tournaments can be found under the relevant tabs, such as Sit & Go or Spin & Go. Selecting any tournament allows you to find out everything you need to know, from the game being played to the buy-in, structure, and also whether registration is open. Click ‘Register’ to play the tournament.

In all of our tournaments, each player is assigned a random seat and table. In games with a rotating dealer, the dealer button will start on seat 1. Players are only given a certain amount of time to act - if you take too long, a reminder will appear and you may also be given the option to activate the ‘Time Bank’ to get some extra time to think.

Clicking on the ‘Info’ tab in the table window allows you to find out up-to-date information about the tournament - such as your current position and the average chip stack. More detailed information about the tournament can be seen in the Tournament Lobby.

Poker Tournament Money (T-Money)

With rare exceptions, if you win a seat to an event via one of our satellite tournaments, you can choose to unregister and receive T-Money instead. T-Money can then be used to register for other tournaments. Please note that T-Money is not the same as real money, because you can’t use it in cash games or withdraw it. You can check your T-Money balances at any time by clicking the ‘Cashier’.

On some occasions, we may need to unregister you from a tournament on your behalf. If you find that you need us to do this, contact our support team using the ‘Help > Contact Support’ option in the desktop lobby, or access the More menu and find support through the mobile app, and we will be happy to assist you. Don’t forget to provide the ID number of the tournament that you want to unregister from.

All-in Shootouts

In an All-in Shootout, every player is automatically put all-in on every hand until there is a winner. Once registered, players do not need to be logged in to take part, as there are no gameplay decisions to be made once the tournament begins.

All-in Shootouts are notably different from all other poker tournaments, as no gameplay takes place – tickets are often distributed as part of promotions, with every participant in an All-in Shootout having identical odds of winning the advertised prizes.

Bounty Tournaments

In bounty tournaments, a special cash prize is awarded to the person who eliminates a particular player. For example, if there is a bounty on the head of ‘KidPoker’, whoever eliminates him wins an extra prize, ranging from a couple of bucks to hundreds of dollars, depending on the tournament!

We offer three types of bounty tournament:

• Fixed: There is a bounty on the head of one or more ‘marked’ players. These players are designated in the tournament lobby with a ‘target’ symbol’. Hover over that target symbol with your mouse to see the amount of the bounty. Eliminate the marked player to win the bounty!
• Team Pro: There is a bounty on the head of every member of Team Pro who enters the tournament. Eliminate any pro (marked with a red spade symbol at the table and in the tournament lobby) to claim their bounty!
• Knockout: There is a bounty on the head of every player in the tournament. For more information on Knockouts, see below.

You can quickly find bounty tournaments in the desktop lobby by looking for the appropriate symbol. Those with a black ‘crosshair’ symbol are knockout tournaments, those with a black ‘target’ are fixed bounty tournaments, and those with a red ‘target’ are Team Pro bounty tournaments.

Bubble Rush

Bubble Rush tournaments are designed to reach the money quickly. Usually in the money in about an hour, Bubble Rush tournaments slow down to deep-stacked play when the prizes are biggest!

Color Scheme

The following key describes the colors used to identify different types of tournament on our platform.

• Live Events - Tournaments in purple are generally satellites to a major live poker event, such as the European Poker Tour (EPT).
• Satellites to Online Tourneys - This dark blue color is used to identify satellites to online tournaments, such as the Sunday Million.
• Championship (*COOP) Events / Satellites - Some major online events, like the World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) and SCOOP, and their satellites, are identified in bright orange.
• PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Events / Satellites –Online events for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) are identified in cyan.
• Women's Events – Events open only to female players are identified in magenta.
• Freerolls andPlay Money - If you're looking for an opportunity to play for free while still having a chance to win something, then look for these brown colors in the client.
• Special Tournaments - Bright, bold red is used to identify special events throughout the week, such as the The Daily Bigs.

