Tournament payout calculator

Choose the prize pool, how many places to pay and how top-heavy the split should be. You get a payout table rounded to amounts you can actually hand out, adding up exactly to the pool.

Paying 3 of 10 (30.0% of the field), standard shape.

Place	Prize	Share	× entry
1st	550	55.0%	5.5×
2nd	270	27.0%	2.7×
3rd	180	18.0%	1.8×

How to use it

Enter the total prize pool, which is whatever your group puts up to be won, and the number of places paid. Choose a rounding step so prizes come out in notes or chips you actually have. Entrants and entry are only used for the checks: that you are not paying more places than there are players, and whether the smallest prize at least returns the entry.

With rebuys and add-ons the pool grows during the game. The tournament clock uses this same curve and recalculates the payouts on screen every time someone rebuys.

The formula

Place k gets a weight of 1 / k^a, and each prize is the pool times that weight divided by the sum of all the weights. The exponent a sets the shape:

Flat, a = 0.5: prizes fall away slowly. Good for friendly games where many places are paid.
Standard, a = 1: the harmonic series. First gets twice second and three times third.
Steep, a = 1.5: most of the pool goes to the top two or three.

Each raw prize is then rounded down to a multiple of the rounding step, which never reverses the order of two places, and the few units left over from rounding go to first place. The total always equals the pool exactly.

There is no official formula for tournament payouts. Card rooms and tournament software each use their own tables, and many are curve-fitted by hand. A power-law curve like this one is simple, predictable and produces a smooth structure for any number of places, which is what a home game needs.

Worked example

Ten players each put 100 into a pool of 1,000, paying three places at the standard shape. The weights are 1, 1/2 and 1/3, which sum to 11/6. First place gets 1,000 × 1 / (11/6) = 545.45, second 272.73 and third 181.82. Rounded down to multiples of 5, that is 545, 270 and 180, which sums to 995; the 5 left over goes to first, giving 550, 270, 180. Third place gets 1.8 times the entry, second 2.7 times and first 5.5 times.

Reference: share of the pool by place

Unrounded percentages for common numbers of places, at each of the three shapes.

Places	Shape	Shares, 1st to last
2	flat	58.6 / 41.4
	standard	66.7 / 33.3
	steep	73.9 / 26.1
3	flat	43.8 / 31.0 / 25.3
	standard	54.5 / 27.3 / 18.2
	steep	64.7 / 22.9 / 12.4
4	flat	35.9 / 25.4 / 20.7 / 18.0
	standard	48.0 / 24.0 / 16.0 / 12.0
	steep	59.8 / 21.2 / 11.5 / 7.5
5	flat	30.9 / 21.9 / 17.9 / 15.5 / 13.8
	standard	43.8 / 21.9 / 14.6 / 10.9 / 8.8
	steep	56.8 / 20.1 / 10.9 / 7.1 / 5.1
6	flat	27.5 / 19.4 / 15.9 / 13.7 / 12.3 / 11.2
	standard	40.8 / 20.4 / 13.6 / 10.2 / 8.2 / 6.8
	steep	54.7 / 19.3 / 10.5 / 6.8 / 4.9 / 3.7
8	flat	22.9 / 16.2 / 13.2 / 11.4 / 10.2 / 9.3 / 8.6 / 8.1
	standard	36.8 / 18.4 / 12.3 / 9.2 / 7.4 / 6.1 / 5.3 / 4.6
	steep	51.9 / 18.4 / 10.0 / 6.5 / 4.6 / 3.5 / 2.8 / 2.3
10	flat	19.9 / 14.1 / 11.5 / 10.0 / 8.9 / 8.1 / 7.5 / 7.0 / 6.6 / 6.3
	standard	34.1 / 17.1 / 11.4 / 8.5 / 6.8 / 5.7 / 4.9 / 4.3 / 3.8 / 3.4
	steep	50.1 / 17.7 / 9.6 / 6.3 / 4.5 / 3.4 / 2.7 / 2.2 / 1.9 / 1.6

Where this stops being the right tool

For very large fields, paying hundreds of places, real structures are usually flattened in the middle so that many places share the same prize band; a single power curve will give every place a slightly different amount. Fields that big are rare in home games.

A payout table also says nothing about how players should split the prizes if they agree a deal before the end. For that, the ICM calculator converts the remaining stacks into a fair share of what is left.

Whatever you play for, keep it to amounts everyone at the table is comfortable with. The maths is the same whether the pool is money, points or a trophy.

Common questions

How many places should a tournament pay?

There is no rule, only convention. Small home games commonly pay two or three places for up to about ten players, and roughly one in four or five entrants for bigger fields. Large public events usually pay 10 to 15% of the field. Paying more places spreads the prizes thinner; a useful check is that the last paid place should get at least the entry back.

What does the shape setting do?

It sets how quickly prizes fall from first place down. Each place k gets a weight of 1 divided by k raised to a power: 0.5 for flat, 1 for standard, 1.5 for steep. Standard with three places gives about 55/27/18; flat gives 43/31/25; steep gives 65/23/12.5.

Why does first place get an odd amount?

Every prize is rounded down to the nearest multiple you choose, so they are easy to hand out, and whatever is left over from the rounding goes to first place. That keeps the total exactly equal to the pool without making any lower place bigger than the one above it.

Is 50/30/20 the standard split for three places?

It is a very common one, and it sits between the standard and flat shapes here. If your group already agrees on a split, use it; this calculator is for when you need a sensible structure for a number of places nobody has a habit for, like seven.

Can I use this for league points instead of money?

Yes. The calculation only divides a total by finishing position. Set the pool to the number of points available and the rounding to 1.