Tournament rules

You can access all tournaments via the tournament lobby in the poker clients.

Each tournament's features, details, and prizes will be posted in the tournament lobby.

All tournaments will begin promptly at the scheduled time stated in the tournament lobby.

Tournament seats are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. All players are seated randomly at the beginning of all tournaments. The tournament starts with the "dealer button" positioned at seat 1 (Hold'em & Omaha). Players cannot change seats during a game. A player will change seat only when moved from a table to another table during a multi-table tournament.

The tournament is played until one player accumulates all the chips in play. Players may not acquire additional chips beyond the original Buy-in unless there are Re-buys and Add-ons. When players lose all chips, they are declared out of the tournament, finished in the order they were eliminated. If the tournament is a satellite event, the game will end when all players have qualified for the target event regardless of the chip count.

If more than one player is eliminated in hand, the player with more chips at the beginning of the hand is placed higher. Thus, for example, in an instance where two or more players are eliminated, and they started the hand with an identical chip count, the player closest to the left of the Dealer Button will be eliminated first, then the player closest to the left of that player, and so on, clockwise around the table.

If there is a split pot, not equally divisible by the number of players in hand, the extra chip(s) will be awarded to the player closest to the left of the "button".

While each user is responsible for their Internet connection, iPoker makes every effort to protect disconnected players during a tournament's final stages by allowing Extra Time to reconnect. If a player is not connected before a hand starts, they will be dealt cards, and a blind and/or antes will be posted automatically. Additionally, players can choose to sit out on their own; there is no penalty.

Poker is a game of integrity and etiquette. Each player should play with the same intensity against all other players. Unethical play, such as soft-play and chip dumping, may result in penalties, including seizure of funds from the offender's account and/or forfeiture of any prizes and/or termination of the account.

Each betting round consists of a bet and up to three raises. There is no raised cap in pot-limit and no-limit tournaments.

Level Structure: To ensure tournaments are completed within a reasonable amount of time, the blinds/antes increase during a tournament. When such an increase takes place, it is called a level. You can find the level structure for a tournament in the tournament lobby.

There will be a 5-minute break every hour in a standard multi-table tournament. There are no breaks during single-table tournaments.

Any deals are not assisted among players during tournaments. Tournaments will continue until there is one declared winner unless it is a satellite event, and the payoffs will be strictly according to the prize payout structure.

Extra time: each player is given a timebank (extra time), besides the expected time, to make a decision in tournaments. That time bank is limited and displays as a clock when activated. It decreases as it is being used and stops once a player acts. To set up timebank, go to the menu in the poker client My Account -> Settings -> Timebank.

As players are eliminated from the tournament, the software will balance tables to ensure that all tables have an equal number of active players. The balancing of tables is done randomly and, although rare, may result in a player having to post several big blinds in a row. When the number of players per tournament setting remains in a game, all players are brought together at the "final table".

In the event of a server crash, iPoker will restore the hands in progress at every table by rolling back these hands. Each player's chip count will be reset to the amount at the beginning of the hand. In some circumstances, when a tournament needs to be cancelled because of a crash or some other reason, players will be compensated according to the iPoker tournament cancellation policy.

iPoker reserves the right to cancel or reschedule tournaments with or without notice.

Tournament registration must meet minimum requirements for that event, or the tournament will be cancelled. In tournament cancellation due to an insufficient number of entrants, all buy-ins and entry fees will be returned to the player's accounts.

The prize pool payouts for all poker tournaments will adhere to the iPoker payout schedule.

Late Registration is available for the period indicated in the tournament lobby of each specific tournament.

Players can unregister at any time up until the start time. Players who have won their seats through a satellite cannot unregister unless otherwise informed, as direct satellite players are locked into the game.

Any player found to be playing multiple accounts during any tournament will have their account closed and will forfeit any winnings that are found to be a result of these actions.

In a tournament's final stages, the prize money can jump significantly with each player eliminated. In these instances where more than one table remains, the tournament may be played "hand-for-hand". This means that if one table finishes its hand before the other table(s), that table waits for the other table(s) to finish before the next hand is dealt. During this hand-for-hand period, all boustouts during a "synchronized" hand (even at different tables) are treated as having happened on the same hand, and chip stacks will be compared as in rule 7 above to determine the finishing order.