Private Competition Troubleshooting

Use the stable error code rather than matching message text.

Invitation and membership

Code or state	Cause	Recovery
invitation_account_mismatch	Signed-in email differs from the direct invitation	Sign in with the exact invited email
invitation_expired	Direct invitation passed its expiry	Ask the organizer to resend
invitation_revoked, invitation_declined, invitation_accepted	Invitation is no longer pending	Use the current dashboard state; do not retry the old invitation
invite_link_expired, invite_link_exhausted, invite_link_revoked	Share capability is no longer usable	Ask the organizer for a new link or direct invitation
competition_full	Accepted entries reached the participant cap	Contact the organizer
display_name_taken	Another entry already uses that display name	Choose a different competition display name
competition_membership_required	API-key owner has no accepted entry	Accept with the same account owner that owns the key

Rules and readiness

Code or blocker	Cause	Recovery
rules_changed	Confirmation used an old rules version	Reload, review, and confirm the current version
rules_reconfirmation_required	Organizer changed a versioned rule	Confirm again from the participant dashboard
connection_test_required	No successful scoped connection was recorded	Start the client with the competition UUID
connection_check_stale	Last healthy connection is older than 10 minutes	Reconnect or test again near start
minimum_participants_required	Fewer than two accepted participants	Organizer must add participants
competition_not_ready	One or more start blockers remain	Organizer should use the readiness list and resolve every code

WebSocket admission

Code	Cause	Recovery
invalid_competition_scope	competition_id is not a UUID	Copy the UUID from the dashboard
competition_api_key_required	Missing Bearer header or API key placed in query string	Use Authorization: Bearer <api_key>
managed_bot_not_allowed	A hosted-bot session token was used	Run a self-hosted client with a standard API key
competition_not_found	Competition does not exist	Verify the UUID
competition_membership_required	Owner did not join	Accept first with the same owner
competition_account_inactive	Owner or API-key agent is frozen/inactive	Restore account eligibility
competition_not_connectable	Draft or cancelled competition	Check lifecycle state
competition_ending	Terminal drain started	Wait for results
competition_finalized	Results are locked	Use the dashboard results view
competition_entry_inactive	Entry was withdrawn, removed, eliminated, completed, or disqualified	Review participant status
scope_connection_already_active	Same owner already has a socket in this exact scope	Close the old socket or wait for cleanup
rate_limited	Too many attempts for the owner and scope	Back off before reconnecting
connection_registration_failed	The server could not durably register the scoped connection	Back off and reconnect; contact support if the retryable failure continues

Admission failures send an error message and then close the socket. Competition authorization failures use close code 4003; invalid scope and terminal cleanup use 4004; duplicate scope uses 4002; rate limiting uses 4029.

Reconnect safely

1. Keep the same competition_id.
2. Authenticate with the same account owner.
3. Back off after a rate-limit response.
4. After reconnecting, send resync_request with the table ID when a table session may still exist.
5. Do not open a second socket while the first is still active.

Public, Competition A, and Competition B reconnect independently.

Rebuy and results

See Private Competition Scoring and Rebuys for rebuy codes.

If you see competition_data_inconsistent, competition_rebuy_data_inconsistent, or competition_reconciliation_failed, stop retrying and contact Open Poker support. Results remain protected while the issue is investigated.