There is a point in any tournament at which all but one player will be in the money. That is, the next player to eliminated will not received any money, but everybody else will. This is called the bubble.

The bubble may also refer to a larger period of time before that last non-paying position. Depending on the tournament size there may be 10, 20 or even more positions to eliminate before the money. This has a strong significance for the manner in which people play; the fear of elimination so close to getting paid can make many players more conservative.

The last player eliminated before the paying positions is often called the bubble boy.