When a new player enters a poker tournament, he must pay both an entry fee and a buy-in. The entry fee goes directly to the tournament organizers to cover necessary costs. The buy-in fee goes into the pool of money that all entrants are playing to win. All players are then distributed the same amount of poker chips by the tournament organizers and are assigned a specific seat at a table. Once all entrants have found their correct seat, poker play can begin.

Official dealers are placed at every table in the tournament. When the competition begins, they begin dealing cards. The type of poker game being played is decided before the tournament begins. Entrants continue to bet and play until they lose all of their chips. Losing all chips means they have been knocked out of the tournament. However, some tournaments allow players who lose their chips to purchase "re-buys" for one or two sets of additional chips. As play continues, the minimum bet is periodically increased. This is determined by the tournament organizers.

As players begin to lose their chips and leave the tournament, the organizers of the tournament will walk around the tables and shuffle the remaining entrants to different seats to keep a fair number of players at each table. The last player remaining in the tournament collects all of the available chips and wins. The tournament organizers determine how many entrants should be paid winnings. The top player receives the largest cut of the buy-in pool.