Payout Calculator
Every tournament has two money questions: how to split the prize pool when it starts, and how to split it fairly when the last players want to make a deal. Payout Calculator answers both.
Planning Payouts
Buy-in × entries, minus the rake. This is the money paid out to the players who cash.
How many players finish in the money. Most tournaments pay 10–20% of entries.
How much of the pool goes to the top. Flatter pays more players a good amount. Steeper makes 1st place worth chasing.
No paid place gets less than the buy-in, so everyone who cashes at least gets their money back.
Making a Deal
Chips aren't money. You can only win 1st place once, so a big stack is worth less than its share of the chips and a short stack is worth more. That's why splitting the pool by chips alone isn't fair.
Turns each stack into its fair share of the prize money, based on each player's chances of finishing in every place. The standard way to make a deal.
Everyone gets the lowest remaining payout, then the rest is split by chips. Quick to explain, but big stacks get more than ICM would give them.
Split most of the money now and leave some for the winner. Players lock in a good payday and still play for the title.
Deal with Confidence
Run the numbers before anyone agrees to anything. A deal only happens when every player says yes, so use the results as a fair starting point for the conversation.
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