Tournament Toolkit

Daily Tournaments 

 

With an average of 80 online poker tournaments to choose from every day, from Multi-Table tournaments, to Freerolls, Qualifiers and more, you’re sure to find the tournament you want, when you want. 

 

Download the Poker software to access all the online poker tournaments posted in the Lobby. After that it’s hard not to become a tourney regular: just register and play. 

 

Daily Multi-Table Poker Tournaments 

 

Buy in for as little as $1 and get ready for fast-paced action. Prize pools will vary in regular Multi-Table tournaments but it's a great place to start if you're a beginner. 

 

Guaranteed Prize Pool Tournaments 

 

Play for a Guaranteed Prize Pool of $100,000, every week. The fun starts with $500 pools, and enough of them that you can always find the right tournament and buy-in for you. 

 

Qualifying Tournaments 

 

Play your way to the World Series of Poker*, Bodog’s $100,000 Guaranteed, and more top tournaments. Qualifiers run daily and you can buy in for as little as $1. 

 

Poker Point Tournaments 

 

Register for any of the $7,500 PTS Freerolls happening on the 2nd and last Saturday of every month. Buy in with 1,000 Poker Points, or qualify for only 25, 150 or 200 Poker Points . It won’t take long before you’re playing for $15,000 in monthly prizes. 

 

* World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with Bodog or its products, services, promotions or tournaments. 

 

Prize payouts are determined by the number of participants in the tournament. 

 

Tournament Rules 

 

   1. Poker tournaments begin at the time designated. A minimum of 5 players is required for any multi-table tournament to start, unless otherwise noted in the Lobby.

 

   2. Seats are randomly assigned. You cannot choose or change seats.

 

   3. Late registration periods vary from 10 to 60 minutes depending. For details, check the specific game on the Tournament Schedule in the Lobby or contact Customer Service.

 

   4. Players may cancel their registration in a tournament up to 10 minutes before its starts.

 

   5. The position of the button is decided with a deal at the start of the tournament. High card deals for the first hand.

 

   6. The button moves clockwise so no player has the button twice in a row. A player gets the button without playing the blinds if other players have been eliminated. This is caused by the software itself and is not uncommon in online tournaments. It can happen to any player at any time and creates no long term advantage.

 

   7. If 2 players are eliminated at the same time, the player with the largest stack at the beginning of the hand finishes higher.

 

   8. When it comes down to 2 players, the button will post the small blind and be first to act in the initial round. The big blind will then be first to act in the rounds that follow.

 

   9. The tournament ends once a player has won all the tournament chips and is declared the winner.

 

   10. In an online poker room Internet connection issues and disconnections are a reality. We will do our best to limit interruptions during a tournament, however we do not assume responsibility for problems not related to game server performance. Certain Internet issues may be unavoidable, that's why we and give players disconnection protection in the form of extra time to reconnect when players are in the last rounds of a tournament. If players choose to sit out or are unable to reconnect, cards will still be automatically dealt to them and blinds and antes posted. Players that are unable to reconnect during the allotted time will have their hands automatically folded. If a player is disconnected during a hand where the action is checked to them, the hand will be checked unless a specific action is needed by the player.

 

   11. In the event of a server interruption all hands will be rolled back to the start of the interrupted hand, and all chip stacks returned to their original status: the amounts before the hand started. If the tournament must be canceled, participating players will be compensated based on our Tournament Cancellation Policy.

 

   12. Any player that acts unethically, by being involved in team play, soft play, or chip dumping, for example, will be disqualified from the tournament.

 

   13. As players are eliminated from the tournament, tables are consolidated and filled. Players arriving at a table may have to post blinds. Table reassignments are an inherent and random part of tournaments, and apply equally to all players.

 

   14. Players and observers are asked to use the chat function considerately. At no time are players and observers allowed to discuss or comment on live hands.

 

   15. All prizes will be distributed as specified by individual tournament details. Find all the details for each tournament in the Lobby.

