Registration
All tournaments require you to register prior to the start time. You do this by selecting the tournament you want to play from the lists in the card-room lobby by clicking on it and then pressing the "Go To Tournament" button. You will then see the tournament status screen shown below.

This screen tells you the registration and start times of the tournament along with a list of registered players, and the current payout table. By clicking the "Details" button, you can see the blinds, level times, breaks and rebuy information. When the tournament starts, you can also use this screen to see chip counts, and table summaries.

To register, simple click the "Register" button and you'll see the registration screen. This offers you methods of entry (cash, ipoints or tournament token). Once you register, you will see a confirmation screen. You can unregister at any time during the registration period.

Getting Started
When your tournament is about to start, the players will be gathered automatically and your seat and table will be assigned randomly. If, for some reason, you are not logged in when your tournament starts, you will be seated and put into "sitting out" mode. You will continue to post blinds until you join the tournament or your chips have been blinded away.

Muti-Table Tournaments
Most of the major tournaments at Kiwi Poker are played over multiple tables. As the number of players in the tournament reduces, you may find that you are automatically moved to a different table. This is part of the tournament table balancing and is done to make sure tables are as full as possible or have a similar number of players on each. Usually this tournament structure offers breaks after every hour.

Towards the end of tournaments, you may find that you have "hand for hand" periods. These are introduced when the number of hands played can affect when players are elimination and therefore what prize placings players achieve. To prevent players from 'stalling' and hoping to see other tables lose players first, all tables play the same number of hands and the dealers wait until all tables have finished their hands before the next hand is dealt.

In the event of more than one player being eliminated during a hand, their final ranking will be determined by the number of chips they had at the beginning of that hand.

Rebuys and Add-ons
Some tournaments, often denoted by R/A after them, offer rebuys and add-ons. Rebuys allow players who are short-stacked or have lost their chips to purchase a fresh stack of chips for a set fee (normally equal to the entry fee). An add-on is a period during the first break in which all players are allowed to purchase a fresh stack of chips regardless of how many chips they have. Rebuys are usually allowed until the add-on break. Tournaments which do not offer rebuys and add-ons are called Freezeout Tournaments.

Showdowns
Unlike cash games, tournament play features showdowns. If a no further betting is possible in a hand because some or all of the players have committed their chips to the pot, then regardless of where the hand has got to, the pocket cards of all involved players are turned over. The remaining community cards (if any remain to be dealt) are dealt and the hand completed.

Single Table Tournaments
These are played on a single table with between 4 and 10 players. They start as soon as the table is filled and are offered on a rolling basis. There are no breaks and are usually paid as follows:
1st - 50%
2nd - 30%
3rd - 20%

Satellites and Stages
Players have the chance to win seats to big events by qualifying through lower cost satellite tournaments. These satellites vary in cost and the table format is varied to appeal to all players of all abilities. You could win a $12,000 seat in a land tournament for less that $5 if you qualify through satellites.

Kiwi Poker normally structures its satellites in terms of "Stages". For example, our main event might be a single Super Satellite for a WPT tournament. You could buy into this event for $300 + $30, or you could enter a $50 + $5 "Stage 1" satellite which would offer a seat in our main event as a prize. For as little as $5 + $0.5, you could enter a "Stage 2" satellite which offers a seat in the "Stage 1" satellite as a prize. Satellite structures vary and can be found in the tournament details on the site and in the lobby.

Tournament Tokens
As part of the VIP Club or general promotions, players may be given Tournament Tokens. These can be used by players to enter specified tournaments rather than cash. Available tokens can be see in the "My Account" section of the cashier if you click on the "iPoints" tab.