The color scheme listed above is for information only and subject to change. Some special tournaments may be identified using other colors specific to that event.

Fifty50

‘Fifty50’ is a type of one-table Sit & Go tournament. In a Fifty50 Sit & Go, the event ends when half of the entrants have been eliminated. For example, in a 10-player Fifty50 tournament, 5 will be paid. Half of the prize pool will be distributed equally among the 5 winners, and the other half of the prize pool will be distributed among those same 5 players based on the chip count percentages at the end of the event. The 6th-10th place finishers win nothing. So, in a 10-player $10+$1 Fifty50, the prize pool is $100. Each of the final 5 finishers would receive $10 each, plus a percentage of the remaining $50 in the prize pool. You can find Fifty50 tournaments on desktop under the ‘Sit & Go’ tab. Select ‘Fifty50’ from the Variant filter. On mobile, search for ‘Fifty50’ in the ‘Sit & Go’ tab accessed via the Lobby.

To calculate the value of Player 1’s chips, multiply half the prize pool ($1500) by Player 1’s portion of the total chips in play (4300/15000), a total of $430. Adding the returned buy-in awarded to each player who cashes results in Player 1’s total prize amount of $730 ($430+$300). As a formula, an individual’s payout would be expresses as:

The Fifty50 tournament lobby displays the approximate amount per 100 chips to be paid out when the tournament ends. The value displayed in the Fifty50 tournament lobby is rounded down to the nearest cent, but payouts are calculated so that the entire prize pool is paid out. Note that the final payouts may experience small rounding differences in order to ensure that the total payouts equal the prize pool.

Guaranteed Tournaments

In many of our cash tournaments, the prize pool is guaranteed to reach a specific amount. Regular guarantees range from $500 to $1,000,000! To see the full range of these tournaments, visit the ‘Tourney’ lobby and enter the word ‘guarantee’ in the tournament filter.

Heads-Up Tournaments

Another form of a shootout tournament is a Heads-Up tournament, also called a 1-on-1 tournament. This is a tournament where players are matched in pairs, and play a ‘bracket’ tournament until there is only one player left. Just as in other shootout tournaments late registration is not allowed in Heads-Up tournaments. For most heads-up multi-table tournaments, the time limit for unregistration is five minutes (as opposed to two minutes in most other tournaments). Please check the Tournament Info window for details regarding unregistration from any one specific tournament.

There may not always be a number divisible by the power of two (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64) registered for a particular Heads-Up tournament, which is necessary to fill a heads-up bracket. When this happens, not all players will be able to play the first round – they will receive ‘byes’.

For example, if 10 players enter a Heads-Up tournament, there would be more than 8 but fewer than 16 players. In order to play the tournament out properly, the tournament will first need to be brought down to 8 players. In order to get the number down from 10 to 8 players, 4 players will play (thus eliminating two) and 6 players will get a ‘bye’ and are automatically in the quarter-finals.

We offer Heads-Up tournaments with byes and without byes. This is clearly marked if you click the ‘Tournament Info’ button in the tournament lobby. If a tournament does not allow ‘byes’, the last players to register may have their buy-ins returned in order to get the event to a starting total of players which is a power of two (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 etc). In the above example (with 10 players entered) the last two players to register would not get to play, as 8 is the nearest power of two which is less than 10.

Many Heads-Up tournaments have a ‘Show Bracket’ button in the lobby where you can see a visual representation of how the matches will play out.

Hyper-Turbo

A hyper-turbo event is one in which the blind levels increase extremely quickly – even faster than in a turbo tournament. The length of each round (before the blinds/antes increase) in a hyper-turbo tournament is usually 3 minutes.

Hyper-Turbo satellites are a great way to quickly win your seat in an event just a few minutes before it begins!

Knockouts

In Knockout tournaments, a cash bounty is placed on every entrant in the tournament. Every time you eliminate somebody, you win a cash prize! The winner of a knockout tournament wins their own bounty.

