Freezeout

The term freezeout refers to poker tournaments where players are eliminated once they lose their starting stack. In a freezeout, you don’t get the option to re-enter or re-buy. Once you’re out of chips, you’re out of the tournament, even if you get eliminated on the very first hand.

During the early days of poker, most tournaments were played in a freezeout format. These days, most tournaments offer re-entries, which means that once you’re eliminated, you can register for the tournament again and have a fresh start.

There are still some freezeout tournaments out there, with the WSOP Main Event being the most notable example.

In a freezeout, players have to adopt a tighter strategy as they don’t get any do-overs. This is the reason why many recreational players prefer this format, as they feel it doesn’t give an advantage to professionals with big bankrolls who can easily afford multiple entries in events that allow them.

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