Atlassino Academy · Poker in the room · Lesson 11
Tournaments: buy-in, structure and M
A tournament buy-in is split before the first card: part to the prize pool, part to the room. Here is how to read that split, the structure, and M, the orbits your stack covers.
10 players have each paid 100 units to enter a Sit & Go tournament, 1,000 units in all. How is that money paid out?
The short answer
In the PBA rulebook, all the money collected as entry is shared between the first three places: 50% to first, 30% to second and 20% to third. With 10 entries of 100 units, that is 500 units, 300 units and 200 units, and nothing for the other places. The chips are another matter: every player starts with 5,000 tournament chips that have no money value and belong to the casino. After that, a tournament is a clock: the blinds, the two bets forced before each hand’s cards, rise every 10 minutes, and M, your stack divided by what one orbit costs, counts how many orbits the stack covers without playing a hand. An orbit is one full trip of the dealer’s button, the marker that moves one seat each hand, round the table.
All the entry money split three ways: half to first place, three tenths to second, two tenths to third.
- 500 unitsFirst place.50% of the entry money.
- 300 unitsSecond place.30% of the entry money.
- 200 unitsThird place.20% of the entry money.
The split printed by the PBA rulebook for a Sit & Go, applied to an example of 10 entries of 100 units; the entry price is an example, not a casino’s. Amounts are in betting units, not pesos: a unit can stand for any amount, and the arithmetic is the same at any scale.
If you play only cash games, this lesson and lesson 7.12 can wait.
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
When I dealt tournaments, the first line I read on a tournament sheet was never the prize. The first line I read was the one that says what the chips are worth, because a stack of tournament chips is not a stack of money.
The second thing I watched was the level clock. The blinds go up on the clock whether anybody plays a hand or not, and a stack that looked deep at the start can be short a few levels later without losing a single pot.
A Sit & Go: tables and players
A Sit & Go is a hold’em tournament played to the last chip: each player tries to eliminate the others, and the player who gathers every chip in play ends the tournament. A table seats 10 players at most, and a Sit & Go has 27 at most. With fewer players than a full table the table may run with fewer, if all of them agree. Over 10 players, as many tables as needed are set up, chips are carried over from table to table, and players are regrouped as they are knocked out so that the tables stay even; when the field is down to the final table, the seats are drawn again. Players cannot change seats on their own, and cannot refuse to be moved to another table.
How a hand is dealt and who posts the blinds is lesson 7.2.
Chips and levels
Every player starts with 5,000 points in chips. Those chips have no money value, they belong to the casino, and they cannot be taken from the table. What tournament chips are worth in prize money at a final table is lesson 7.12.
The blinds start at a minimum and rise every 10 minutes. A rise takes effect if no hand has started; if one has, it waits for the next hand. And the dead button rule keeps the order of the blinds when the player who was due the button has been eliminated: the button stays where it was.
- One level, as the rulebook prints it.10 minutesThe blinds rise 6 times an hour.
- The starting stack of every player.5,000tournament chips: no money value, the casino’s property.
The rulebook ends with an annex of blinds, but its table of figures is not in the text we could read, so every level on this page is an example, not a casino’s structure.
M: how many orbits your stack covers
M is your stack divided by what one orbit costs: the small blind plus the big blind. Over one orbit every player pays each blind once, so M counts how many full orbits the stack could pay for if you played no hand at all. The rulebook names no ante, so none is counted. A reference work describes volume 2 of Harrington on Hold ’em as introducing the M-ratio; the formula on this page is our own arithmetic.
Your stack divided by what one orbit costs, the small blind plus the big blind, makes M.
M can carry a fraction, and the full orbits are M rounded down. At blinds of 75 and 150, the same stack gives an M of 22.2, which pays for 22 full orbits.
Keep the same stack and let the levels rise, and M falls even though not a single chip has been lost.
- Level 1 · 25/50M 66.7
- Level 2 · 50/100M 33.3
- Level 3 · 75/150M 22.2
- Level 4 · 100/200M 16.7
- Level 5 · 150/300M 11.1
- Level 6 · 200/400M 8.3
- Level 7 · 300/600M 5.6
- Level 8 · 400/800M 4.2
- Level 9 · 500/1,000M 3.3
- Level 10 · 600/1,200M 2.8
An example structure, not any casino’s: the same stack of 5,000 tournament chips met at each level.
M is counted in orbits and never in minutes: how many hands a live table deals in an hour is not printed in any document we read. M tells you how much room the stack has; M does not tell you which hands to play, and nothing on this page does.
