Bubble rules (hand-for-hand play)

In poker tournaments, hand-for-hand play is activated before the bubble (the last player eliminated before prizes are awarded). If a player is eliminated at one table, he is not automatically out in the bubble position.

The system will wait for all the tables to finish their hands before determining who was out on the bubble.

If someone at one of the other tables is also eliminated on the same hand, then the player that started the hand with more chips will be given the higher finish. Therefore, it is possible during hand-for-hand play to be eliminated moments before someone else but to receive a higher finish than they did.

Hand-for-hand play is also implemented after the initial money bubble, at every point where the size of each cash prize increases.

For example, two players, 'Bubble_O_Bill' and 'Bad_Boy_Bubble', are short stacked during hand-for-hand play in a tournament on a prize bubble, where the prize money increases from $500 to $1,000. 'Bubble_O_Bill' has 2,500 chips and goes all-in pre-flop with Jack Ten suited, but loses to another player who quickly calls with pocket Queens. 'Bad_Boy_Bubble' has 2,000 chips, and his pocket Sevens lose a race to Ace Jack, but only after their opponent uses up most of their time bank before deciding to call. Although 'Bubble_O_Bill' was eliminated first, because their chip stack was 2,500, (compared to the 2,000 of 'Bad_Boy_Bubble'), they are awarded the higher finishing position and receive the $1,000.

This is standard practice in live poker room tournaments, as it prevents players from stalling in the hope they will make the money.

All of this information is detailed in our Tournament Rules.