バイインガイド
BUY-IN GUIDE"Buy-in" gets used loosely, but it means something specific at an amusement poker venue in Japan — see Legality of Poker in Japan for why the mechanics here differ from what you might expect from poker rooms overseas. This page covers the practical side: what you're actually paying for, and when.
1. Buy-in vs. Cover Charge
Many bars charge a cover charge (席料 / seat fee or 入店料 / admission) just to sit down, on top of whatever you spend buying chips to play with. A tournament's listed buy-in on this site is usually the entry fee for that event specifically — a cash-game table's chip purchase is a separate, ongoing thing you do as you sit down and whenever you need more.
2. What a Buy-in Actually Purchases
You're buying chips or points to play with for the session or event — not a stake in a cash prize pool. Because these venues operate as amusement businesses rather than real-money gambling operations (again, see Legality), chips won at the table aren't exchanged back for cash at the end of the night. What winning actually gets you — more playing time, standing in a tournament, ranking in a league like FSL, a non-cash prize — depends entirely on the venue and the event; check a tournament's own listing or ask staff rather than assuming.
3. Re-entry and Add-on
Many tournaments allow a re-entry (リエントリー) — effectively a fresh buy-in — if you bust out before a cutoff point, and/or an add-on (アドオン) at a set time for extra chips at a fixed price. Whether either is offered, and until when, is set per tournament — it's shown on that tournament's own detail page here when the organizer has specified it.
4. Starting Stack
The number of chips a buy-in gets you to start with — shown on a tournament's own page when set. It's relative to that event's blind levels, not a universal unit; 20,000 in starting stack means something different at 100/200 blinds than at 500/1,000.
5. Payment
Cash is accepted everywhere; card, e-money (電子マネー), and QR payment support vary by venue — check a bar's own page for what it accepts before assuming you can pay by card.