to play every hand. Players play until their supply of chips is exhausted, and the re-buy options, if any, have been exhausted. The last player standing wins.
Entry fees
The typical tournament will have an entry fee, from which the winners' prizes will be derived. This is not required per se. Closed tournaments are more likely than open tournaments not to have an entry fee, but this is an extremely rare occurrence.
In exchange for the entry fee, the player is given a specific value of play money. For example, an entry fee of $35 will provide a player with $500 in play money. The amount of play money given is typically a significant multiple of the entry fee (in this case, 14:1.) An alternative method is the use of a chip-buy fee in addition to the entry fee. This scenario would be used if the organizers intend for the entry fee portion to cover expenses relating to the event and the chip-buy fee for the prizes.
Some tournaments offer the option of a re-buy. A re-buy allows a player who is low on chips early on in the tournament the option for, at a given price, a boost to his supply of chips or to re-enter the tournament with a fresh supply of chips. There are two types of re-buys: conditional and unconditional. For example, if in the first three rounds of the tournament a player is below his $500 play money, for $15 the player may get increased by another $500 in play money. This is conditional. Between the third and fourth rounds, any player may, for $20, purchase $1,000 in play money. This is unconditional.
This is not always true. In the marquee $10,000 event at the World Series of Poker, a player receives exactly $10,000 in play chips. These are not negotiable; a player in the gutter could not swap his play chips for real money.
Depending on the tournament, the re-buy money will go to either the organizers as a way to defray costs or to the prize pool.
Open tournament
An open tournament is, quite simply, any tournament which is open to any player capable of legally playing and putting up the entry fee. The World Series of Poker is such an example; if you can pony up the $10,000 entry fee, you're in the game.
Closed/Invitational Tournament
A closed or invitational tournament is any tournament to which one must be specifically invited to participate.
Satellite Tournament
For large tournaments with high entry fees, there are sometimes satellite tournaments available. A satellite tournament is simply a mini-tournament, for which the winner or winners receive a buy-in for the main tournament. Single table satellites generally consist of ten players, with the final winner receiving a buy-in to the main tournament.
Format
Depending on the game involved, there may be structured, semi-structured, or unstructured betting.
Structured betting involves fixed denomination wagers and raises. For example, many Texas Hold 'em tourneys use a structured raise component. For example, in a 50-100 round, after the blinds are played, in the first two rounds of wagering. One may only bet or raise 50, so the first bet is 50; a raise makes it 100, etc. In the final two rounds of betting, the bet or raise amount would be 100.
Semi-structured betting provides a range of potential wagers for the players. Seven-card stud will typically be of this format. At a 50-100 round, each round's minimum wager is 50, though a player may wager any permitted increment to 100. Raises are required to be equal to or exceed the
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