Think you’re a poker ace? Why not pit your wits against other players in a Poker Tournament?

Tournaments are played by a group of participants, all paying a fixed buy-in and fee to a pool (see section below), this pool is used to pay the winner(s). All participants receive the same number of chips and play until they’ve won all the other participants chips – or until they’ve lost all their own. The tournament winner is he/she 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!

Open Poker Tournament Info in a new window.

To choose an option from the dropdown menus double click the "Any..."

Provided by the Online Poker Tournament network.

Multi-Table Tournaments
Tournaments are played on multiple tables simultaneously, unless the tournament happens to be very small in numbers. When participants are ‘knocked-out’ of the tournament, players are moved to other tables to keep numbers balanced and games more enjoyable. When enough seats are free a whole table will be removed, until only one table remains…this table will include the winner player!

Buy in and Fee
To enter a tournament the player must pay the buy-in (this amount goes into the prize pool!) and a fee for the hosting of the tournament. There is no rake in tournament hands.

Starting Chips
After you’ve posted your buy-in and fee, each player will receive a number of chips for the start of the tournament. The number of initial chips may vary from tournament to tournament but is typically 1,500.

Starting Chips Bonus!
In selected special tournaments, it’s possible you’ll be awarded bonus starting chips. These are added to the players starting chip stack.

Satellites - Tickets & Qualifiers!
For your chance to win the big prizes, you can play in the big tournaments through qualifier satellites. This way you can join the really high stakes tournaments for just a few dollars.

In the qualifier tournament, instead of cash prizes, the winner is awarded tickets to another tournament. The ticket is valid as a buy-in, so you will not have to pay any additional fee. There are different qualifier tournaments with different buy-ins. The number of tickets awarded depends on the buy-in and the cost of the ticket for the final.

Aside from the pure qualifiers, where all the prize pool goes to qualifying tickets, some of the other tournaments also award tickets beside the cash prizes.

To play a tournament you need a ticket. These are either transparently bought when registering or can be awarded as a prize in a previous tournament or some kind of promotion. This way a chain of qualification tournaments can be created, leaving a very healthily accumulated prize pool at the end.

All tickets will have an expiry period. This will vary and will be displayed in the information regarding the tournaments. To start with, the tournament will have a long expiration time to let players find the correct tournaments.

In the client, a tournament to which you have a ticket is denoted with an arrow in the tournament list.

Free Rolls and Added Cash
Occasionally the poker rooms add a little extra spice to tournaments in the shape of 'free-roll'. A free-roll tournament is a tournament with prize money, which is absolutely free to join! The purpose of these tournaments is to help players sharpen their tournament tactics, or perhaps try a tournament for the first time.

Free-rolls are generally extremely popular and you should be quick to register to avoid disappointment. Check out our list of free rolls.

Scheduled Tournaments
For all major tournaments you’ll find a weekly schedule. Please use this information to gain information on current events and find the tournament that fits your style.

Scheduled tournaments have a fixed starting time and you can usually register prior to these starting times. When the tournament time approaches, all players registered (up to the given limit) will participate in the tournament. The length of tournaments is dependent on the number of players.

Sit & Go
As well as scheduled events, you'll find "Sit & Go" tournaments! These are single table tournaments, normally with 10 players.

A Sit & Go tournament will start as soon as all the seats are filled and the prize pool is fixed.

Some Sit & Go tournaments are available 24-7 and some (like the special satellite tournaments) are only available at certain times of day. See the Sit & Go Satellite Schedule for a complete overview of these details.

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.

Hand by Hand
At the end of a multi table tournament, 'hand by hand' play is adopted. This means that a new hand at a table will not be played until the current hand at all tables is finished – to ensure all tables are played at the same pace.

Blind Increase
To compensate for increasing chip stacks as players are eliminated, and to ensure the tournaments will in fact end, the blinds will continuously increase. This occurs either after a number of played hands, or with specified time intervals.