What is GTD in poker?
GTD is short for "guaranteed". When a tournament says $100K GTD, the site is promising the total prize pool will be at least $100,000, no matter how few players enter. If the buy-ins don't add up to the guarantee, the site pays the difference out of its own pocket.
Find it live: the finder sorted by GTD per buy-in · Sunday majors ($10K+ guarantees) · the deeper guide to guarantees and overlays. Free to play: open-entry freerolls today · no-deposit poker · all format guides.
How it works
Every listing shows a buy-in and, on guaranteed events, a GTD figure. The prize pool is built from the prize-pool part of each entry, which is the buy-in minus the site fee. So "$55 buy-in, $100K GTD" means you pay $55 to enter, and the prizes will total at least $100,000. Dividing the guarantee by the buy-in gives "GTD per buy-in": roughly how many entries the event needs to cover the guarantee by itself. Re-entries and rebuys count as entries too, so a busy re-entry event can pass its guarantee easily, while a quiet event may fall short and get topped up by the site. That top-up is called an overlay. If a listing has no GTD figure, there is no promise: the pool is simply whatever the entries add up to.
A $55 event with a $100,000 GTD has a GTD per buy-in of about 1,818 ($100,000 divided by $55), so it needs roughly 1,800 entries to cover the guarantee, and a few more in practice because part of each buy-in is the site fee. If only 1,500 entries are sold, buy-ins add up to about $82,500, so the site adds roughly $17,500 and prizes are still paid from the full $100,000.
Strategy tips
- Compare events by GTD per buy-in, not just the headline number: $100K GTD on a $55 buy-in is a far bigger promise, relative to cost, than $100K GTD on a $530 buy-in. Our finder can sort by GTD per buy-in.
- Pick a buy-in you can afford to lose in full. A guarantee is a promise about the prize pool, not a promise that you will cash.
- For your first GTD events, pick a freezeout (one entry, no re-entries) so your total cost is fixed before you start.
- If re-entries are allowed, decide your maximum number of entries before you register, and count every entry when you add up what an event really cost you.
- Check the start time and the late-registration window in your own time zone (we list times in CT), and register before late registration closes.
- Expect most of the field to go home with nothing: only the top finishers share the pool. Treat your first GTD tournaments as practice with a capped cost.
Common mistakes
- Reading "$100K GTD" as the first-place prize (it is the total shared by everyone who cashes)
- Assuming a big guarantee means you are likely to win something (most entrants still don't cash)
- Forgetting the site fee: not all of your buy-in goes into the prize pool
- Entering an event just because the guarantee looks huge, at a buy-in your budget can't handle
Find these tournaments
Finder sorted by GTD per buy-in → Start free: freerolls with real prizes → Sunday majors (the biggest guarantees) →
FAQ
What does GTD mean in poker?
GTD is short for "guaranteed". When a tournament says $100K GTD, the site is promising the total prize pool will be at least $100,000, no matter how few players enter. If the buy-ins don't add up to the guarantee, the site pays the difference out of its own pocket.
Does GTD mean I am guaranteed to win money?
No. GTD is the site's promise about the total prize pool. You only get paid if you finish in the money.
What happens if a tournament beats its guarantee?
Nothing special: the prize pool simply grows, every extra entry adds to it, and prizes are paid from the larger amount.
Do all tournaments have a GTD?
No. Plenty of smaller events have no guarantee. Their prize pool is just the number of entries times the prize-pool part of the buy-in.
Related guides
Guaranteed (GTD) and overlay · Freeroll · Freezeout
Play responsibly. Tournaments are entertainment, not income. Set a budget and time limit, and never chase losses. 18+/21+ depending on site and state. Help: 1-800-GAMBLER.
18+/21+ only. Minimum age depends on the site and your state. Play responsibly. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Affiliate disclosure: Some links may be affiliate links, and we may earn a commission if you sign up. That doesn't change the listings or the order they appear in.
Not legal advice. Online poker and sweepstakes laws vary by state, so check your local laws before you play. Of the sites we track, only PokerStars (US) on FanDuel, BetMGM Poker (US) and WSOP Online are state-licensed in the US, and only in the states they list (NJ/PA/MI, NJ/PA/MI and NV/NJ/MI/PA). Other state-licensed US rooms exist that we don't track yet (for example BetRivers). Offshore and crypto sites (Ignition, ACR, BetOnline, CoinPoker, Phenom) are not licensed in the US. GGPoker doesn't accept US players. CoinPoker's own terms list the US as a Restricted Territory, even though US players currently play there. Sweepstakes sites exclude some states.
Schedules come from each site's public pages, and each listing shows its source and the date we last checked it. Items marked unverified conflict across sources or are out of date. Always confirm in the poker lobby. SC (Sweeps Coins) and CHIP are treated as about $1 for stake tiers.