How do poker tournaments work? Rules, settings and payments
Tournaments are currently the most common way to play poker, so today we will talk about what tournaments are, how they work, what formats they are, and much more, which will help a novice tournament player.
How do poker tournaments work? Poker tournaments differ from cash games in that each participant pays an entry fee and then competes to win a portion of the prize pool. During the tournament, the blinds are constantly increasing at regular intervals. The tournament officially ends when one of the participants accumulates all the tournament chips in his stack.
The great thing about online tournaments and online casino is that there are always new casino games for every taste. And the more clients, the more money is allocated for tournament prize pools.
Now let's take a look at all the features and phases of poker tournaments from start to finish.
How does the buy-in for a poker tournament work?
Each tournament has its own buy-in, which is the same for all players. The entry fee includes both the prize money and the rake. Rake is often indicated as the buy-in amount using the formula $ X $ X. For example, $ 50 $ 5, which means that the $ 50 buy-in will go to the prize pool, and the $ 5 will be retained by the poker room as rake. 10% rake is standard tournament rake, however some small live events have rake up to 30%.
What is the difference between freezeout, rebuy and re-entry?
- A freezeout tournament is a tournament where each player can afford to buy only one ticket. As soon as a player runs out of chips in the freezeout, his participation in the tournament ends. Freezeout is the most common type of tournament.
- A re-buy tournament means that at the beginning of the tournament there is a certain period of time when players can buy chips for themselves if their stack drops below a certain level or they go broke. The purchase cost is usually equal to the entry fee minus the rake.
- A re-entry tournament is the same as a re-buy tournament, except that a player must be eliminated from the tournament to re-buy. After flying out of the tournament and deciding to buy more, the player loses his place at the table. In simple terms, re-entry is considered a new entry to the tournament, so the player is transferred to a different table.
What is add-on?
In rebuy tournaments, the player is usually given the option to purchase additional chips at the end of the rebuy period. This is what is called an add-on, which in terms of its cost is usually equal to the full buy-in to the tournament.
How is tournament prize money distributed?
Each tournament has a specific way of distributing the prize pool. Almost all tournament structures are designed in such a way that the main money in the prize pool goes to the players who took the top places in the tournament. Simply put, the top few places usually get the lion's share of the prize pool. Most of the pitch of any tournament gets nothing, and the number of players who earn in a tournament varies from tournament to tournament. In multi-table tournaments (MTTs), the money (ITM) usually accounts for 10% to 30% of the players. If the tournament takes place at the same table, then as a rule, 33% of the players get into ITM.
When is the final prize pool created?
- In freezeouts, the final prize pool is formed at the end of the registration period for the tournament. Sometimes registration for freezeouts closes at the time of the first hand, and sometimes players get the opportunity to register late for the tournament.
- In rebuys, the final prize pool is unknown until the end of the rebuy and add-on period. The final prize pool in these tournaments will always be much higher than at the beginning of the tournament.
What are guaranteed prize pool (GTD) tournaments?
Tournaments with a guaranteed prize pool have a minimum prize pool that is set by the tournament organizers before the start of the event. This means that if the buy-ins of the players are not enough to cover the declared prize pool, then the organizers of the tournament will contribute the missing to the prize pool from their pockets. In poker, this is called an overlay. Overlays are extremely beneficial for players as the tournament starts as if several people have already dropped out by paying their buy-ins.
However, overlays are rarely seen online, since poker rooms know exactly how many people will register for a particular tournament. Statistics on this issue allow poker rooms to offer such GTD tournaments, the prize pool in which will definitely pay off due to player buy-ins. Thus, the guaranteed prize pool is something of a gimmick that poker rooms go to to attract more players.
That said, knowing the guaranteed prize pools of tournaments is what allows tournament regulars to competently plan their game schedule.
How is the tournament table seating?
There are three main methods for determining the place of players in poker tournaments:
- A random draw is the most common form of seating. When a player makes his buy-in, his seat and table are randomly determined.
- Player's choice - this uniform is used in home games. It allows players to enjoy the game to the maximum.
- Play on the cards of the deck - each player receives a random card. After that, the player who received the highest card sits down at the first box; the player who received the second highest card for the second; etc. If the players receive cards of the same face value, then the highest card is determined by the suit: Spades> Hearts> Clubs> Diamonds.
How is the transfer carried out during the game?
From time to time the number of players at the tables becomes unbalanced. For example, players can play 6-handed at one table, while at another they can play 9-handed. It is the responsibility of the tournament director (or online poker room) to ensure that the number of players at the tables is as close to equal as possible. That is why players from time to time are transferred from one table to another.
Usually players are transplanted in such a way that their position is preserved. For example, if a person in the next hand should be on SB at his current table, then in case of transfer to a new table, his place will remain - SB. The main thing to avoid during a transfer is situations in which a player pays his blind at his current table and then pays it again at a new table.
What is a tournament structure?
The structure of the tournament varies from tournament to tournament. Here are a few things to be set in every tournament:
- Number of starting chips;
- Blind growth structure;
- Duration of Bland Levels;
- Whether re-buys or re-entries will be allowed;
- Whether the tournament will start upon reaching a certain number of participants or at a strictly designated time.
Poker Chip Distribution (Starting Stacks)
This is an area in which tournaments differ from other poker formats. While cash games allow players to choose which buy-in they will start with, tournaments provide the same stack size for each player.
The amount of chips that players receive at the start of a tournament varies greatly from tournament to tournament. For lower buy-ins, starting stacks range from 2,000 to 3,000 in chips.
As a rule, if there are less than 3000 chips in the starting stack, then the tournament will be held in a shallow stack format. If the starting stack is over 8000 chips, then the tournament is usually considered deep in terms of starting stacks. But, as you can imagine, the effective stack size will depend on the size of the blinds and the rate at which the blinds grow.
Blind levels
In poker tournaments, blind levels are not static. At regular intervals, the blinds increase. This circumstance reduces the effective size of the players' stacks and forces them to constantly try to build up their stacks. Otherwise, the blinds will simply eat up the player's stack and he will be eliminated from the tournament. The exact numbers for each blind level may differ from tournament to tournament.
Blinds growth rate
Each tournament has a set interval for raising the blinds. It can vary from every 3 minutes to every 2 hours. In fact, the main determinant of how small the starting stacks are is how quickly the blinds rise.
In addition, the number of hands played per hour affects the rate at which the blinds grow. Live events are much slower than online tournaments, so the location of the tournament should be taken into account when determining the rate of growth of the blinds: online or offline.
In live events, players typically play 30 hands per hour. This will prevent you from getting premium hands if the blinds rise too quickly. With that in mind, here's a generally accepted graph for the rate of live events:
- Slow tournaments - blind levels over 1 hour
- Medium speed tournaments - blind levels from 30 to 45 minutes
- Quick tournaments - blind levels from 20 to 25 minutes
- Turbo tournaments - blind levels 15 minutes
- Hyper turbo tournaments - blind levels less than 15 minutes
When it comes to online tournaments, you can play from 60 to 90 hands per hour. This greatly affects the speed of the tournament. Slow tournaments are 30 minute blind levels, while 15 minutes per level is considered the average online blinds growth rate. Turbo is typically 5 minutes and hyper-turbo is 3 minutes.Conclusion
We hope you've enjoyed this crash course on how poker tournaments work and have learned something new from it.