• Introduction to the Guide
• How to Play
• The Goal
• After Registering…
• Blinds go Up and Up
• Various Tournament Formats (Freerolls, Turbo Tournaments, Satellites etc.)

• Play Multi-table Tournaments

Beginner’s Multi-table Tournament is a guide to help you comprehend the most basic aspects of multi-table tournament play. Multi-table tournaments are probably the most fun of all forms of poker and learning how to play them is essential to success. As soon as you reach your first final table, you will know what we are talking about.

All multi-table tournaments start at a designated time found in the weekly tournament schedule or in the game client. To participate, players must register at least five minutes before the tournament is due to start. This is also done through the schedule or directly in the game client. Some tournaments are absolutely free to enter, so called freerolls, while other requires the player to cover a buy-in and a small fee. A typical buy-in tournament is $5 buy-in and $1 fee ($5+1).

All the buy-ins are collected into a communal prize pool while the fee is the cost for participating in the event. Funds are automatically drawn from your PokerRoom.com account.
The number of participating players varies greatly from around 50 to 2,000!!

You can find all types of multis on PokerRoom.com: Hold'em no limit & limit, 7-card stud and lots of Omaha Hi & Hi/lo pot limit events. Multi-table tournament variations.

A percentage of all contestants in a multi win money from the communal prize pool along an increasing scale. In a 100 player tournament typically the top ten finish “in the money”.

As soon as the registration process closes, all registered players will take their randomly distributed seats. A game window will appear notifying you to sit-in on your assigned table.

Each player begins with an equal amount of chips. The amount may vary depending on the tournament. These tournament chips have no real value outside the tournament and the values they represent do not in any way represent any eventual winnings from the tournament.

Players are eliminated one by one when they have no chips left. And as the number of players still left in the tournaments drops, players are automatically moved between tables so that all tables remain balanced and equal. So don’t be surprised if you all of a sudden find yourself at a completely different table than you started at.

For each ten players that are eliminated a table is removed from play redistributing the players to other tables. This process continues until only one final table remains. And play on that table continues until one player has won all the chips and is victorious!

The tricky part about playing a multi compared to ring game poker is that the blind levels increase throughout the tournament. Starting at say $10/$20 they may well reach $1,000/$2,000 before a victor is crowned! So in order to keep in contention you have to steadily increase and build on you initial chip stack.

There are a number of different multi-table tournament formats featured on PokerRoom.com.

Freerolls
Multis that require no buy-in and thus are free to enter. The Prize pool consists of money sponsored by PokerRoom.com. Freerolls can be found daily on PokerRoom.com.

Added Events
Added multis have a buy-in but in addition PokerRoom.com also adds a certain amount of money to the prize pool. One example is our daily PLUS 500 tournament which is a $5 buy-in event with $500 added. Another example is our $1 buy-in Lucky Dollar where we add a WHOPPING $2,500 to the prize pool.

Guaranteed Tournaments
Guaranteed means that the total prize pool of the tournament is just that, guaranteed. So no matter ho many players sign-up the guaranteed amount will be paid out in prize money.

Turbo Tournaments
Works just like regular tournaments with the exception that the blind levels increase faster. Good for moments when you may not have two hours to spare. Expect intense action and a lot of gutsy gambling!

Re-Buy and Add-Ons
The tournaments are unique in that if you are eliminated you can buy your place right back in again! For a limited time, if you are eliminated you can pay an additional buy-in (called a re-buy) and get back in the action with a new starting stack. When that time period expires you may also have the option of adding some more chips to your stack. This is called an add-on.

Bounty Features
Some special PokerRoom.com multis incorporates a bounty feature. This adds an exciting element to a standard tournament by having some players carry a bounty on their head. If you eliminate any of them from the tournament you will receive a special bounty bonus.

Satellite Qualifiers
You can qualify to big and expensive tournaments through much less expensive satellites. You enter the event paying a buy-in and if you get “in the money” you qualify for the pricier tournament. These satellites truly can be a shortcut to success!

Express qualifiers are satellites that are played in the turbo high-speed format.

Cash & Qualifiers
Some events combine the distribution of prize money with the qualification to big events.

So if you win you will get both a cash prize AND qualify to a big event.