In a knockout tournament, every player pays an extra buy-in, which serves as that player’s bounty. For example, a knockout tournament might have a total buy-in of $20+$5+$2, of which $20 goes into the regular prize pool, $5 is each player’s bounty, and $2 is the tournament fee.

You can find knockout tournaments in the lobby, marked with a black ‘crosshair’ symbol – or type ‘knockout’ into the tournament filter to quickly find what you’re looking for!

6-Max and 4-Max

‘6-Max’ in the tournament's title indicates that at each table there will be 6 seats, instead of the usual 7 to 10 (depending on the game). We also offer '4-Max' events with 4 seats at each table.

Some poker variations are always played with 6 or fewer seats at the table. Examples are 8-Game Mix and Deuce to Seven (2-7) Triple Draw.

Please note that in 4-Max tournaments, the final table will form when 5 players remain. This is done to remove the inequity of having one table play 3-handed and the other one heads-up.

Multi-Stack Tournaments

An interesting, fun variant of rebuy tournaments, in Multi-Stack tournaments each player’s starting chips are divided into equal-sized smaller stacks. Each player then decides how many of the available stacks they want to start with, and how many to keep in reserve for later. A player can reload (add available remaining stacks) later. The total number of available stacks for each player is posted in the tournament lobby and is the same for all players in that event. There is no additional cost for adding an available stack.

For example, a participant in a Multi-Stack tournament may have five stacks of 1,000 chips available, for a total of 5,000 chips. At the start of the tournament, that player may choose to play with the minimum of one stack (1,000 chips), or can choose to add any or all of their four remaining stacks at that time. During the tournament, a player can choose to add remaining stacks at any time by clicking the ‘Add Stacks’ button on the table, or ‘Add Chips’ in the dealer tray or ‘Options’ menu. These buttons will only be visible if stacks are still available. Note: Stacks will be added at the end of the current hand; they will not be in play during the current hand.

If a player loses all of their chips in play, they will be offered the option to add any remaining stacks, and will be required to add at least one stack. If only one stack remains, it will be automatically added. Once a player loses all of the chips available in all of their available stacks, they are eliminated from the tournament.

A limited amount of time will be available for players to add available stacks, as specified in the tournament lobby. Any stacks which have not been added by the end of that time will automatically be added to each player’s chip total.

You can see how many stacks a player has available by scrolling over their name in the lobby player list, or by scrolling over the ‘stack’ symbol by their seat at the table. If no symbol appears by a player’s seat, they have used all of their available stacks.

Multi-Table Tournaments

In a multi-table tournament (MTT), players start with an equal, fixed number of chips. Players at numerous tables compete for one another's chips as the blinds and/or antes increase incrementally. When you run out of chips, you are eliminated from the tournament. As players are eliminated, tables are ‘broken’, meaning players are moved to keep tables full, or evenly ‘balanced’. Eventually, the last few surviving players with chips are brought together at the final table, where the winner is the individual who wins all the chips from his or her opponents. Cash prizes are awarded to top finishers on the basis of number of tournament entries.

Phased Tournaments

A Phased tournament is one in which some number of levels at the beginning of the tournament are played non-concurrently from the end of the tournament, for different groups of players. Players can chose from different starting phases that begin at different times. Each starting phase will play the same amount of time, and then all remaining players will later combine in a single, larger tournament. Phased tournaments allow the schedule flexibility normally associated with smaller-field tournaments, while still enjoying the large prize pools associated with larger-field tournaments. Chip counts at the end of Phase 1 will be carried over into the next round.

For example, a tournament might have Phase 1 on Friday at 12:00, another Phase 1 on Saturday at 12:00, and then conclude with a Phase 2 tournament on Sunday at 12:00. Entrants would play for a specified number of levels (or until elimination) on Friday and/or Saturday, and all players that survive would combine to finish the tournament at 12:00 on Sunday.

