Set Up a TournamentHow-to
Create a tournament
Name it, set the date and capacity, and choose your registration rules.
Creating a tournament takes about a minute. You can change almost everything later, so don’t overthink the first pass — get the event created, then refine.
1
Start a new tournament
On the phone, tap Create in Quick Actions on Home (or Create on the Tourney tab or your club’s Tournaments tab), then Build from scratch. On desktop, choose Host Tournament on Home, or Setup Tournament on the Tournament screen.
2
Name it and pick a date/time
Use a name your players will recognize — “Thursday Night $40” beats “Tournament 1”.
3
Set Estimated Players
A rough max player count. It helps Poker Hawk plan tables and chip sets; you can seat more or fewer on the night.
4
Choose registration & late-reg rules
Decide whether players can register late and until when. “By level 4” is a solid default for a casual game.
If you run the same game every week, set it up once and save it as a preset — future events start pre-filled. See Save & reuse tournament presets.
Keep learning
Understanding tournament rake
Percentage vs. flat fees, and how each one changes the prize pool.
Buy-ins, bounties, and where the money goes
How the buy-in splits into prize pool, bounty, and fees when you enable bounties.
Rebuy vs. re-entry — what's the difference?
They sound similar but behave differently. Pick the right one for your event.
Run your own tournament with Poker Hawk.
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