Add-on

Feature found in re-buy tournaments that allow you to buy extra chips after a certain amount of time. The purchase of the extra chips is called an add-on.

Blinds

Forced bets paid to make sure that there is some action on every hand of poker.

Blind Structure

During a tournament the blinds will increase incrementally to ensure that the tournament ends up with a winner.

Bubble

The bubble in a tournament is the thin line that separates players that will take a share of the prize pool from players who will miss out. The player who misses the payout by one place is often called the Bubble.

Buy-In

This is the amount contributed to the prize pool by each player plus the house fee. So in a $5+$0.5 tournament, $5 will go towards the prize pool and $0.5 will be paid to the house for arranging and hosting the tournament.

Full Table

A full table refers to a game in which ten players are able to sit at each of the tables in the tournament. Compare with Short Handed and Heads-up.

Final Table

When a tournament is down to only 10 players, they will merge and play the final table or FT for short. This is when the real adrenaline kicks in as this is were most of the money is to be decided.

Hand by Hand

At the end of a multi table tournament, 'hand by hand' play is adopted. This means that a new hand at a table will not be played until the current hand at all tables is finished – this ensures that all tables are played at the same pace and no tables can collectively play slowly to avoid the bubble.

HE

In the lobby this indicates that the game is Limit Texas Hold'em.

Heads Up

A Heads Up tournament is played between just two people.

House Fee

On some tournaments a fee is taken to host the event. The amount taken as a fee is always clearly shown in the buy-in. A $5+$0.5 tournament has a $0.5 house fee. The house fee is often also called the rake.

Multi-table

Any tournament in which the number of entrants requires more than one table to be used. Typically Scheduled tournaments are multi-table, The US, Euro and Aussie Daily Tournaments are good examples of multi-table tournaments.

NL HE

In the lobby this indicates that the game is No Limit Texas Hold'em.

PL OM

In the lobby this indicates that the game is Pot Limit Omaha.

PL OM8

In the lobby this indicates that the game is Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo.

PL 5D

In the lobby this indicates that the game is Pot Limit 5 Card Draw.

Player Points

For every $1 paid in house fees for a tournament you will receive 3.6 player points. Player points are used to release bonuses.

Prize Pool

The prize pool is a thing of beauty that is fought over by all the players in a tournament. The prize pool consists of the buy-ins (minus the house fee) for all players plus anything else that maybe added by the house such as cash and tickets to other events.

Rake

See House Fee.

Re-buy

Feature that allows players to buy back into a tournament again after busting out. More info on re-buy tournaments found here.

Registration

To play in any tournament you must first register for it. Registration for a scheduled tournament is typically available one and a half hours before its scheduled start time. When you register your buy-in is held to reserve you a seat.

Short Handed

This refers to a game in which less than ten players are able to sit at each of the tables in the tournament. Usually in a short handed game the tables seat five players.

Single Table

Any tournament in which only one table is required, usually this expression refers to a 10 player Sit & Go tournament.

Starting Stack

This is the amount of chips that each player begins a tournament with.

Tournament Lobby

This is the place where you can find all of the Tournaments that are currently available and running at PokerRoom.com. The tournaments lobby can be accessed using either Java-Poker or Windows-Poker.

Tournament Ticket

A tournament ticket will get you into a tournament without the need for a cash buy-in. Tournament tickets are sometimes awarded as parts of promotions or as prizes in qualifier tournaments. You can also purchase certain Tournament Tickets with Player Points.