Green Card Poker

Buy-in and Registration Fees

In tournaments, every player exchanges a set amount of cash for a set amount of chips. The chip value is set by the tournament director (responsible for managing and overseeing all aspects of the poker tournament) and announce prior to the start of the tournament. The goal of the tournament is to win all of the chips in play and be the last player standing. As players lose their chips to other players, they are eliminated from the tournament. T

The tournament ends with a final table of players (usually 9 or 10) who continue to compete against each other until each one is eliminated and only two remain - known as head up. The tournament ends when one player has all the chips.

All tournaments, except freeroll tournaments, cost a buy-in amount and an entry or registration fee to play. The registration fee is usually a small percentage amount of buy-in and goes to the casino or online poker room to host the tournament. The buy-in is the amount of money it cost to play the tournament, of which some or all goes into the prize pool. In promoting tournaments, the fees are most often expressed in parenthesis, with the buy-in amount listed first, and the registration fee listed second, such as "No-Limit Texas Hold 'em Tournament ($50+$5)." If you add the two amounts together, you get the total, upfront cost of playing in the tournament.

Some tournaments also allow rebuys and add-ons. Rebuys enable players to buy more chips, usually foa a limited amount of time early in the tournament, if their chip count falls below a certain level. For example, if the tournament buy-in is $50 for $1500 in tournament chips, you might be able to rebuy another $1500 in chips for $50 if you have less than $500 in chips.

Add-ons are similar to rebuys but do not require you to be able to be below a certain chip count to purchase. For example, if the initial buy-in is $50 for $1500 in chips, you might be able to add-on another $1500 in chips for $25. Again, add-ons are just another tactic tournaments use to fatten the prize pool, and they can add considerably to the cost of playing in a tournament.

The object of tournament play is to play as cheaply and as long as you can. Unless you sincerely believe you are more skilled than at least half of the other players, you should not invest additional money in tournament play through either add-ons or rebuys.