Poker Tournament Information and Definitions |
This is a short list with basic tournament information and definitions. The list explains the most commonly used tournament expressions and terms. The definitions are guidelines and other definitions and rules may apply where you play. Always examine the rules and tournament structure before you join a online poker tournament.
Entry Fee: A fee paid by each of the players to the house for hosting the tournament. The fee is usually 8-10% of the buy-in.
Buy-In: The amount of money it costs to enter a poker tournament on top of the entry fee. The buy-in is added directly to the prize pool.
Re-buy: The option to buy additional chips. Rules vary a lot in rebuy tournaments. Some tournaments have unlimited re-buy for the first hour, while others only allow re-buy if you are below a certain amount in chips.
Add-on: The option to buy additional chips at a certain time during the tournament regardless of the amount of chips in a player’s possession. An add-on is usually offered when the re-buy period expires.
Prize Pool: The prize pool is the total amount of prize and money paid by players and added by poker rooms. The prize pool consists of all the players’ buy-ins, add-ons and re-buys.
Round: Also referred to as a ‘level’ which is the amount of time specified in a tournament for each betting limit.

Phil Ivey
Tournament Structure: Tournaments are differently structured not only in relation to freezouts, re-buy tournaments, game type, and add-on tournaments but also Blinds, Ante and prize distribution. Remember to check the tournament structure before you enrol in a poker tournament – Some poker rooms have a very quick tournament structure, while others can take twice as long.
Speed Tournament: An internet tournament form where the blinds increase fast. This type of tournaments can be located on Party Poker.
Freeroll Tournament: A freeroll or free roll tournament is a sponsored poker tournament where the buy-in is $0. The prizes are usually offered by online poker rooms to attract new customers. We have a large list of freeroll poker tournaments.
Re-buy Tournament: A tournament where players are allowed to purchase more chips in a certain period of time. Each tournament has different rules regarding re-buy and how many chips a player must process in order to purchase more. Some tournaments only allow one re-buy while others have multiple or unlimited re-buys. When the re-buy period ends the tournament becomes a Freezeout.
Guaranteed Tournament: A tournament where a certain amount is guaranteed as prize pool, regardless of how many players buy-in to the tournament. Guaranteed tournaments can experience overlay when not enough players join and a part of the prize pool is covered by the poker room.
Satellite Tournament: A tournament where the prize pool is entrance tickets to a larger tournament. The most popular online satellite poker tournaments wins are entrance tickets to the major live poker events such as the European Poker Tour (EPT), World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Poker Tour (WPT) and Party Poker’s European World Series of Poker (EWSOP).
Qualifiers: A qualifier is basically the same as a satellite tournament. The prize is also entrance tickets to either online or offline poker events and the winner of a qualifier qualifies to a larger poker tournament.
Shootout: Each table must find one table-winner before the tournament can advance to the next round. The table-winners are then gathered on a final table to battle for the prize pool.
Freezeout: The most frequent tournament form. No re-buys or add-ons are allowed in a Freezout tournament. Players who run out of chips are eliminated and players are moved around as seats open up.

