When you enter a Phased tournament you must ensure that you will be available to play in the future phases, as you cannot unregister from Phase 2 (or beyond) in Phased tournaments.

Phased tournaments allow for multiple entries into the first phases. For example, if you play Phase 1 and are eliminated, you may enter another Phase 1 and start again at the beginning. You cannot qualify for the next round more than once, so if you survive Phase 1, you will then be unable to enter another Phase 1 leading to the same Phase 2. Note that if you survive Phase 1 with even one chip, you will still advance to Phase 2, and will not be able to play another Phase 1.

Most of the high-profile tournaments seen on TV are essentially phased tournaments, with the entry phases usually referred to as Day 1A, Day 1B, Day 1C, etc.

Progressive Knockouts

Progressive Knockout tournaments are an exciting variant of KO Poker. Like a standard KO tournament, you win cash every time you knock out an opponent, but there’s a twist: you win part of the eliminated player’s bounty immediately, but some of it is added to YOUR bounty (usually 50%). As you eliminate more players, your own bounty becomes bigger and bigger, making you a preferred target for other bounty hunters.

Most Progressive Knockout tournaments put half of your buy-in into the prize pool, with the other half as your own starting bounty. There are exceptions to this, most notably in the ‘Saturday Special’ editions of the Bounty Builders tournaments, where 25% of your buy-in goes into the prize pool and 75% is your starting bounty.

Most Progressive KOs work like this:

• 50% of the buy-in goes to the prize pool
• 50% of the buy-in funds each player’s initial bounty
• 50% of the bounty is progressive, meaning that when you knock a player out, you pocket half of their bounty value, with the other half added to your own bounty value.

Rebuy Tournaments

A rebuy tournament is one in which you have the opportunity to buy more chips during the event. In a standard ‘freezeout’ tournament, when you run out of chips, you're out of the tournament. In a rebuy tournament, you can (with some restrictions) buy more chips.

Here are some facts about rebuy tournaments:

• There is a ‘rebuy period’ at the beginning of the tournament. A typical rebuy period might be the first hour of the event (until the first break starts). Once that period is over, no more rebuys are permitted.
• During the rebuy period, there may be a fixed number of rebuys available, or an unlimited number.
• If you run completely out of chips, you will automatically be offered a rebuy (if one is available). At any time when you have chips, you can click on the dealer tray and select the ‘Add More Chips’ option to rebuy. If you're not eligible for a rebuy (because you've reached the maximum number of rebuys, or because there is a maximum number of chips where rebuys are allowed), you'll get a message to that effect.
  In general, you may rebuy using the ‘Add More Chips’ button in the dealer tray any time your stack is less than or equal to the starting chip stack. This means you can rebuy once before the tournament even starts!
  The rebuy may cost any amount, but generally costs the same as the original buy-in, and gets you the same number of chips that you got for your original buy-in.
• There may also be an ‘add-on’ available at the end of the rebuy period. Typically this will be during the first break. An add-on is just one extra rebuy. The add-on will not be automatically offered to you. To take the add-on, wait for the message that ‘Players are now on break’. Click on the dealer tray and select the ‘Add More Chips’ option. In general, the add-on is available no matter how many chips you have.
  The add-on may cost any amount, but generally costs the same as the original buy-in, and gets you the same, or higher number of chips that you got for your original buy-in. The prize pool and payoffs will not be announced until the rebuy period ends, since the prize pool increases with each rebuy.

Note that many of the rules described above are ‘typical’ or ‘normal.’ We will make every effort to clearly state any deviations from typical rules, but the exact details for each tournament will always be posted in the tournament's lobby or under the ‘Tournament Info’ tab in that lobby.

Re-entry Tournaments

A re-entry tournament is one in which you have the opportunity to enter an event again after you have already been eliminated from that event. In re-entry tournaments, when you lose all your chips you will be offered the ability to re-enter immediately. If you choose not to re-enter at that time, you can still register normally from the tournament lobby any time during the late registration period. Multiple entries at the same time are not allowed.

