Flip & Go vs Regular Tournament Format

What Flip & Go changes compared with a regular tournament

A regular tournament is one long grind. You buy in, you get a starting stack, and you play hand after hand through rising blind levels until the field is small enough to pay out. Most of the field leaves with nothing, and the money only starts when the bubble bursts.

Flip & Go splits that into two clearly separate phases. The first is the Flip Stage, and it is not really poker as you normally think of it. Each table plays down to a single winner in an all-in shootout fashion, and that winner moves on to the Go Stage already in the money¹. There is no bubble to sweat, because everyone who survives the Flip is paid.

The mechanics of the Flip Stage are simple. You are dealt three hole cards and get 30 seconds to discard one. If you do not choose, the lowest card is removed automatically¹. Then the table goes all in. One hand decides who advances.

The Go Stage is where the format turns back into a normal tournament. All players carry their chips from the Flip Stage, and play continues in a regular tournament format¹. So the second half of a Flip & Go is genuinely a standard event: blind levels, position, bet sizing, the lot. What you skipped was the long early grind, not the poker itself.

Two structural details matter if you are comparing it to a regular event. First, there is no late registration, so you have to be seated before it starts¹. Second, the tables are 8-handed, with 9 players at the final table¹. That is slightly shorter-handed than a full-ring regular tournament, which means you will be playing more hands per orbit.

If you want the general mechanics of a standard event first, how poker tournaments work covers buy-ins, flights, re-entry and payouts, and poker tournament structures explains starting stacks and blind levels. Flip & Go is best understood as a variation on that base, not a replacement for it.

Where the format fits on Natural8's tournament schedule

Flip & Go sits alongside the standard multi-table tournaments in the Natural8 lobby rather than replacing them. The room runs a broad schedule, and a majority of its poker tournaments pay real money prizes, though a handful pay out in tournament tickets, C$ or T$ instead³. If you are scanning the lobby for a Flip & Go, check what the prize is before you register.

One practical point about the numbers you see advertised. Natural8 states plainly that event guarantees are subject to change and that the amounts listed on its website may not be current, and it directs players to the tournament lobby in the app for the latest figures². So treat any guarantee you read on a web page, including the ones below, as a guide rather than a promise. The lobby is the live number.

Flip & Go also feeds a leaderboard. The Daily Leaderboard awards points that can only be earned by playing Flip & Go, so the format has its own ongoing competition attached to it⁴.

There is one more thing worth knowing before you sit down. Natural8 can broadcast selected tournament final tables on online media such as Twitch, with hole cards shown on a one-hour delay from the actual time of play⁵. If you reach a final table in a selected event, your play may be shown.

Other formats you will meet: All-in or Fold, Short Deck and Gold Spin

Flip & Go is one of several fast formats in the lobby, and it helps to know how the others differ so you pick the right one.

All-in or Fold. In this format you have only two options on every decision: shove or fold. There is no calling, no raising small, no post-flop play. It runs in Texas Hold'em or Pot-Limit Omaha, with cash games from micro stakes upward, and the tables are four-handed, which makes it very fast and very swingy⁶. Natural8 offers All-in or Fold among its VIP game types alongside Hold'em, Omaha and Short Deck⁷. If you want a walkthrough of the sit-and-go version, see how to play All-in or Fold sit & go.

Spin & Go and Gold Spin. These are three-handed, hyper-turbo sit-and-goes where the prize pool is randomly multiplied before the game starts. On comparable networks, a $15 buy-in can produce prizes ranging from $30 to $42,500, and across buy-in levels from $1 to $60 players can win up to 170,000 times their entry fee⁸. Natural8's own version is called Spin & Gold, listed among the games it offers alongside Rush & Cash and mixed games⁹. The general format is covered in sit & go formats.

The common thread is speed. All four formats compress the early, slow part of a tournament into something much shorter. Flip & Go does it with a single all-in hand; All-in or Fold does it by removing every decision except the biggest one; Spin & Go does it by starting three-handed with tiny stacks.

Flagship series: GGMillion$ and its WSOP Paradise tickets

Beyond the daily schedule, Natural8 runs a set of flagship series that are worth knowing about even if you mostly play small buy-ins, because they set the ceiling on what the room offers.

GGMillion$ is the room's headline weekly event, and it has both an online and a live component. Winners of GGMillion$ Online, GGMillion$ Live and the GGMillion$ Week editions receive a $10,000 ticket to the WSOP Paradise GGMillion$¹⁰. The live editions travel: there was a GGMillion$ Live event at WSOP Europe in Prague, Czechia in April 2026, and another at the WSOP Super Circuit in Kahnawake, Quebec in August 2026¹⁰.

If you are working toward one of these from a small bankroll, poker satellites and qualifiers explains how step tournaments and tickets get you into bigger events for less.

Buy-ins, guarantees and prize pools

Flip & Go is built around low buy-ins with modest guarantees. The table below shows the tiers Natural8 publishes, with the rake charged per pot at each level².

