Hand-for-hand

Hand-for-hand is a phase of a poker tournament just before the money bubble, with just a few players needing to be eliminated before the rest of the field makes money.

To maintain the tournament integrity and ensure fairness, during the hand-for-hand stage, all tables remaining in a tournament will play one hand at a time. The hand will start at the same time across all tables and the next hand will only be dealt once the action is completed at all tables.

This way, players can’t deliberately slow down the action, and there is never confusion as to when a player is busted and in what position.

For example, there are 20 players left in a tournament, with 18 making the money, and the hand-for-hand play is on. In one of the hands, two players are busted from the tournament, meaning that all 18 players that are left to play are “in the money,” so hand-for-hand play is stopped, and the tournament continues with regular play.

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