How the entry money is paid out
In every case, what is collected as entry is shared between the first three places.
- First place: 50% of the entry money.
- Second place: 30% of the entry money.
- Third place: 20% of the entry money.
The three shares of the PBA rulebook: together they make the whole of the entry money. The chapter we read prints no fee taken out of that money before the split; whether a casino charges one in addition is a question for the desk.
In the example tournament of 10 entries of 100 units, the entry money of 1,000 units would be paid out like this:
- First place.500 units
- Second place.300 units
- Third place.200 units
- Fourth place and below.nothing
Every amount comes out of the entry money, and the places outside the paying three get nothing back.
When two or more players are knocked out on the same hand and would take paid places, the one who began the hand with more chips ranks higher; with equal chips the better hand decides, and with equal hands the one who takes the hand.
Late entry and sanctions
A player may still enter after the tournament has started, but only until the first level of blinds ends, and receives the full starting stack.
The rulebook sanctions a player who breaks the same rule: a warning the first time, a ten-minute suspension the second time, during which the player still pays the blinds and has no right to the pot, and elimination from the tournament the third time. The chips of an eliminated player are removed from the table.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
An entry is money, and the chips you get for it are not: they cannot be cashed, they cannot leave the table, and a stack that looked deep can be gone within a few levels. How many entries the evening gets is a number for home: fixed before you register, and not changed at the table.
A tournament prize is not income. On one evening, the cards decide far more of what happens than skill does.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. Minimum entry age: each province sets its own. Where we found the rule or regulator that sets it, we cite it on the page; those we found set it at 18. More on responsible gaming.
Show all provinces
If you are thinking about suicide, call 135 or 0800 345 1435 from anywhere in the country
Practice: how many orbits?
Each step of the practice run is one level of an example structure: a stack of tournament chips and the two blinds. You work out either M or the number of full orbits the stack can pay for without playing a hand, and the answer shows how much an orbit has grown since the first level.
Nothing is bet here. The chips are tournament chips in an example structure, not any casino’s levels, and no money is involved.
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An example level
An example level, not a casino’s table of blinds · level 8 of 10
With 6,000 tournament chips at this example level, how many full orbits can the stack pay for without playing a hand?
- 7 full orbits That is the stack divided by the big blind alone. Every orbit also takes the small blind, so the stack pays for fewer orbits than that.
- 5 full orbits One orbit costs 1,200 chips: the small blind of 400 and the big blind of 800. 6,000 divided by 1,200 is 5, and only whole orbits count, so the stack pays for 5 full orbits.
- 15 full orbits That is the stack divided by the small blind alone. Every orbit takes the big blind as well, and the big blind is the larger of the two blinds.
One orbit at this example level costs 1,200 chips; at the first example level an orbit cost 75 chips. The levels keep rising whether you play hands or not, so a stack that does not grow covers fewer orbits at every level.
Every level in the practice run is worked out the same way: one orbit costs the small blind and the big blind, and the stack divided by that cost is M.
How the practice run works
Where the answers come from. Every level is two numbers from an example structure, the small blind and the big blind, and a stack; one orbit costs the two numbers added together, and the stack divided by that cost is M, worked out when the page is built. The wrong answers come from the same numbers, and each one is a named mistake: the stack divided by the big blind alone, or by the small blind alone.
One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one level of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to. This lesson has a single level, so when its squares are full no next level begins by itself: the summary of the run appears in its place, with no button in between. Practising a level you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.
Your progress stays in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Three quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. Of 1,000 units in entries, all of it is paid out in three places: 500 units, 300 units and 200 units; the chips each player started with are not money and are never paid out.
Tournaments, help and further reading
18+ under each province’s rules · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page
Further reading
- Resolución 1452/12, Anexo I: Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go (Reglamento del Juego) · Instituto Provincial de Lotería y Casinos de la Provincia de Buenos AiresThe Buenos Aires province Sit & Go rules: 5,000 points in chips each, chips with no monetary value, and the entry money split 50, 30 and 20 per cent.
How it’s worked out
Numbers, readings, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every rule on this page is the PBA rulebook’s: chapter 23 of IPLyC resolution 1452/12, the Sit & Go modality of Central Poker Holdem. A casino may run its tournaments by other conditions; nothing here says more than the chapter prints. The chapter for tournaments proper, number 25 in the index of the same resolution, is not in the text of the page we could read, so this page says nothing about it.
