Tournament Poker

In Virgin Games tournament poker, players buy-in to the tournament for a set amount and then all players receive the same number of chips to start with - fair's fair. Play continues until all players are eliminated except the winner. All money collected through the buy-in is distributed among the players at the end, with the number paid depending on the number of players entering.

Players will have a seat assigned to them once the tourney begins and they may not leave the table at any point - unlike cash games (but just like when your mum wouldn't let you leave the table until you'd finished all your greens).

Multi Table Tournaments

A multi table poker tournament (MTT) is just that - a tournament where there are over 10 players competing so it's played over more than one table. As players are knocked out, the number of tables required is reduced until there are just 10 players left all on the same table (the Final Table) for a grand finale. These players play online poker down until one player has all of the chips and is crowned the winner. They are rewarded with fame, money and everlasting glory. *

In the Virgin Poker Lobby you will see a tab for "MULTI TOURNEY". All tournaments listed here will have a scheduled start time. Once the start time is reached, all players who have registered will begin and play until there is only one remaining. Just like in X Factor. Except with more poker, and far less Simon Cowell.

Here at Virgin Poker we have MTTs for you to get involved in starting up all the time. Find out all of the various prizes, structures and entry fees on our poker structure page.

*we can't guarantee fame and everlasting glory, but we can guarantee the money part.

Sit & Go Tournaments

Sit and Go's may sound like something to do with hairdressing, but they are simply unscheduled online poker tournaments that begin once the required number of players have paid the buy in to enter the tournament.

Your buy in will be converted into chips and whoever finishes with all the chips wins. On Virgin Poker you can play with varying different numbers of starting players: two, five, 10, 20 or 30 players. Sit & Go's are perfect Virgin Games tournaments for players looking for quick online poker games with a great chance of winning a cash prize.

If you choose a Sit & Go tournament with 20 or 30 players the tournament will be played on more than one table. If, for example, you are playing in a 20 player tournament once there is a total of 10 players still in, the table will 'breakup'.

One difference to Sit & Go tourneys is that MTTs will have a set starting time as opposed to a set number of players.

Breaking Tables

Everyone hates a break up. But don't worry - breaking tables applies only to tournaments that start with more than 10 players. There are never more than the minimum number of tables required to seat all players so you'll always have somewhere to sit - it isn't musical chairs!

As the number of players in a Virgin Games tournament reduces, so does the number of tables. A table is removed as soon as the remaining players can all be seated around the remaining tables.

Here's an example: if there are 41 players in a tournament they will be seated on five tables, four with eight players and one with nine. Once a player is eliminated (sorry dear player) one table is closed and the remaining 40 players move to the remaining four tables, which are then full with 10 players on each. Does that make sense? Phew, our head hurts now.

Synchronised Breaks

No bathing costumes required - Synchronised Breaks give players the chance to take a five minute break every hour without missing a hand. Feel free to grab a cuppa, pop to the loo, or watch one of our video tutorials for some last minute poker tips. Whatever you want, it's just good to take little breaks every now and then.

Synchronized Breaks are scheduled at 55 minutes past every hour, and every break lasts five minutes. All hands being played at 55 minutes past the hour will be completed and the tournament will then resume exactly five minutes after the last hand has been completed.

Synchronised tournaments will affect all network tournaments and will be stated in the information tab. Synchronised Breaks will not occur in all Heads Up tournaments, and tournaments that start less than 11 minutes before the scheduled break will skip the first break.

Hand for Hand Play Mode

In hand for hand play mode, all hands are dealt at the same time at all tables. This occurs whenever there is more than one table, and there is a significant change in prize money between two places. For example, in a 350 player poker tournament, the tournament changes to hand for hand play when there are 41 players, 31 players, 21 players and 11 players remaining. It stays hand for hand until one player has been knocked out in each situation.

Tournament Definitions

Satellites are poker tournaments that qualify a player for a subsequent tournament that has a larger buy in and therefore a larger prize pool. It is most commonly used for tournaments feeding players in to live poker events. In order for players to have a chance of qualifying for these big buy-in events a series of satellite tournaments are run in which the winners of each level progress to the next satellite up instead of getting a cash prize. It can be a tricky way of doing things but gives you the chance to win big prizes for a small buy-in. For example, Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP 2003 having qualified in a $20 satellite! Dream big guys…

Rebuys vs Freezeouts

Freezeout: You make your original buy-in, get all of your chips and once you lose them all you're out.

