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Types of Tournaments (Current)
Types of Tournaments (Current)
We run multiple types of tournaments. These types are: the Quick Tournament, the Standard Tournament, the Bounty Tournament, the Add-on Extravaganza, a recreation of the WSOP ME Final Table, an Ante-Only Tournament, and the Cheap Rebuy Tournament.
We've changed up our general format so that for seven of the ten regular season weekends, we play our Standard Tournament, and on 3 special Saturdays we play two, lower-priced tournaments: one non-Hold'em Quick Tournament followed by a Main Event, which is always Hold'em with some twist (see below).
Tournament Summaries
Tournament Summaries
Prize Payouts (updated for S16)
Prize Payouts (updated for S16)
100% of the money collected is returned as prizes.
The prize amounts are determined by the number of entrants in any given tournament. Add-ons, rebuys, and similar do not affect the prize distribution (though they do affect the total prize amount).
Quick Tournaments pay out once the remaining players are as listed in that column (i.e., for a 7-entry Quick Tournament, once there are 3 remaining players each will receive 33.3% of the prize pool).
Standard Tournaments and Main Events have a prize distribution pool as listed in the table above. A fourth-place finisher in a 20-entry tournament is scheduled to receive 11.9% of the total prize pool.
Remaining players may renegotiate the prize pool (also known as a "chop"), typically done to bring either an earlier or more equitable end to the evening (or both!). All remaining players must agree to the renegotiated pool. Any hold-out from the renegotiation will void the renegotiation. A subset of remaining players cannot come to a negotiated prize pool which leaves out any remaining players as this is the definition of collusion.
The software is set to round prizes to $5 increments.
Quick Tournaments
Quick Tournaments
The Quick Tournament gets run every weekend (that we're not doing a Standard Tournament) as the kick-off to the evening. It is set up to last a little over an hour and generally plays pretty quickly. The buy in price is fixed at $20.
Rebuys for the Quick Tournament are no longer allowed. As of Season 16 these are freezeout tournaments.
A player can buy into the Quick Tournament at any time during the first three levels. If you think you're going to be late for poker night, do try to make it within the first half-hour if you want into the first game. (And shoot Neal a text message if you indicated you were coming for the first game — it's not unheard of for me to delay a bit if I know someone is on their way...)
Equal prizes are awarded to all remaining participants (rounded to $5, with any extra $5's going to the top chip stacks) per the "Quick Pays" column in the Prize Payouts table above.
Structure:
Additionally as of Season 11 we're running the Quick Tournaments a bit differently. No longer are they Texas Hold'Em, but now encompass other game types.
Crazy Pineapple
The showdown of Crazy Pineapple is the same as in Hold'Em, the best five-card hand wins, and you'll play 0, 1, or 2 cards from your hand. However, you are dealt three cards (face down), and have to discard one card after the betting is concluded on the flop.
Omaha (Hi)
The showdown of Omaha is slightly different as in Hold'Em. The best five card hand wins, but you must use exactly 2 cards from your hand and exactly three cards from the communal board cards. Additionally you're originally dealt a four card hand (and never discard any along the way).
Longmont (Hi/Lo)
Half of the showdown for Longmont (Hi/Lo) the same as in Hold'Em (the best five card hand wins and you use 0, 1, or 2 of your hole cards and 5, 4, or 3 of the board cards) while the other half of the pot goes to the worst five-card poker hand (aces count as high cards for the Hi half, and low cards for the Lo half), ignoring flushes and straights. The "worst" possible hand would be A, 2, 3, 4, 5 (see sidebar). You are originally dealt 3 hole cards, two hidden and one face up. Betting on each street after the pre-flop betting begins with the highest-showing poker hand.
Longmont could also be played Hi-only, in which case the traditionally best poker hand wins the pot (or chops in the case of a tie for best hand).
Omaha 8
Omaha 8 is a Hi/Lo (split pot) game where the Lo half has a qualifier (sometimes a Lo hand splits half the pot, other times the Hi hand gets the whole pot). The 8 refers to the Lo hand qualifier. To be eligible for the Lo pot you need a five-card hand that's got no cards higher than an 8 (aces count as low for the Lo side, as high for the Hi side).
Quick Tournament
Intended Length: 75 minutes
Betting: no limit
Clock: varies—10 min first 3 levels, 8 min next five levels, 5 min thereafter
Breaks: no scheduled breaks; lower denomination chips removed on the fly
Rebuys: no
Standard Tournament
Standard Tournament
Introduced at the beginning of Season 14, our Standard Tournament now features Big Blind Antes (BBA).
The resulting structure is based on levels from the 2023 WSOP No-Limit Hold'Em Main Event Structure.
The Big Blind Ante structure adds one responsibility to the player in the Big Blind: they are now also required to pay antes for all players in the hand. The size of this ante matches the size of the big blind. Note that the ante is dead money in the pot and does not count towards any preflop betting.
Players in the Standard Tournament who've lost their chips can rebuy as many times as they would like before the second break. Rebuys are half the cost of the original buy-in and provide the full starting chip amount.
However, if a player doesn't rebuy at all, those players have the option to add on to their chip stack during the second break. The Add-On is the same cost as one rebuy and provides the same number of chips.
The Buy-In is $40, Rebuys and Add-Ons are $20.
