Hand-for-hand
Encyclopedia
Hand-for-hand situations in the card game
of poker
arise exclusively during tournaments
at times in which multiple tables are in play and the tournament is nearing an increase in the prize payouts, and/or there must be a definitive player ranking.
In poker tournaments, the order of elimination is the means of determining player rank. Because rank directly amounts to a particular payout, at times during a tournament play is slowed down to ensure accurate measurement of player elimination. Hand-for-hand play requires all hands be dealt at the same time. When a table has finished a hand, the dealer must wait until all tables have finished to commence the next hand. This does not affect how a particular table 'plays' their hands; only the deals must be simultaneous.
Another reason for the use of hand-for-hand play is to prevent players from stalling, or deliberately taking as long as possible to act on their hand in the hope of moving up in the prize structure when players at other tables bust out. By ensuring that each table plays the same number of hands, the incentive to stall is removed.
Hand-for-hand play usually starts when the next player (or players) to leave the tournament will be the last place at a given payout. Most poker tournaments, for simplicity, group payouts based upon rank below the final table. Twentieth to eighteenth may be paid the same amount, and seventeenth through fourteenth may be paid a higher amount, for example. In this scenario, hand-for-hand may commence with 21 and 18 players remaining. At the 2005 World Series of Poker
Main Event, day 4 started in hand-for-hand, with eliminations required until 561 players remained.
Hand-for-hand play eliminates ties
, except for one, exceptionally rare situation. If multiple players go all-in during one hand run hand-for-hand, assuming all players all-in are eliminated, the players are ranked according to chip count, the amount the player had in front of them at the beginning of the hand. Players are only awarded a tied rank if they have identical pre-hand chip counts, in which case the prizes are customarily split by both players. In some situations, pre-hand chip counts may not be available, in which case, all players eliminated on a given hand are considered to have tied for the same rank. For example, at the 2004 World Series of Poker
Main Event, where 225 players were scheduled to be in-the-money, hand-for-hand play was held with 226 players. Two players were eliminated on the same hand, and were considered tied for 225th; they initially split the $10,000 prize before the casino elected to give them each $10,000.
In the 2006 World Series of Poker
, round-for-round play was used instead of hand-for-hand. Here, a round is defined as the blinds going around the table once. Therefore, at a nine handed table one round would consist of nine hands. The difference from hand-for-hand play is that in round-for-round play, each table finishes one round of play (instead of one hand), then waits for all other tables to finish the current round. The advantage of round-for-round is that it does not slow play down as much as hand-for-hand, and is much easier to coordinate in a live tournament setting with a large number of tables still in play, while still eliminating any incentive for players to stall.
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
of poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
arise exclusively during tournaments
Poker tournament
A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table , and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tables...
at times in which multiple tables are in play and the tournament is nearing an increase in the prize payouts, and/or there must be a definitive player ranking.
In poker tournaments, the order of elimination is the means of determining player rank. Because rank directly amounts to a particular payout, at times during a tournament play is slowed down to ensure accurate measurement of player elimination. Hand-for-hand play requires all hands be dealt at the same time. When a table has finished a hand, the dealer must wait until all tables have finished to commence the next hand. This does not affect how a particular table 'plays' their hands; only the deals must be simultaneous.
Another reason for the use of hand-for-hand play is to prevent players from stalling, or deliberately taking as long as possible to act on their hand in the hope of moving up in the prize structure when players at other tables bust out. By ensuring that each table plays the same number of hands, the incentive to stall is removed.
Hand-for-hand play usually starts when the next player (or players) to leave the tournament will be the last place at a given payout. Most poker tournaments, for simplicity, group payouts based upon rank below the final table. Twentieth to eighteenth may be paid the same amount, and seventeenth through fourteenth may be paid a higher amount, for example. In this scenario, hand-for-hand may commence with 21 and 18 players remaining. At the 2005 World Series of Poker
2005 World Series of Poker
The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7. The conclusion of the Main Event on July 15 marked the close of play, and the largest prize in sports and/or television history at the time was awarded to the...
Main Event, day 4 started in hand-for-hand, with eliminations required until 561 players remained.
Hand-for-hand play eliminates ties
Tie (draw)
To tie or draw is to finish a competition with identical or inconclusive results. The word "tie" is usually used in North America for sports such as American football. "Draw" is usually used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations and it is usually used for sports such as...
, except for one, exceptionally rare situation. If multiple players go all-in during one hand run hand-for-hand, assuming all players all-in are eliminated, the players are ranked according to chip count, the amount the player had in front of them at the beginning of the hand. Players are only awarded a tied rank if they have identical pre-hand chip counts, in which case the prizes are customarily split by both players. In some situations, pre-hand chip counts may not be available, in which case, all players eliminated on a given hand are considered to have tied for the same rank. For example, at the 2004 World Series of Poker
2004 World Series of Poker
The 2004 World Series of Poker was held at Binion's Horseshoe after Harrah's Entertainment purchased the casino and the rights to the tournament in January...
Main Event, where 225 players were scheduled to be in-the-money, hand-for-hand play was held with 226 players. Two players were eliminated on the same hand, and were considered tied for 225th; they initially split the $10,000 prize before the casino elected to give them each $10,000.
In the 2006 World Series of Poker
2006 World Series of Poker
The 2006 World Series of Poker began on June 25, 2006 with "satellite" events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29...
, round-for-round play was used instead of hand-for-hand. Here, a round is defined as the blinds going around the table once. Therefore, at a nine handed table one round would consist of nine hands. The difference from hand-for-hand play is that in round-for-round play, each table finishes one round of play (instead of one hand), then waits for all other tables to finish the current round. The advantage of round-for-round is that it does not slow play down as much as hand-for-hand, and is much easier to coordinate in a live tournament setting with a large number of tables still in play, while still eliminating any incentive for players to stall.