Numbers. The shares, the starting stack, the length of a level and the number of players are the ones the rulebook prints. The entry price, the number of entries in the example and the levels of the structure are examples of ours, not a casino’s. M is the stack divided by the small blind and the big blind added together, and the full orbits are M rounded down. Every figure carries a machine-readable key and is recomputed by the same engine on every build. Nothing on this page is counted per hour except the levels: the printed 10 minutes of a level give the levels in an hour.
Our readings. We read “the entry money” as everything collected in the name of entry (“lo recaudado en concepto de inscripción”); the chapter prints no fee in addition to it, and it does not say that none exists. What a 10-minute rise does to the blinds is the rulebook’s; the amounts of the blinds are in an annex table we could not read.
What is deliberately absent. No Argentine document we could read prints a re-entry, a dealer add-on, an ante, a split of the entry between prizes and a fee, or an age limit for tournaments, so this page leaves them out. There is no advice here on what to play at a given M. How a hand is dealt, the blinds and the button are lesson 7.2; the room and the buy-ins of cash games are lesson 7.3; what tournament chips are worth in money, and deals at the final table, are lesson 7.12; tilt and when to leave are lesson 7.13.
Sources. Every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it; the sentences are in Spanish, as the rulebook prints them. The note on where the name M-ratio comes from rests on a reference work; the book itself was not read.
Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. In a poker tournament the players play against one another. Whatever skill counts in a tournament counts only against the other players at the table, and on one evening the cards decide most of what happens; nothing on this page makes the entry smaller, and nothing here says how a tournament would end.
Payouts by place
En todos los casos lo recaudado en concepto de inscripción se repartirá de la siguiente manera:Free translation: In all cases, the amount collected as entry fees shall be distributed as follows:
Al primer puesto 50%Free translation: To first place 50%
Al segundo puesto 30%Free translation: To second place 30%
Al tercer puesto 20%Free translation: To third place 20%
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)
Where the name M-ratio comes from
Volume 2: The Endgamefocuses on strategies used in poker tournaments, particularly on how to change playing styles depending on how large a chipstack is compared to the blinds. It also introduces related concepts such as the M-ratio and the Q-ratio.
A tie for a paid place
Cuando dos o más Apostadores están por entrar a una posición de cobro de premios y quedan eliminados en esa mano, las posiciones quedan establecidas de la siguiente manera:Free translation: When two or more Bettors are about to enter a prize-paying position and are eliminated in that hand, the positions are established as follows:
Aquel que comenzó la mano con la mayor cantidad de fichas, será calificado en el lugar más alto para el reparto de premios.Free translation: The one who started the hand with the largest number of chips will be ranked in the highest place for the distribution of prizes.
En caso de igualdad de fichas se definirá por mejor juego.Free translation: In case of a tie in chips, it will be decided by the best play.
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)
Payouts by place
En todos los casos lo recaudado en concepto de inscripción se repartirá de la siguiente manera:Free translation: In all cases, the amount collected as entry fees shall be distributed as follows:
Al primer puesto 50%Free translation: To first place 50%
Al segundo puesto 30%Free translation: To second place 30%
Al tercer puesto 20%Free translation: To third place 20%
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)
A Sit & Go: players and tables
Aquél Apostador que logre reunir la totalidad de las fichas en juego será el ganador.Free translation: The Bettor who manages to gather all the chips in play will be the winner.
Podrán jugar un máximo de diez Apostadores por mesa.Free translation: A maximum of ten Bettors may play at each table.
El máximo de apostadores para la modalidad Sit & Go es de 27.Free translation: The maximum number of bettors for the Sit & Go format is 27.
De no reunirse ese número de apostadores, la mesa podrá funcionar con un número menor de Apostadores, siempre que los mismos estuvieren de acuerdo y decidan hacerlo.Free translation: If that number of bettors is not reached, the table may operate with a smaller number of Bettors, provided that they agree and decide to do so.
En el caso que la cantidad de Apostadores supere el número de diez, se dispondrán las mesas necesarias y se jugará con reagrupe y arrastre de fichas.Free translation: If the number of Bettors exceeds ten, the necessary tables will be set up and play will proceed with regrouping and carrying over of chips.
De darse ese caso, a medida que los Apostadores sean eliminados, serán reorganizados, con el fin de dejar el mismo número de apostadores por mesa.Free translation: In that case, as Bettors are eliminated, they will be reorganized in order to keep the same number of bettors at each table.
Los Apostadores no pueden cambiar de asiento por su propia voluntad.Free translation: Bettors may not change seats of their own accord.
El Apostador no podrá negarse a ser reubicado de mesa.Free translation: The Bettor may not refuse to be moved to another table.
