Have you ever wondered what happens when multiple players are eliminated from a poker tournament at the same time? While a rare occurrence, it can have a significant impact on your final standing and prize money. This guide explains the official rule and its implications.
In a standard poker tournament, your finishing position is determined by the exact order in which you are eliminated. The last player remaining is the winner, the second-to-last player finishes in 2nd place, and so on.
Example: If 100 players enter a tournament and you are the first player to be eliminated, you finish in 100th place. If you are the 25th player eliminated, you finish in 75th place.
When two or more players are eliminated on the same hand, their finishing order is determined by the number of Chips they had at the start of that hand. The player with the larger stack receives the higher tournament rank.
Example: In a tournament with 100 players, two players, Player A and Player B, are eliminated on the same hand.
Player A started the hand with 11,234 Chips.
Player B started the hand with 9,543 Chips.
In this situation, Player A would finish in 99th place, while Player B would finish in 100th place. Player A receives the higher rank because they began the hand with a larger stack.
While this rule doesn't often affect the final prize money, it becomes critically important during key moments of a tournament, such as on the bubble or when approaching a pay jump.
The Bubble: The "bubble" is the point in the tournament when the next player to be eliminated will not receive a prize, while everyone who survives will "make the money."
In order to protect against tanking and ensure fairness, tournaments typically enter "Hand-for-Hand" play as they approach the bubble. During this time, every table completes one hand, and then all tables wait for each other to finish the hand before the next hand is dealt.
If two players are eliminated in the same hand during this crucial period, the player with the larger chip stack at the beginning of the hand will make the money, while the other player will bust in the bubble position.
Pay Jumps: The same principle applies at every pay jump. If two players are eliminated simultaneously on the same hand, the player who started the hand with the larger stack will be awarded the higher finishing position and receive the larger prize associated with that rank.
Important Note on "Hand-for-Hand" Play: During Hand-for-Hand play, all hands dealt across every table are considered to be part of the "same hand" for the purpose of ranking. It does not matter if a hand at one table concludes before another; the finishing position of any eliminated players will still be determined by their starting chip counts for that hand.
Example:
Hand 1 of Hand-for-Hand Play: Player A at Table 1 starts with 5,000 Chips. Player B at Table 4 starts with 3,333 Chips. Both players are eliminated on Hand 1.
Result: Player A will receive the higher rank because they had a larger starting stack, regardless of which table finished its hand first.
We understand this rule can be confusing, but its purpose is to create a clear and fair system for determining rankings when multiple players are eliminated at once. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Support team.