Tournament Information
Information about a tournament is found in the poker client lobby. The information is displayed in the pane to the right of the tournament list. More detailed information is obtained by double-clicking the desired tournament.
To join a tournament, players pay an entry fee before a tournament starts. There is no rake for tournaments. Instead, players pay a small fee on top of the entrance fee which goes to the house. Winnings are awarded to the top finishers in the tournament using a predetermined prize structure.
Players do not choose a seat at a table and then buy in. Instead they register in a tournament and wait to be assigned a seat. The players are seated at random around the table and each player is given a predetermined number of chips.
Players cannot buy more chips during a tournament, unless the tournament allows re-buys and add-ons. Once players lose all of their chips, they are out of the tournament (freeze-out).
A tournament finishes when one player has won all of the chips.
Play is the same as for Cash Games with the following exceptions:
- Players must always post blinds on their turn. They may not leave the table. If they are disconnected or stop playing, the blinds are posted automatically from their stacks, and the hands are automatically folded.
- Every player must post a big blind followed by a small blind once around the table. In some situations (when either the player currently on the small blind or the big blind is knocked out) there may be a “dead dealer button”. This means that the dealer button does not move to the next player, but instead stays where it is. This is because the big blind and the small blind must not miss any player at the table on its way around. Another consequence of this is that sometimes a small blind is not posted.
- Once a player has lost all his/her chips he/she cannot buy any more and is automatically removed from the table, unless the tournament allows re-buys and add-ons.
Re-buys and Add-ons
A multi table tournament may allow re-buys and/or add-ons. A re-buy gives the players the opportunity to buy more chips if they have run out of chips. If a player chooses not to re-buy any chips, the player is eliminated from the tournament.
An add-on gives players the opportunity to buy additional chips no matter how many chips they have left. A multi table tournament may offer both re-buys and add-ons or only re-buys. It is clearly displayed which is allowed.
Winnings
Tournament winnings are paid out in money. All winnings are paid out after the tournament has been fully completed. The number of prizes are related to the number of players, although exceptions may occur. In some tournaments (satellites) the prizes will be buy-in to upcoming, larger tournaments. In the case where a satellite prize leads on to a tournament outside Cardroom2, the money is paid out in cash. This money can then be used to buy in to the tournament if desired. If two players are eliminated from a tournament in the same hand, the one with the most chips at the start of the hand will finish the better.
Satellites
A satellite is a tournament where prizes are paid as a seat in a future, larger tournament. Depending on the number of players, a certain number of players qualify for the final event. The prize pool from the satellites is transferred to the final event, unless the prize pool of the satellite is less than the buy-in to the next tournament. In that case the prize pool is paid out in money. A player can only qualify for one seat in the final event. It is every player's responsiblity to inform him/herself about the date and time of the final event.
Timeouts and Disconnections
If a player times out during a hand in a tournament, the hand is folded if a bet has been made, or checked if noone has bet (regardless of whether the player is connected or disconnected).
Registration Cancellation
If a player wishes to cancel his/her tournament registration, he/she is able to unregister at any time during the registration period. The player will then receive a full refund of his/her tournament buy-in and entry fee costs.
Cancellation or Failure
If the tournament is by some reason cancelled by the house, the buy-in and entry fee costs will be automatically refunded or at a failure manually refunded within 48 hours.
Tournament Status
A tournament can have several states and information about this is shown in the lists of tournaments in the client.
| Register | The tournament is open for registration. |
| Waiting | Registration to the tournament has not yet opened. |
| Running | The tournament has started. |
| Finished | The tournament has finished. |
| Canceled | The tournament has been canceled by the gaming operator. |
Tournament Types
There are two types of tournaments: Single Table Tournaments and Multi Table Tournaments.
A Single Table Tournament is launched once the required number of players has registered. A Multi Table Tournament is launched at a specific starting time.
Single Table Tournament
To enter the Single Table Tournament screen, click the Single Tourney tab in the lobby.
From this screen, players can register to play or click to watch a tournament (if one is in progress) as well as see all the important aspects of a tournament in real time.
| TID | Shows the Tournament ID of the tournament played at the specific table.
