The Rules of Poker Tournament

Unlike online poker, the rules and regulations of a live poker tournament are stricter. This helps the dealer in a poker tournament to control the flow of the game with ease. If you are an avid online poker player, it would be rather hard to wrap your head around the rules of a poker tournament, if you choose to participate in one. Worry not, we are here to help. Here are a few things you must remember regarding certain rules of a poker tournament.

First off, all the live table poker rules apply in tournament unless stated otherwise. So be sure to read carefully regarding any special exceptions that are made in the tournament you are going to participate in before you sign up.

Pick your position carefully if you are allowed to before you sit down, because once you have chosen your seat, it is impossible to switch seats with other players once the game has been initiated. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, when the tournament director is involved.

If you are not allowed to pick your own seats. A common method to assign seats to players are by random draw. This is adopted by the majority of poker tournament organizers out there as it is the fairest method.

Limits and blinds are raised regularly scheduled intervals. This is very much against the habit of online poker players, so you will need to get used to this or risk not knowing what to do in a tournament.

Unlike online poker, the card deck could play a significant role in determining your hand in a tournament. In an online scenario players rely on basic RNG to determine the hand that they are dealt with, so there is nothing one can do. Therefore, to maintain absolute fairness, players are barred from requesting a change of deck unless they have noticed a damaged or marked card in the deck.

All players must leave their seats immediately after being eliminated from the tournament. This should sound like a no-brainer for regular poker players, it is common courtesy after all. This rule, however, is necessary to be stated in clear form as there are more hot headed poker players out there than you might expect. Some even choose to raise a scene after being eliminated, they would do anything but to admit defeat.

A player must not show his hand to anyone under any circumstances, a player that violates this rule will risk getting penalized, eliminated, or in a worst case scenario, potentially banned from future tournaments as well.

Your professionalism as a pro poker player is determined by how you handle your cards. This is not online poker as all the player has to do is click on their mouse. A pro poker player should handle their cards with care and with respect to the dealer, any rash or reckless behavior such as throwing cards off the table will not only damage the image of a poker player, but potentially get him or her eliminated from the tournament as well.

For more rules of poker tournament, or tips and tricks to guide you to have a consistent win rate in a poker tournament, be sure to check out our other articles.

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