There are two situations when a player can be moved in a tournament:
In summary, there are two fundamental goals that the table balancing system achieves, and they are:
When two or more players are eliminated during the same hand, the player who started the hand with the most chips will be the one who ranks higher for the tournament. If all players started the hand with an identical number of chips, all players tie for that rank, and any prizes will be equally distributed between them.
For example, we have 6 players left in a tournament, and 2 players were eliminated in the same hand while starting the hand with the same stack. In such a scenario, players will receive the same amount: (Prize5 + Prize6)/2.
During hand-for-hand play, two or more players eliminated during a single ‘synchronized‘ hand are treated as having been eliminated simultaneously, even if they are at different tables. So, you may notice another player eliminated during the same hand-for-hand phase yet not allocated with a finishing order place until all tables have completed that hand. Players eliminated during the same hand are then ranked according to who started that hand with the most chips.
Hand for hand is a multi-table situation that occurs during the latter stages of a poker tournament. During hand-for-hand play, each table must wait for all other tables to complete their hands before starting next hand. Hand for hand is necessary because as a poker tournament draws closer to the next tier of prize payouts, it becomes vital to have a precise and definitive ranking of players to pay eliminated players accurately.
There is no rule against sitting out and folding every hand. A player who is sitting out puts his opponents at a significant advantage. A player sitting out is folding every hand, forced to pay his blinds and antes, and can never build his stack.
On rare occasions, a player might blind off into a cash position, but players using this strategy are usually in a much worse position than those who play their best game.
More detailed information can be found in our Tournament Rules.