MTT
also called multi table tournament
A multi table tournament is an event where every entrant starts with the same chips, the blinds rise on a clock, and players are eliminated until one person holds everything.
The chips are not money, which is the difference that drives everything else. They cannot be cashed out, only converted into a finishing place, and the prize scale is far flatter than the chip counts, so surviving has a value that a cash game does not have.
The rising blinds mean the game changes shape as it goes. Deep stacked postflop play early gives way to shorter stacks and simpler decisions later, and most of the prize pool is decided in the second half.
an example
your cards
You start with 20,000 chips at blinds of 25 and 50, which is 400 big blinds. Four hours later the same 20,000 is 20 big blinds, and ace king has gone from a hand you raise to a hand you move all in with.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find mtt in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
ICM
The Independent Chip Model, or ICM, estimates what a tournament stack is worth in prize money by treating each player's ...
Bubble
The bubble is the point in a tournament where one more player has to be eliminated before anybody gets paid, which makes ...
Late registration
Late registration is the period after a tournament has started during which players may still buy in, arriving with a st ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
The full order of play, from the blinds to the showdown.