 

   16. All decisions made by Bodog regarding any aspects of a tournament are regarded as final.

 

Tournament Time Banks 

 

There’s a lot of action in online poker, and you may want extra time every now and then: to think about your next move, to switch to your laptop, to stretch your legs. It happens. 

 

We give you an additional 90 seconds at the start of each tournament that you can use as you need to, on top of the regular time. 

 

You always get 30 seconds to make a move when it’s your turn. Once the allotted time of 30 seconds is down to 16, you'll have the option to activate your time bank by clicking the bar that appears on the bottom right of the table. You must click to activate your Tournament Time Bank, whether you have money invested in the pot or not. 

 

In Turbo tournaments you only get 15 seconds to act every time the action is on you, and this also means the time bank will only be 30 seconds for the entire duration of the tournament. 

 

You'll know the time bank is activated when it is greyed out. Once your initial 30 seconds have expired, you will be using your time bank. Once you perform an action, the time bank will stop. The next time you need it, you will begin from the amount of seconds that remain in your time bank since it was last used. For example, in the middle of a tournament, you use 15 seconds of your time bank for a borderline call, leaving you with 75 seconds remaining. You reach the final table and have another tough call to make. When you activate your time bank, you'll start with 75 seconds. The amount of time in your time bank will always be displayed and if you've used up your time bank, you won't receive any additional time. 

 

Tournament Types 

 

Bodog offers most types of tournaments, from Poker Point Freerolls to Guarantees, Rebuys, Beginner, and short-handed for starters. 

 

Multi-Table Tournaments 

 

Each player sits down with the same number of chips. Blinds and antes increase as you go, and as players are eliminated, players move to new tables, until there’s one final table left. The total of all buy-ins make up the prize pool, paid out according to the tournament payout structure. 

 

Freerolls 

 

A Freeroll tournament is a Multi-Table tournament with no entry fee. Prize pools come in all kinds: cash, player points, or entries to other tournaments. The number of seats is often limited, so register early. 

 

Poker Point Tournaments 

 

Use Poker Points to buy in to featured tournaments that offer cash and other prizes. Find them in the Lobby and look for ‘PTS’ next to the buy-in amount. This tells you the number of points needed to buy in. If you see a ‘$’ you can buy in with real money too, and yes, cash buy-ins are added to the pool. 

 

Qualifiers 

 

These tournaments make it easy for players to play their way to bigger tournaments at a fraction of the buy-in. Qualifiers usually pay out Tournament Tickets that can be used to buy in to the next level of a tournament series. 

 

Multi-Table Sit-and-Go (MSGs) 

 

This mini-tournament starts the moment all the seats are filled and hosts 10 to 45 players at 2 to 5 tables. Blinds increase in time increments, most commonly every 12 minutes. Turbo MSG blinds go up every 6 minutes, Super Turbo MSG blinds every 3 minutes. There are many different by-ins, so check the Lobby for more information. 

 

Short Handed Sit-and-Go 

 

Try some mega-clutch action with just a few players. Payouts go to 2 players in a 6-handed game. 

 

Re-Buy Tournaments 

 

Re-buy tournaments let you buy more chips when you run out or fall below a set amount. Some limit when you can re-buy, others the number of times. They can offer an ‘add-on’ or last buy-in, for all players no matter their stack size. The amount of a re-buy or add-on is usually the original buy-in amount. After the re-buy and add-ons are over, prize pool and payouts are posted. 

 

Beginner Sit-and-Go Tournaments 

 

As soon as 9 players are at the table, the game starts. Find them running 24/7, listed under ‘Sit-and-Go Tournaments’ in the Lobby. Buy in. Open a table. Then click on an empty seat to play. Half the players walk away a winner. 

 

Beginner Scheduled Tournaments 

 

Pick your time and find it listed under ‘Scheduled Tournaments’ in the Lobby. You can register 2 hours before the tournament starts, when you see ‘Registering’ posted alongside the game. Stay logged into your Poker software and 2 minutes before the start you’ll be given a random seat among the other players. Beginner tournaments pay out a larger percentage of the field than standard tournaments.