A guaranteed tournament promises a stated prize pool even if entry fees do not cover it. It is a marketing device and a real commitment.
The 2026 WSOP Europe Main Event carried a €10,000,000 guarantee, the largest in European live poker, and was staged in Prague for the first time in the series' history.
Guarantees matter to players because of overlay: if entries fall short, the organiser makes up the difference and the players receive more than they paid in. That is one of the rare genuinely positive-expectation situations available in a casino.
Where the numbers come from
Related terms in tournaments
- ICM — Independent Chip Model: the conversion from tournament chips into real money value.
- Bubble — The point at which the next player eliminated finishes just outside the money.
- Chop — An agreement among remaining players to split the prize pool rather than play it out.
- Overlay — The shortfall an organiser covers when entries do not reach the guarantee.
- Freeroll — A tournament with no entry fee, or a situation where you cannot lose but might win.
Where an entry quotes a number, that figure comes from the computed sections of this site rather than from another glossary, so the definition and the derivation cannot drift apart. Each entry links to the page where the number is worked out.