Rebuy: A rebuy is a tournament in which players who are knocked out have the chance to - you guessed it - rebuy. In the Tourney Info Box you'll be told for how long the rebuy period is open for (after that you're out once all of your chips have gone) and how many rebuys you are allowed. In most rebuy tournaments there will be an 'add on' - this is basically one last rebuy at the very end of the rebuy period. In a standard rebuy tournament any player can purchase an 'add on'.

Guaranteed (GTD)

A 'guarantee' in an online poker tournament occurs when a minimum prize is guaranteed even if there are not enough entrants to cover this cost. For example, in standard tournament when there are nine entrants each paying a buy in of €10 the prize pool would be €90. However if this tournament had a €100 guarantee then clearly the prize pool would be €10 more. When poker players describe a tournament as offering 'overlay' this is an example of what they mean. We want to make sure our winners get the prizes they deserve!

Every month Virgin Poker guarantees over €3,000,000 in multi table prize money in a series of regular tourneys where we will add extra money in to the prize pot if the buy-ins don't reach the guarantee. So every single night you have the chance to win big!

MTT Payouts

In most MTTs the top 10% of the field are paid out prize money, from a couple of per cent for the low placed finishers to 25%-30% for the winner. Click here for our standard tournament payout guide. You need to check the Tourney Info Box for each tourney you play in to confirm the final payout.

Sit & Go Payout

We like to think we cater for all our customers at Virgin Poker, which is why we offer differing payout structures to suit all types of player, depending on the risk they wish to undertake. In standard Hold'em tournaments the winner is paid in two players, the top two are paid in five players and three in 10 player tournaments.

Virgin Games huge array of tournament types range from 'Winner takes all' and 'Cooler' (a 10 player tournament where the top five double their money) to faster play, shorter tournaments like 'Turbo', 'Speed' and 'Quick'. There really is something for everyone; go to the Sit & Go lobby for a full list of tournament types.

Late Registration

Everyone runs a bit late sometimes, it happens to the best of us. If you're a little late to register for the tournament you wish to play in often you will still be able to enter it (we're nice like that). In most of our larger MTTs we will run late registration which means that entry will remain open until the first player is knocked out.

Tourney Structures

Different tournament structures allow you to devise different strategies and help to determine how long the tournament will take to complete.

In a standard tournament on Virgin Poker the structure will often be:

• Clock : 12 mins
• Starting Stack : 1500
• Starting Blinds : 10/20
• Antes : After Level 7

However if you look through the list of tournaments available you will be able to find structures that vary from Deepstacks (5000 chips, 15 min clock) to Lotto Frenzy (100 chips, all-in frenzy!). So there's always something to suit the amount of time you have available to enjoy a game of online poker. The information bar for each tournament in the lobby will have specific information about that tournament, to keep you in the know.

Heads Up

Heads Up games are simply two players facing off against each other (play nice!) The winning player will take all of the cash. Virgin Poker also offer Multi Table Heads Up tournaments where two, four, eight, 16, etc.. players start. The winner of each game will progress to the next level which will start after the previous level has completed.

Satellites

It is also possible to have a Satellite Sit & Go. This means that a player can qualify from one Sit & Go and be entered into a subsequent tournament with a much larger prize pool.

Head Hunter Tournaments

In a Headhunter tournament, the prize money is split as follows :

• X% of buy in goes to a normal prizepool
• Y% of buy in goes to bounties

Of the funds that go to the bounties - A% will be converted to cash when a player knocks another player out, and B% will be added to the players head who did the knocking out!

The bounty prize pool is split evenly on all players heads. The aim of the game is to knock out as many players as you can to collect the bounty prize but at the same time avoid elimination to win the tournament.

For most Virgin Poker Headhunter tournaments, 50% of the buy-in goes towards the prize pool and 50% towards the bounty. When you knock out another player you win 75% of the county and 25% is added to your own bounty. The information tab for each tournament will list the exact percentages.