It is possible to filter tournament types by clicking one of the five buttons labelled All, Single Table, Short Handed, Heads Up, Satellites or Quickie. All: All tables. Single table: Tables with 10 players. Short handed: Tables with 5 players. Heads up: Tables with 2 players. Satellites: Tournaments that are qualifiers for other tournaments. |
| Tournament | The name of the tournament. |
| Game | Shows the game type played at the table. |
| Type | Shows if the tournament has a fixed limit, no limit, or a pot limit. See section Limits for further information. |
| Buy-in | Shows the buy in cost + the entry fee for the selected tournament. |
| Status | Shows tournament status. |
| Players | Shows the number of players registered for a tournament / the maximum number of players. |
Click the column headings to change the sorting order in the different columns.
View Tournament Information
Select a tournament by clicking a tournament row. Information about the tournament is displayed in the pane to the right of the tournament list. The information shown differs slightly depending on the status of the tournament.
Click the Blind Structure button to show the blind increase intervals (Level, Small Blind, Big Blind, and Interval in minutes).
Join the Game
If the game state is Register, the players may join the game by clicking the Register button. A pop-up box asks the player to pay the buy in and entrance fees.
Watch the Game
If the tournament is running, players may watch the game by clicking the Go to Table button.
Multi Table Tournament
Players are allowed to register for tournaments during a predetermined period prior to the start of the tournament. Registration continues until the registration period ends or the maximum number of players for the tournament is reached. In order to register, players normally pay an entrance fee, however some tournaments may be free to enter (free rolls).
Breaking tables
There are never more than the minimum number of tables required to seat all players. As the number of players reduces, the number of tables is also reduced. A table is removed as soon as the remaining players can all be seated around the remaining tables.
Example: When there are 41 players there are five tables, four with 8 players and one with 9. When a player is eliminated and there are 40 players remaining, one table is closed and the players are moved to the remaining four tables which are then full (10 players).
The table that is closed is the one with the least number of players seated. If more than one table has the smallest number of players, the table to be closed is randomly chosen from the two. Players from the closed table are randomly seated in the available seats at the remaining tables.
Hand for Hand Play Mode
In hand for hand play mode, all hands are dealt at the same time at all tables. This occurs whenever there is more than one table, and there is a significant change in prize money between two places. For example, in a 350 player tournament, the tournament changes to hand for hand play when there are 41 players, 31 players, 21 players and 11 players remaining. It stays hand for hand until one player has been knocked out in each situation.
Enter a Tournament
To enter the Multi Table Tournament screen, click the Multi Tourney tab.
From the Multi Tournament screen, players can register to play or click to watch a tournament (if one is in progress), as well as see all the important aspects of a tournament in real time.
TID
| The TID column shows the Tournament ID. It is possible to filter tournament types by clicking one of the five filter buttons labelled All, Regular, Satellites, Heads Up, Special, or Freeroll. All: All tables. Regular: Tournaments with no special requirements to enter. Special: Tournaments where e.g. special conditions for registration apply. Heads Up: Tournament which is organised into mulitple rounds with two players per table in each round. Freeroll: Tournaments with no buy in or entry fee. Satellites: Tournaments that are qualifiers for other tournaments. |
| Start time (GMT) | Shows the start time for each tournament.
|
| Tournament; | The name of the tournament. |
| Type | Shows if the tournament has a fixed limit, no limit, or a pot limit. See section Limits for further information. |
| Buy-in | Shows the buy in cost + the entry fee for the selected tournament.
|
| Status | Shows tournament status |
| Players | Shows how many players are registered for an upcoming tournament or the number of starting competitors in an ongoing tournament. |
Click the column headings to change the sorting order in the different columns.
View Tournament Information
Select a tournament by clicking a tournament row. Some information about the tournament is displayed in the pane to the right of the tournament list. For more information, click the Tournament Info button. General tournament information is presented to the left in the screen and more specific information can be found under the two tabs Table Info and Tournament Info. The information differs slightly depending on the status of the tournament
Table Info
Information for each table in the tournament is shown together with a complete list of all players participating in the tournament.
Select a table and click Observe Table. This opens a live view of the selected table.
Select a player and click Player Info to show information about the player.
Tournament Info
Shows tournament specific information such as blind level schedule and distribution of the prize pot as well as start and stop levels of hand for hand play mode.
Click the Back button to return to the Multi Table Tournament screen.
Join the Game
If the game state is Register, a player can join the game by clicking the Register button on the tournament registration screen. A pop-up box asks the player to pay the buy-in and entrance fee.
By clicking OK, the player receives a notification that he/she is registered for the tournament.
Unregister
During the registration period the player may unregister from the tournament by clicking the Unregister button on the tournament information screen.
The player will get a notification that he/she is un-registered from the tournament and that the buy in and registration fee are refunded to his/her account.