Are freezeout tournaments good for you? What is a freezeout, and are they right for you? We examine the benefits and drawbacks of freezeouts in poker.
The most popular poker game in the world is Texas No-Limit Hold’em. But what comes to mind when you hear the term “freezeout” when you think about poker’s most popular format?
We’ll go through what freezeout events are, how to play them, and why they’re some of the most popular poker tournaments on the planet, from purchasing to winning.
What is a ‘Freezeout’ Poker Tournament?
In its most basic form, a freezeout poker tournament is an event in which each player pays a predetermined buy-in amount before beginning play, and that money is transformed into poker chips. From then on, you can’t rebuy, re-enter, or add to those chips in any way other than by winning your opponents’ chips, with the blinds increasing and the chips eventually all being in front of one player, who is declared the winner.
Because cash games allow players to add to their stack during gaming by topping up current chips with extra funds or rebuying if they lose all of their chips, a freezeout event is almost always a tournament in poker. Only if everyone had to buy-in for the same amount at the start of play, but players could cash out before there was a winner, as there usually is at the end of a poker tournament, would a cash game constitute a freezeout.
A freezeout poker tournament is the purest form of poker because once a player commits to playing, they receive the same beginning chips as the rest of the field, and no one may rebuy or re-enter. You will either win the tournament or lose all of your chips if you enter. You’re out of the freezeout tournament if you’ve lost them.
How Popular are Freezeouts?
The only poker tournaments in town used to be Freezeout. It was unheard of for players to rebuy unless they were in a cash game. However, the environment of poker tournaments has altered dramatically in the last quarter-century.
The growth of rebuy or re-entry events in recent years has drastically changed how poker players must approach tournament poker as a hobby and, in some cases, a vocation. Rebuy events allow you to reload your chips at the table, similar to a cash game, up to the tournament buy-in cost, but occasionally even more. After then, there’s an ‘add-on’ time during which you can buy extra chips for a different amount of money. Re-entry events are similar, but you’ll have to bust out, re-register, and then be placed at a random table rather than the one where you lost your stack.
Many poker players are rejecting the new format in favor of more conventional freezeout events due to the “growth of rebuys” in tournament poker. The World Series of Poker Main Event, which has been a freezeout since its inception half a century ago and is still the most popular poker tournament in the world, is frequently mentioned by these freezeout supporters.
The Future of Freezeout Events
Whether it’s the World Series of Poker Main Event or a local casino tournament, freezeouts will always be poker’s genuine tournament format, and it’s practically hard to imagine rebuy events being so popular that you can’t locate a freezeout poker game.
While rebuys and re-entries are a feature of the game, it is a truth that players like knowing that if they have knocked someone out of a tournament, that person will not be able to re-enter. This is especially true in larger events where a major name could be eliminated.
The finest Result SGP poker to watch is when both players are aware that everything is on the line, rather than when those who can afford to enter several times have an unfair advantage over those who can’t. That is why Freezeout poker tournaments have always been popular and are expected to stay so in the future, both online and in live tournaments like the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, and European Poker Tour.
