How poker tournaments work: buy-ins, blinds and late reg

A tournament is simple at heart. Everyone pays the same to sit down, gets the same starting chips, and plays until one person has the lot. You're not playing for the cash in front of you — those chips have no cash value once you sit down. You're playing for a share of the prize pool, paid to the players who last longest.

Buy-in and fee

A price like "£110 + £10" splits in two. The £110 goes into the prize pool and comes back to the players who cash. The £10 is the venue's fee for running the game — the dealers, the room, the admin. So an advertised "£120 tournament" usually means £110 of it is actually in play. Our listings show both parts so you know what you're paying for.

Blinds and levels

The forced bets — the blinds — go up on a clock, every 20 or 30 minutes in most UK events. Early on they're small next to your stack, so there's room to play. As the levels climb, folding your way to a min-cash stops being an option and you have to make things happen. A "deepstack" just means you start with more chips relative to the blinds, so there's more play before that pressure arrives.

Freezeout vs re-entry

In a freezeout, once you're out, you're out — one life. A re-entry event lets you buy back in if you bust, usually within the first few levels. Re-entries build a bigger prize pool but mean deeper-pocketed players can take more shots. Neither is better; they just suit different bankrolls. Every listing we show marks which it is, and how many "bullets" you can fire.

Late registration

You don't have to be there for the first hand. Late reg keeps entries open for a set number of levels — often two or three hours in. Turning up at the close of late reg is a real strategy: you skip the slow early play, though you sit down with a shorter stack. Each of our tournament pages lists when late reg closes so you can time your arrival.