Tournaments

Finding a tournament

You can find all scheduled Tournaments in the 4Poker Lobby under 'Tournaments'. Use the available filters to sort the games by status and buy-in. If you need to copy a Tournament ID, you can do so by right-clicking any game:

Lobby Icons

Located next to the tournaments names, these new icons provide more information on the games. You can hover over each icon to check their meaning.

For example, the stack of chips means this game offers extra chips along with the starting stack if a player registers in the early stages of the tournament. You can find the breakdown of bonus chips for each participating game if you hover over the info symbol in the tournament information:

In the game above, a player entering before the tournament starts would get their starting stack + 10% extra chips. Joining while Blind level 1 would award 5% bonus chips, level 2 - 4%, and so on.

Registering to a Tournament (Buy-in)

To register, you can hit the 'Register' button. This launches a buy-in confirmation window. That confirmation window contains the name of the tournament and the cost (prize pool contribution + fee)

Observing a tournament

If you've been knocked out or simply want to observe a high roller table, you can do this by going to the Tournament Lobby and clicking the option 'Observe'. You won't be able to take part in the chat while observing a tournament.

You can only observe a tournament that is currently running, which you'll see in the 4Poker Main Lobby.

If a tournament status in the lobby is restricted, this usually means that players need to take some action in order to enter it (this will be specified in the lobby). For example, when we run Depositor Freerolls, players will need to complete a deposit to be registered.

Several tournaments will open registration only some hours before the start of the game - this will be specified in the Tournament information and lobby:

Every tournament has its own lobby. This lobby contains all the details about that tournament, such as betting structure, payouts, registered players, current chip stack ranks, etc.

MTT stands for Multi-Table Tournament, a type of poker tournament involving players from multiple tables competing until there is only one player remaining. In common usage, ‘MTT’ usually refers specifically to SCHEDULED tournaments, as opposed to Sit & Go tourneys, even though SNG tournaments can have multiple tables.

In an MTT, players pay an entry fee to take part, and receive a set number of chips. The tournament typically starts at a scheduled time, with all participants playing simultaneously. As the tournament progresses, players are eliminated, and tables are continuously balanced until only one table remains. This is commonly known as the Final Table, where the last remaining players compete until a winner is determined.

Late registration in poker tournaments refers to the period after the tournament begins, during which players may still register to play. This means that even if the tournament has already begun, players can still join-in and take part.

The length of the late registration period will vary depending on the tournament. You'll find details of this in the Tournament Lobby on the 4Poker game client.

What does re-entry mean?

A re-entry in a poker tournament is a feature that allows players who have been eliminated from the tournament to buy back in and re-enter the tournament. This means a player who lost all their chips can pay the entry fee again and receive a new starting stack to continue playing. The period of time during which re-entry is allowed will usually coincide with the Late Registration period.

Re-entry tournaments can have different rules depending on the event, but, a player who re-enters will receive a new starting stack and be seated at random, possibly at a different table than their earlier one. Some re-entry tournaments may allow unlimited re-entries, while others may have a limited number of re-entries allowed.

Do you allow re-buy/re-entry?

Each tournament will have specific rules laid out in the tournament lobby, in some you'll have a number of reentry or rebuy options. Some will be limited to one buy-in.

In a poker tournament, a guarantee refers to the minimum amount of prize money that will be regardless of the number of entrants or the amount of money collected in entry fees.

Some tournaments offered on 4Poker may enable registration after the event has begun (commonly known as “late registration” (see section 9.4 of our General Terms and Conditions). If a tournament with late registration reaches a point at which all remaining players will receive a prize, then the late registration period will be closed and no additional players can enter, irrespective of the late registration period listed in the tournament details.

This is mentioned in section (9.3) of our General Terms and Conditions: "If late registration closes prior to the planned time or a tournament is canceled for any reason prior to the close of registration, then the guaranteed prize pool does not apply and prize payments or equity refunds will be based solely on player contributions to the prize pool."