Re-entry tournaments are similar to rebuy tournaments, but are different in a few ways:

• When you lose all your chips in a re-entry tournament, you are eliminated from the event and receive a place in the finishing order.
• In a rebuy tournament, when you rebuy you keep your seat. In a re-entry tournament, you will receive a new seat, and will be seated like any other new player, usually ending up at a different table.
• Tournaments sometimes allow players the opportunity to re-enter more than once. To find out how many re-entries are available in a tournament, navigate to the ‘Home’ tab in the tournament lobby.

Re-entries will show in the tournament standings with the number of that entry next to the ID of the player. For example, if KidPoker enters an event three times, his entries would show in the finishing list as KidPoker, KidPoker [2], KidPoker [3].

Note that a re-entry tournament may limit the number of times you can re-enter. This number will be noted in the tournament lobby. Once you have used up the allowed number of re-entries, you will not be allowed to play again in that event.

Satellites

A satellite is a tournament in which the prize is an entry into a larger tournament. It can be less expensive to enter a satellite than it would be to enter the main tournament directly. We run one-table and multi-table Sit & Go satellites, which you can find under the ‘Sit & Go’ tab. Multi-table satellites also are scheduled as regular tournaments, and the sign-up details and play are identical to other multi-table tournaments, with one important difference – the tournament will only play down to the number required to award all of the equal-value seats. You can find these MTT events under the ‘Tourney’ tab (mobile) or by selecting ‘Satellite’ from the ‘Type’ filter in the ‘Tournaments’ desktop lobby. An example of how a satellite works:

The buy-in for the larger tournament is $200. The buy-in for the satellite is $20. If there are 10 entrants (into the satellite), first place will get a $200 entry to the larger tournament. If there are 20 entrants, then 1st and 2nd places will both receive a $200 entry to the larger tournament. If there is any leftover prize money, it will be distributed to the runners up as per the satellite’s payout structure, which is available through the tournament lobby.

If there is a fee to enter either a tournament or satellite, it will be denoted by stating the buy-in amount and the entry fee. A cost of ‘$30+$3’ indicates that the buy-in is $30, and the entry fee is $3. The $30 goes to the prize pool which the players compete for, while the $3 entry fee is taken as compensation for hosting the tournament. In most tournaments which are named, the buy-in and fee is combined for the sake of brevity in the title. For example, the above mentioned tournament, if it is a satellite to the Sunday Million (for example), would likely be named ‘Sunday Million: $33 satellite’. Detailed information on the breakdown of buy-in plus entry fee is shown in the tournament lobby.

Shootouts

A shootout is a special kind of multi-table tournament. Normally, when you play in a multi-table tournament, players are moved from table to table to balance the number of players at each table. Eventually, the last remaining players end up at the ‘final table.’ In a shootout, no such table balancing is done. You remain at your original table until only one player is left standing. If you win that table, you advance to another table and repeat the process against players who each won their first table.

In a DOUBLE SHOOTOUT, you need to win two tables to win the event, although often there is some money for everybody who reaches the final table. Each starting table is played to its conclusion; the final table is formed of the winners of the first round matches. For example, a full Stud Double Shootout might start with 8 full tables, a total of 64 players, in Round 1. Each of those 8 tables would play down to one winner, and the 8 winners would then be brought to a second table for Round 2, where they would play until there is one winner.

In a TRIPLE SHOOTOUT, you must win three tables to win the entire event (again, there may well be some prize money distributed along the way). For example, assuming a standard (9 players per table) triple shootout is full, in Round 1 the 729 players will be placed, 9 per table, at 81 tables within the tournament. Each table will play until there is one player remaining with all of the chips from that table. The 81 remaining players will then be moved to 9 tables for Round 2. As in Round 1, each table will play until one player has all of the chips from their table. Finally, the 9 remaining players will advance to the final table for Round 3, where the winner of the tournament shall be determined.