Cuando el Sit & Go de más de 10 personas se reduzca a la mesa final, se realizará un nuevo sorteo para la nueva posición de los Apostadores en la mesa.Free translation: When a Sit & Go of more than 10 people is reduced to the final table, a new draw will be held for the Bettors' new positions at the table.
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)
Chips that are not money
A cada Apostador, al inicio de la partida, se le otorgará 5000 puntos en fichas.Free translation: At the start of the game, each Bettor will be given 5000 points in chips.
Las fichas utilizadas para el Sit & Go no poseen valor monetario, son propiedad del Casino y no podrán ser removidas de la mesa.Free translation: The chips used for the Sit & Go have no monetary value, are the property of the Casino and may not be removed from the table.
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)
Levels every ten minutes
A cada Apostador, al inicio de la partida, se le otorgará 5000 puntos en fichas.Free translation: At the start of the game, each Bettor will be given 5000 points in chips.
Las fichas utilizadas para el Sit & Go no poseen valor monetario, son propiedad del Casino y no podrán ser removidas de la mesa.Free translation: The chips used for the Sit & Go have no monetary value, are the property of the Casino and may not be removed from the table.
Las ciegas comenzarán con un mínimo y se irán incrementando en intervalos de 10 (diez) minutos.Free translation: The blinds will start at a minimum and will increase at intervals of 10 (ten) minutes.
Dicho incremento será implementado si la mano no estuviere iniciada, caso contrario se esperará el comienzo de la mano siguiente.Free translation: Said increase will be implemented if the hand has not yet started; otherwise, it will wait until the start of the next hand.
Se aplicará la regla del Botón Muerto: en el caso de que el Apostador a quien corresponda la posición del botón en la próxima mano fuese eliminado, el botón permanecerá en esa posición a efectos del orden de las apuestas ciegas.Free translation: The Dead Button rule will apply: if the Bettor who is entitled to the button position in the next hand is eliminated, the button will remain in that position for the purposes of the order of the blind bets.
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)
Where the name M-ratio comes from
Volume 2: The Endgamefocuses on strategies used in poker tournaments, particularly on how to change playing styles depending on how large a chipstack is compared to the blinds. It also introduces related concepts such as the M-ratio and the Q-ratio.
Payouts by place
En todos los casos lo recaudado en concepto de inscripción se repartirá de la siguiente manera:Free translation: In all cases, the amount collected as entry fees shall be distributed as follows:
Al primer puesto 50%Free translation: To first place 50%
Al segundo puesto 30%Free translation: To second place 30%
Al tercer puesto 20%Free translation: To third place 20%
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)
A tie for a paid place
Cuando dos o más Apostadores están por entrar a una posición de cobro de premios y quedan eliminados en esa mano, las posiciones quedan establecidas de la siguiente manera:Free translation: When two or more Bettors are about to enter a prize-paying position and are eliminated in that hand, the positions are established as follows:
Aquel que comenzó la mano con la mayor cantidad de fichas, será calificado en el lugar más alto para el reparto de premios.Free translation: The one who started the hand with the largest number of chips will be ranked in the highest place for the distribution of prizes.
En caso de igualdad de fichas se definirá por mejor juego.Free translation: In case of a tie in chips, it will be decided by the best play.
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)
Late entry
De darse esta situación de ingreso tardío del Apostador, este solo podrá hacerlo hasta finalizado el primer nivel de ciegas.Free translation: In the event of such a late entry by the Bettor, the Bettor may only enter until the end of the first blind level.
El jugador que ingrese una vez iniciado el torneo recibirá su stacks inicial completo.Free translation: A player who enters once the tournament has started will receive their full initial stack.
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)
Sanctions
Primera falta: llamado de atención.Free translation: First offense: warning.
Segunda falta a una misma regla: se suspenderá a ese Apostador por diez minutos debiendo igualmente pagar las apuestas ciegas sin tener derecho al pozo.Free translation: Second offense against the same rule: that Bettor will be suspended for ten minutes, and must nonetheless pay the blind bets without being entitled to the pot.
Tercera falta a una misma regla: eliminación del torneo.Free translation: Third offense against the same rule: elimination from the tournament.
Las fichas de todo Apostador penalizado con la eliminación serán retiradas de la mesa.Free translation: The chips of any Bettor penalized with elimination will be removed from the table.
Section Capítulo 23, Central Póker Holdem, modalidad Sit & Go: Reglamento del Juego (23.5 disposiciones de la partida, 23.7 cuadro de premios)