Two things about this table. The guarantee is a range rather than a fixed number, because different Flip & Go tournaments at the same buy-in can carry different guarantees. And as noted above, Natural8 says these amounts may not be current and that the app lobby is the authoritative source².

The multi-stack option is the part that catches people out. You can choose between 1 and 5 stacks, and each stack costs one full buy-in, so 3 stacks at a $3 buy-in costs $9¹. Buying more stacks gives you more starting chips, but it also means you are paying the buy-in several times over for one tournament.

There is a specific rule about how stacks count for the Flip Bonus, which is the feature that lets you boost your stack during the Flip Stage¹¹. A stack counts as one buy-in of 1,000 chips, not as your total starting stacks from multiple buy-ins or entries¹. So if you bought five stacks, the bonus is calculated on a single 1,000-chip unit, not on the combined total.

For how tournament fees and rake work generally, poker rake, time fees and tournament fees breaks down what the house takes and where.

Getting started: account, software and free play

You need a real money account to play real money games, and a free account gives you access to the games and variants without depositing¹². Registration is done through the Natural8 site or app, and you will be asked for your country of residence. Players who cannot find their country in the list of countries available during registration are not accepted, and prohibited jurisdictions are not accepted either⁵.

Once you are in, the software is where everything happens. The tournament lobby is the live source for guarantees, start times and structures, and it is the place to check rather than any web page². Flip & Go tournaments have no late registration, so you need to be registered and seated before the start time¹.

If you are new to the game itself, the standard variants are Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo¹³. Flip & Go is played as Hold'em. Before you sit down, poker hand rankings is the one page worth reading twice, and Texas Hold'em rules covers the betting rounds.

For a broader look at what the room offers beyond tournaments, online poker features and table rules covers things like Run It Twice, all-in insurance and multi-tabling.

Bonuses and freerolls for new players

There is also a Honeymoon for Newcomers mission attached to the new player offer¹⁴. Missions of this kind typically require you to complete certain actions to unlock rewards, so read the terms before you assume a bonus is automatic.

Freerolls are the other route in. Natural8 runs free poker tournaments where you can win real money and grow your bankroll, and it also offers play-money cash games¹⁴. That means you can register, download the software and start playing without depositing anything at all. If you want to understand the difference between the two, free poker vs real-money poker explains play money, social apps and prize rules.

One caution on bonuses generally. Bonuses are withdrawable only when all the terms of the bonus policy have been met, at the operator's sole discretion¹⁵. Read the bonus policy before you claim anything, because the conditions determine whether the money is ever really yours.

Deposits, withdrawals and verification

Verification is not optional and it is not something you can leave until later. Natural8 states that all customers must verify their identity immediately after creating an account¹⁵. In practice, the documents are required before your first withdrawal.

You will need a current government-issued photo ID, which can be a passport, driving license or national ID card, showing your full name, photo and signature¹⁵. You also need a proof of address dated within the last 90 days, such as a utility bill, bank statement or credit card statement, showing your full name and address. If you use a credit card statement, the eight middle digits of the card number must be removed¹⁶. Natural8 may also ask for documents to be notarized or certified by a qualified notary or solicitor¹⁵.

On timing, Natural8 says withdrawals usually take 24 hours to process, and in some cases up to 72 hours¹⁶. If your account needs review, that review must be completed within 24 to 48 hours or the withdrawal is canceled¹⁵.

A few rules shape where the money can go. Withdrawals may only be made to the card you registered and deposited with, and checks are payable to the player only¹⁷. More broadly, you may only withdraw to a payment method that has a prior deposit record¹⁵. Funds that arrived via a player-to-player transfer, originating from deposits or other transfers, cannot be withdrawn directly¹⁵.

There are limits. Bonus withdrawals are capped at USD 50,000 per week, and amounts above the limits require special management approval¹⁶. Large withdrawals may be split into smaller ones without increasing any withdrawal fees¹⁵. Your bank or payment processor may charge its own fee, and any such fee is shown on the withdrawal request page¹⁵. Natural8 also states it is not liable for currency fluctuations between the point you request a withdrawal and the point the transaction completes¹⁵.

Withdrawals can be canceled. Natural8 reserves the right to cancel a withdrawal or refund in any of the following cases¹⁵:

• Requested documents are not provided
• ID documents have expired
• There are fraud, collusion or money laundering concerns
• The withdrawal follows a player transfer
• The withdrawal method differs from the deposit method

If a canceled amount is subsequently used, lost or transferred, the company has no obligation to refund it¹⁵.

If you want to stop playing, self-exclusion is available for periods from 1 hour up to 5 years, or permanently, selected through the cashier or by emailing support@natural8.com¹⁸. Once you self-exclude, your account is closed for the selected period and you have no access to the games, with any remaining balance returned under the withdrawal policy⁵. To come back after the period ends, you contact customer support and a minimum 24-hour cooling off period applies before the account is active, with the option to cancel the reactivation during that window⁵. A permanently excluded player may not create additional accounts, and attempts to get around an exclusion result in account closure and possible forfeiture of balances¹⁸. To close an account outright, email support@natural8.com or use the permanent exclusion feature in the app¹⁹.