Structure (updated for S15E8):
Standard Tournament
Betting: no limit
Clock: 15/20 minutes per level
Rebuys: yes, through first 10 levels
Add-on: yes, one, if no rebuys
Buy-In: $40
Rebuy/Add-On: $20
Progressive Knockout Tournament (New in Season X)
Progressive Knockout Tournament (New in Season X)
The Progressive Knockout Tournament is run as the main event for the evening. The buy-in for the KO Tournament is fixed at $40 and the starting stack is T15,000 chips. $20 of each buy-in goes to the prize pool and $20 to that players Progessive Knockout total. Rebuys and an add-on each cost $20. $10 of every rebuy goes towards the Knockout total. This tournament is run as a no limit tournament and rebuys are allowed any time during the first ten levels. To be eligible to rebuy, a player needs to lose all their chips. A player receives T15,000 for a rebuy. Rebuys must be completed on the spot and the player cannot sit out any hands prior to buying back in.
A player who does not use a rebuy prior to the close of the rebuy period has the option to add-on to their stack. Add ons see the player receive T15,000 chips. Money collected for add-ons go to the prize pool.
Each player starts with a $20 Progressive Knockout total. Upon busting out, the hitman collects half of the Knockout total as cash, and adds the other half (rounded up) to their own Progressive Knockout total. At the very end of the tournament, the first-place player keeps their Progressive Knockout total, in addition to the prize money. The buy-ins are distributed as the prize pool to the appropriate number of players per the Standard Tournament table.
Structure
Same as the previous (non-BBA) Standard Tournament (which can be found on the "Some History" link in the left-side navigation), but with shorter levels throughout.
Progressive Knockout Tournament
Betting: no limit
Clock: 10/16/12 minutes per level
Rebuys: yes, through first ten levels
Add-ons: yes, but only if no rebuy
Add-on Extravaganza
Add-on Extravaganza
The Add-on Extravaganza is a new tournament style that has the WSOP heads-up (2011 Event #2) as its inspiration. Basically its a straight-up boring-ol' no-frills type of no limit tournament with one slight twist: add-on tokens.
This tournament is run as the main event for the evening. The buy in amount for the Add-on Extravaganza is $40 (33% more than the typical Main Event buy-in to make up for the fact there are no rebuys).
This tournament is run in the no limit betting style. At the time of a buy in, players are given a standard buy in amount (T6000) and three add-on tokens. Players may exchange at any time between hands (including prior to the first hand of the evening) an add-on token and receive chips totaling the amount of the starting stack. The thing is, if you happen to lose a hand while you're all-in, you do not lose your add-on tokens, which means that if you haven't already turned them in, you would then be able to reload and keep playing. However, if you have already exchanged those tokens, then you're 100% and fully done for the tournament. (Thanks for shuffling and dealing for the rest of us!)
There's some strategy as to how best exchange your three tokens. Should you use them all up front and start off with 4x the starting chips as anyone else at the table (hoping to bully them around)? Should you dole them out one at a time as bust-out protection? If you bust once, should you exchange two right away to come back with a competitive stack? The options are all up to you and how you think will work best for your style and that of the rest of the table.
One other note would be that these tokens aren't able to be traded or sold to other players. If you get a call and find out your house is on fire, you can't give them to your favorite opponent in the hopes that they can put your tokens to use, nor can you sell them for chips or money at the table. They're good for one thing and one thing only, chips for you out of the chip bank. If you can't use the tokens for that purpose, they hold no other value.
Knock-outs are not awarded when the no-chips-remaining player still has add-on tokens. Only eliminations from the tournament will result in a knock-out.
Finally, tokens can never be exchanged for chips while a hand is in play.
Structure
Levels and pay-outs are the same as the previous (non-BBA) Standard Tournament (which can be found on the "Some History" link in the left-side navigation), but with shorter levels throughout.
Add-on Extravaganza
Betting: no limit
Clock: 10/16/12 minutes for each level
Rebuys: none
Add-ons: three usable throughout the tournament at any time between hands
Changes for S9: The buy-in price is $40 (was $30)
Cheap Rebuy Tournament
Cheap Rebuy Tournament
The Cheap Rebuy Tournament is my favorite of the cycle of main events that we run. The poker action tends to be pretty crazy and the prize pool tends to grow pretty large. In my opinion, this is the tournament that everyone should try hardest not to miss when it comes up in the cycle.
The Cheap Rebuy Tournament is run as the main event for the evening. The buy in amount is fixed at $30, and the price of rebuys and add-ons comes in at $10 each. A buy in gets you T15,000 chips, and rebuys and an add-on each get you T15,000 chips.
The Cheap Rebuy Tournament is run as a no limit tournament. Eligibility for rebuys is through the end of the tenth level, and you must have busted completely out of chips. Rebuys must be made at the time of the knockout (no delaying any hands).
Additionally, all players still participating in the tournament at the end of the rebuy period have the option of purchasing, at the same cost of a rebuy, one add-on.
Structure
Matches the Standard Tournament, but there is no Big Blind Ante, and the starting stack, rebuys, and add-on are all for a lesser amount (T15,000 chips).
Cheap Rebuy Tournament
Betting: no limit
Clock: 10/16/12 minute levels
Rebuys: yes, reduced price through first ten levels
Add-on: yes, for all
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