Riverline1. Eligibility
1.1 You must be at least 18 years old, or the legal age for gambling in your jurisdiction if higher, to hold a real-money account.
1.2 Real-money play is available only in jurisdictions listed on our Licence page. We block prohibited jurisdictions server-side; using a VPN, proxy or any other means to disguise your location is a breach of these rules and forfeits real-money balances.
1.3 One account per person. Sharing, selling or transferring an account is prohibited. See Fair Play §4.
2. Play-money tables
2.1 Play chips have no cash value, cannot be bought, sold, transferred or converted, and never affect a real-money balance. Play-money tables may seat clearly labelled house bots so that games are always available.
2.2 Play-money balances are topped up automatically to 10,000 chips at most once every four hours when your balance is below that floor.
3. Seating and blinds
3.1 New player. When you join a cash table you may post an amount equal to the big blind immediately, or wait for the big blind to reach you. You may not enter between the button and the big blind.
3.2 Missed blinds. If you sit out through your blinds you must post both blinds when you return, or wait for the big blind. The small blind posted this way is dead.
3.3 Sit out. You may sit out at any time. A player sitting out for more than 10 minutes at a cash table, or for 20 consecutive hands at a full table with a waiting list, is removed from the seat and their stack is returned to their balance.
3.4 Table leave penalty. To protect games from hit-and-run play, a player who leaves a cash table with a profit after fewer than 10 hands is blocked from rejoining tables at the same stake for a rising period within a 12-hour window: first time no penalty, then 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes.
3.5 Ratholing. You may not leave a table and rejoin it, or any table at the same stake, with less than the amount you left with, until 60 minutes have passed.
3.6 Straddles, antes, bomb pots and run-it-twice are shown in the lobby for each table before you sit. By taking the seat you accept them.
3.7 Seat change. You may request a seat change; it is honoured in order of request when a seat opens, and you may be required to post when you move past the blinds.
4. Action and timing
4.1 Every action has a time limit shown on the table. Each player has a time bank which refills as published for the game format. When both expire your hand is folded (or checked, if no bet is pending) and you are sat out.
4.2 All-in. A bet of your entire stack is always permitted. When a player is all-in and no further action is possible, all remaining cards are dealt and hands are shown.
4.3 Showdown. Cards are shown in order. A losing hand is mucked automatically unless you have enabled "show losing hand". After folding you may choose to show one or both cards; the choice is yours alone and is not a breach of any rule, but see Fair Play §5 on collusion.
4.4 Odd chips. When a pot cannot be divided evenly, the odd micro-unit goes to the first seat clockwise from the button among the winning hands.
5. Disconnection
5.1 Riverline is not responsible for your internet connection, device or software. If you disconnect during a hand, the timer continues; when it expires the hand is treated under 4.1.
5.2 If you reconnect before your timer expires, you resume the hand exactly where it was.
5.3 Server fault. If a hand cannot be completed because of a fault on our side, the hand is voided and every player's stack is restored to its value at the start of the hand. Our action journal makes this exact; we never estimate.
5.4 Tournament server fault. If a tournament cannot continue because of a fault on our side, refunds are made as follows: before the tournament starts — full refund of buy-in and fee; during late registration — 50% of the prize pool split equally among remaining players and 50% in proportion to chip counts; after late registration — the next unpaid prize to every remaining player and the remainder in proportion to chip counts. Bounties held are paid to their holders.
6. Tournaments
6.1 Registration opens when the tournament is listed and closes at the start, or at the end of late registration where offered. Late registration closes at the published time, or earlier when the money bubble is reached or the maximum field is full.
6.2 Unregistering is allowed until the tournament starts, except for tickets won in satellites, which may be exchanged only as in 6.9.
6.3 Re-entry, rebuys and add-ons are permitted only where published for the event and only with sufficient balance.
6.4 Blinds and antes follow the published structure. Riverline uses a synchronised clock across all tables of an event. When a big-blind ante is used it is posted by the big blind for the whole table.
6.5 Table balancing. Players are moved to balance tables and tables are broken from the end of the list. A moved player takes the first open seat and posts the big blind only if the new seat is the big blind; there are no dead blinds in tournaments.
6.6 Hand-for-hand play applies on the money bubble and at every payout jump the tournament director designates.
6.7 Simultaneous eliminations on one table are placed by stack at the start of the hand: the larger stack places higher. Across tables in the same hand, players are placed equal and the prizes for those places are pooled and split evenly.
6.8 Deals. When a deal option is offered at the final table it is computed by ICM and requires every remaining player's agreement in the client. A portion of the prize pool may be reserved for the winner as published. Deals made outside the client are not recognised.
6.9 Satellites. A satellite seat is a ticket to the target event. Winning more than one seat converts the extra seat to tournament credit of equal value. Ticket holders cannot unregister from the target event for cash.
6.10 Bounties. In knockout events the bounty is paid on elimination as published (a fixed amount, or in progressive events half to your balance and half added to your own bounty). Agreements between players about bounties are collusion (Fair Play §5).
6.11 Sitting out in a tournament keeps your stack in play; blinds and antes are posted for you. An absent player's stack cannot win a pot except by being all-in for the blinds.
7. Rake and fees
Rake and tournament fees are shown in the lobby for every table and event. Current schedule: /rules/rake. No rake is taken from a cash pot that ends before the flop ("no flop, no drop").
8. Chat and conduct
8.1 Chat is filtered server-side and moderated. Abuse, harassment, spam, solicitation and discussion of live hands by players not in the hand are not permitted. Chat is disabled for players in a hand while other players are still contesting it.
8.2 Sanctions escalate: warning, temporary mute, chat ban, account review. Every sanction is recorded and can be appealed to support.
9. Nicknames and identity
9.1 Your nickname is permanent. We change a nickname only where a player has been demonstrably targeted (for example bum-hunted) and only once.
9.2 Riverline may offer real-name tables. Play there is by choice and your legal name is shown to every player at the table.
10. Rounding and currency
All money on Riverline is held and settled in integer micro-units of the account currency. Displayed values are rounded for readability only; the ledger is never rounded.
11. Decisions
Floor decisions are made by Riverline staff according to these rules, the published structure and the action journal. Decisions are final on the day and can be appealed in writing to support within 72 hours. Where these rules are silent, the current Tournament Directors Association rules guide the decision.
12. Changes
We may change these rules with notice on this page. The version and effective date appear at the top. Changes never apply to hands or events already in progress.