Note that this whole process could be extended to quadruple shootouts and on up. Also, the tables don't necessarily have to start at nine players each. For instance, in the past we have offered triple shootouts with four-player tables (a total of 64 players in each event). Also note that if a shootout is not filled to capacity when it begins, some of the tables in Round 1 could have more players than others. Late registration is not available in shootout tournaments.

Sit & Go

A Sit & Go (S&G or SNG) is a tournament which does not have a pre-assigned start time; it simply begins when all the seats are filled. There are many types of Sit & Go, ranging in size from heads-up to 990 players, in both satellite and cash tournament form. These tournaments can be found by clicking on the ‘Sit & Go’ tab in the main client lobby window.

Spin & Go

A Spin & Go tournament is a type of Hyper-Turbo Sit & Go that gives players a chance to play for a prize pool that is much bigger than a tournament buy-in would indicate. Each tournament has only three players, and before a Spin & Go begins, there is a random draw to determine what the prize pool will be. Spin & Go’s are available in a range of different buy-ins. You will find these tournaments under the ‘Spin & Go’ tab in the lobby (desktop) or the ‘Spin & Go’ tab accessed via the Lobby (mobile). Learn more about Spin & Go tournaments.

Spin & Go Max

This variation on Spin & Go tournaments (see above) adds more players, more variety and more ways to maximise your winnings. As with traditional Spin & Go’s, these tournaments have a hyper-turbo structure and a randomised prize pool, but introduce a couple of other exciting variables. Spin & Go Max tournaments use a randomiser to set the number of players in the tournament, as well as (in most cases) a choice of three first-place prizes; the eventual winner chooses their prize blindly from the three available. Tournaments with more players and higher prize pools will pay more places, and if you’re playing for the top prize (up to 10,000 times the buy-in) you won’t need to pick it from the three available - the winner will receive it in full automatically. Finally, after a set number of hands the tournament will enter ‘All-in Mode’, where every player is automatically put all-in until there’s a winner. Learn more about Spin & Go Max tournaments.

Splash

A Splash tournament is a special kind of turbo rebuy tournament (usually a satellite) in which the levels increase at turbo speed, but the rebuy time is 90 minutes in length. The available chips – including the starting stack, rebuy, and add-on – are tailored to each event. Be sure to check under the ‘Tournament Info’ button for detailed structure info.

Time Tourneys

A Time Tourney is a special kind of tournament which has a pre-set duration. The time for the event is indicated in the tournament name and in the tournament lobby. At the end of the set amount of playing time, the event will stop and all remaining players will receive a distribution of the prize pool based on their ending chip count. Time Tourneys are indicated by a ‘clock’ symbol in the tournament lobby.

Time Tourneys are offered throughout the day in durations of 15, 25 and 45 minutes of playing time.

Turbo

A turbo event is one in which the blind levels increase much faster than in standard play. The length of each round (before the blinds/antes increase) in a turbo tournament is usually 5 minutes (as opposed to the standard 10 or 15), though there are some turbo events with 6-minute rounds.

Turbo rebuy events usually go on break at 30 minutes, as opposed to 60 minutes in a standard rebuy event.

Win the Button

Win the Button is a tournament format that awards the winner of each pot with the dealer button. Some Win the Button tournaments switch to normal button movement in the later stages of the tournament. Be sure to check the tournament lobby for more information.

Zoom

In a Zoom tournament, you can fold your hand and immediately move to a new table with new opponents (selected randomly from the entire pool of players who have entered the tournament). You can even use the ‘Fast Fold’ button to fold before it’s your turn to act. This makes it a fast poker format, as you don’t have to wait around for each hand to play out before playing the next one. See the Zoom page for more on how it works.

Note that in Zoom tournaments, when the player pool gets small, with only the last few tables remaining, the tournament reverts back to a normal freezeout format.

Find out more information on playing in PokerStars tournaments.

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Poker Tourney Blind Structure

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