Cancelled Online Poker Tournament and Crash

On this page you will find the normal conduct regarding cancelled online poker tournament, and also how we decide in the case of as crash in poker tournament online at poker player friendly sites. The rules are there to find a fair and just way do act in case of unforeseen technical interruption in poker tournaments:

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Definition of Tournament Crash

Tournament Crash is a situation where most players are not able to play until the end of the tournament because of a server error. If there is one or a few players who cannot play due to server error, their case will be examined individually.

Stages of a Tournament

All tournaments are divided into four stages. The way a Crash is dealt with depends on which of the four stages the cause of Crash occurred in.

Pre-Tournament Stage

Any Crash occurring before the start of a tournament or in the earliest part of a tournament (with less than 5 % of entrants eliminated) is a “Pre-tournament Crash”. In these cases, the tournament is cancelled as if it never happened, meaning all entrants get their buy-in and fee back.

Early Stage

Stage from the beginning of the tournament until the 25 % of the entrants has been eliminated.

Middle Stage

It starts as soon as 25 % of entrants have been eliminated. Players are not guaranteed to win any money yet.

Late Stage

It begins when all remaining players are going to win some money from the prize pool.

Types of Tournaments

There are three types of poker tournament that are treated differently:

Regulars

The prize pool is the sum of entrants’ buy-ins.

Freeroll

These poker tournaments are free, and the prize pool is a predetermined fixed sum.

Satellites

Prizes of satellites are typically entries or free seats to other tournaments.

Possible Scenarios in Case of a Tournament Crash

Below is a list of possible scenarios depending on which stage of the tournament the Crash occurs, possible circumstances of the Crash (stage, tournament type) and remedies normally offered by poker sites.

Regular tournament – Pre-tournament stage

In case the tournament hasn’t started yet, or less than 5 % of entrants has been eliminated, the tournament will be cancelled, and all players get their buy-ins and fees refunded.

Regular tournament – Early stage

In case the Crash occurs at the second stage of a tournament (before 25 % of entrants have been eliminated) all players still in play get their buy-ins and fees back, and the prize pool is evenly split between them.

Regular tournament – Middle stage

If the Crash occurs during the third stage of a tournament, the prize pool is split up between remaining players based on their stacksizes according to the chip equity formula. No player will get less than the buy-in or more than the first prize of the tournament. Fees will not be additionally refunded.

Regular tournaments – Final stage

If the Crash occurs during the third stage of a tournament, the prize pool is split up between remaining players based on their stacksizes according to the chip equity formula. No player will get less than if they were to be eliminated next or more than the first prize of the tournament.

Freeroll – Early stage

In case the Crash occurs at the early stage poker freerolls, the prize pool won’t be paid out. Any frequent player points paid as buy-in will be refunded to players. Finding a new date for the same freeroll with the same players and the decision whether to announce the same freeroll again or not is the sole discretion of the Marketing Manager.

Freeroll – Middle stage

When the Crash occurs in the middle stage of a freeroll it is the sole discretion of the Marketing Manager to decide whether to find another date for the same freeroll for the same players or to split up the prize pool evenly between remaining players. In the latter case, the prize pool is split up between remaining players based on their stacksizes according to the chip equity formula.

Freeroll – Final stage

When a Crash occurs during the final stage of a freeroll, the prize pool is split up between remaining players based on their stacksizes according to the chip equity formula.

Satellite – Early stage

In case the Crash occurs at the second stage of a satellite tournament (before 25 % of entrants have been eliminated) all remaining players get their buy-in and fee back, and the prize pool is evenly split between them.

Satellite – Middle stage

When a Crash occurs in the middle stage of a satellite tournament, the Marketing Manager decides between:

Either by distributing the whole prize pool and tournament tickets in proportion to remaining players’ chip counts according to the chip equity formula.

Or distributing 50 % of prizes evenly among all remaining players, and distributing the other 50 % in proportion to stack sizes using the chip equity formula. Fees will not be refunded in this case.

Satellite – Final stage

When a Crash occurs in the final stage of a poker satellite tournament with all remaining players “in the money”, all players get their tournament tickets or free seats.

Special cases – Injustice

In case any of the above solutions lead to injustice with one or more players (this is to be judged by the Tournament Manager), then player(s) involved will be compensated by an amount payed directly to their account.

Configuration

If an error has been made by giving out the wrong prizes (qualification for the wrong tournament, real money instead of tickets etc.), management reserves the right to withdraw prizes. The decision either to withdraw prizes in such cases or to leave them with the winners is the sole discretion of the Tournament Manager.

Tournament Prize pool distribution formulas

Below you will find information on how the prize pool will be divided in case of a crash; the regular poker tournament payout structure can be found under the tournament section on poker sites.

Chip Equity Formula

A simple formula that helps determines how the prize pool should be distributed between remaining players.

Here’s how it works:

Dividing half of the prize pool by the total amount of chips in play the worth of a $1 chip is calculated. Multiplying that amount by the stacks, players get their share of half of the prize pool based exactly on their chip count this way.

The other half of the prize pool is split up evenly among players.

Chip Position Formula

This formula is used when all players are “in the money”.

This is How it’s Calculated:

Players are ranked based on their chip counts, and 50 % of the prize pool will be distributed based on rank.

The other half of the prize pool is distributed evenly among players.