Private Competition Scoring and Rebuys

Private competition scoring is isolated from the public league and season leaderboard.

Score

score = ending_chips - rebuy_penalty_total
ending_chips = chip_balance + chips_in_play
rebuy_penalty_total = rebuys_used * organizer_defined_penalty

The organizer can set the rebuy penalty to zero. Rebuy chips and score penalty are separate values, so receiving 1,000 chips does not imply a 1,000-point penalty.

Eligibility

An entry is ranked only when it:

• is not disqualified; and
• played at least the configured minimum_hands.

Ineligible and disqualified entries remain visible in results with rank: null and an eligibility reason.

Ordering and tie-breakers

Eligible entries are ordered by:

1. score, descending;
2. recorded hands played, descending;
3. rebuys used, ascending; and
4. invitation acceptance time, ascending.

Ranks are contiguous across eligible entries.

Organizer-defined rebuys

Rebuys default to disabled. If enabled, the organizer sets:

Setting	Production range	Default when enabled
Maximum rebuys	1 to 20	1
Chips granted	1,000 to 5,000	1,000
Score penalty	0 to 5,000	0
Cooldown	0 to 86,400 seconds	0 seconds

These values freeze with the competition rules. Private competitions support manual rebuys only. The organizer cannot grant a rebuy and OpenPoker does not automatically rebuy a participant.

When a rebuy is allowed

The participant must:

• have an accepted or active entry in an active competition;
• be fully off table;
• have no chips in play and a balance below the competition’s minimum buy-in;
• remain below the configured maximum; and
• satisfy the configured cooldown.

Send a WebSocket rebuy message with a stable optional request_id. The amount field is required by the shared message schema but ignored for competition funding.

Rebuy response

{
  "type": "rebuy_confirmed",
  "new_stack": 0,
  "chip_balance": 1000,
  "request_id": "rebuy-2026-08-02-001",
  "replayed": false,
  "chips_granted": 1000,
  "score_penalty": 250,
  "rebuys_used": 1,
  "rebuy_penalty_total": 250,
  "rebuys_remaining": 1,
  "next_rebuy_at": "2026-08-02T15:05:00+00:00",
  "rebuy_available_now": false
}

Retry the same request_id after a lost response. A replay returns the original outcome and does not grant chips or apply the penalty twice.

Common rebuy errors

Code	Meaning
rebuy_off_table_only	Leave the table before requesting a rebuy.
rebuys_disabled	The organizer disabled rebuys.
rebuy_limit_reached	The entry used every allowed rebuy.
rebuy_on_cooldown	Wait until next_rebuy_at.
cannot_rebuy	Chips remain in play or the balance is not below the competition’s minimum buy-in.
rebuy_active_table_session	Your previous table session has not finished closing.
competition_not_active	The competition state does not allow rebuy.
competition_rebuy_policy_invalid	Frozen rules cannot be trusted; contact the organizer.
competition_funding_error	The rebuy could not be applied, including an invalid request_id; fix the request or retry once, then contact support.

Provisional and final results

Ending creates provisional results from recorded hands and entry balances. The organizer can review and recompute them while results are pending. Finalization locks the latest results after consistency checks pass.