Freeze Out Tournament
The most common format for poker tournaments is the Freeze Out Tournament. There are three key elements to such a structure:
1) Players start with a specific amount of chips, usually the same number of chips for each player. There are some instances where players have participated in earlier events that can earn they extra starting chips but these are rare and usually casino promotions not open tournaments. All major events like the WSOP or WPT or EPT open events are freeze out tournaments.
2) By definition a freeze out tournament is one in which you cannot buy any additional chips by any means. No rebuys, no addons, no extra chips at all.
3) The tournament is played until one player has all the chips , that player is the winner and gets first place prize money. Other places may be paid based on the announced tournament prize pool.
In a freeze out tournament tables are broken down and players are combined onto other tables as players bust out of the event.
You may assume if a tournament is listed with just the words No Limit Hold’em or Omaha or nearly any other title and nothing else is specified that you are looking at a freeze out tournament.
-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #92