You can also see this information in the tournament lobby by hovering over the info button by 'Payouts' as shown in the image below:

An overlay occurs in a poker tournament when the total amount of Buy-ins collected from players is less than the guaranteed prize pool.

For example, if a tournament has a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000 and there are only $8,000 in buy-ins collected, the tournament has a $2,000 overlay. This means that the tournament organizer or poker site will have to add the $2,000 to the prize pool to make up the difference and meet the guaranteed prize pool.

Note: the fee or ‘rake’ portion of the buy-in does not count towards the prize pool.

What is a freeroll?

Freerolls are games with free buy-in ($0 buy-in), so you don't pay to enter but some of them have special registration conditions. For example, you may need to deposit a certain amount to participate in Depositor Freerolls. You can always check the entry conditions in the Tournament lobby.

How does a satellite work?

A satellite is a type of poker tournament that allows players to win entry into a larger buy-in tournament at a fraction of the cost.

In a satellite tournament, players pay a smaller entry fee than the target event's cost and compete for a chance to win a prize that includes (and is usually limited to) entry into the target event. For example, a satellite tournament might have a $100 buy-in, with the top finishers receiving an entry into a $1,000 buy-in tournament.

Do you have satellite tournaments?

Satellite tournaments are available in the game client right now. We want 4Poker to be a place that welcomes all kinds of poker players, from high rollers to casual spenders. Satellites create opportunities for these players to go head to head. If you know your poker history, satellites are how some of today's greats got their shot.

Just to let you know, if you win a seat in a tournament from a satellite and then win another seat for the same game, you’ll get Tournament $ for the second win. For example, Player A enters satellite 1 and satellite 2, Player A wins a seat in the tournament in satellite 1, and subsequently wins another seat in satellite 2. As Player A can’t play two seats, they’ll win the seat for satellite 1 and the Tournament $ for satellite 2.

What is a step satellite?

Satellite tournaments are also referred to as “qualifiers”. 4Poker will sometimes offer a chain of satellites (“steps”) leading to a big event. The smallest satellite ("step 1") awards a place in the next satellite up the chain ("step 2") and so on.

Information on the number of steps and the target Tournament will be available in the Tournament Lobby.

Such tournaments give you a chance of winning not only a cash prize but also a seat into another (target) event!
You can identify these games by a + in the title and this symbol -

Visit the Tournament lobby to find out the prize structure and target event information:

A phased tournament is a multi-stage poker tournament where players progress through different phases or levels to reach the final stage and compete for prizes.

Usually, these tournaments start with Phase 1, where a large field of players participates, and a certain percentage (typically 15% at 4Poker, but check the tournament lobby for details) of them advance to the next phase. This process continues until the final phase, where the remaining players compete for the top prizes.

The tournaments are easy to spot in the Main Lobby as they have a reference to different phases right in the titles; as shown in the image below. Don’t miss a chance to get to a game by participating in Satellites and Freerolls to Phase 1.

Phased tournaments are created to accommodate a wide number of entrants, which gives 4Poker a great opportunity to deploy tournaments with higher prize pools than we might otherwise be able to.

The deal-making feature allows players to agree upon distribution of the remaining prize pool amount.

When you are at a final table and all the remaining players are ITM (In The Money, meaning they earned a payout), if you want to initiate a deal, you need to check the "Make a deal" box:

As soon as all the players are ready to make a deal, the current hand will finish, and the tournament will be paused. All the players will be shown a pop-up window with proposed deal amounts based on Independent Chip Model (ICM) that they will need to either ‘Accept’ or ‘Decline’ within 60 seconds:

When the same deal is accepted by all players (you’ll be able to check it in the same pop-up window), the tournament will restart, and the final payouts will be given based on the agreement made.

If even one player rejects the proposed deal, the game would restart, and the prizes would be given according to the payout structure specified in the tournament lobby:

Deals are available only for Multi-table tournaments except Progressive Knockout and Satellite games.

You can check if a tournament has deal making available by navigating to the tournament lobby and checking the tournament information "Deal making" line: