How do you calculate the prize pool?
The prize pool is everything paid to enter the tournament: each player's buy-in, plus every rebuy and add-on. In a home game there is no house rake: all the money goes back to the players.
Example: 12 players at €20, with 3 rebuys at €20, make a prize pool of (12 + 3) × 20 = €300.
How many places should be paid?
The convention for club and home tournaments is to pay about 15 to 20% of the field. Fewer, and too many players go home empty-handed; more, and the payouts get too small to matter. First place usually takes between a third and half of the prize pool.
The payout table
This is the table the calculator above uses, and the one Blinder applies during your tournaments. Percentages run from 1st place to the last paid place:
| Players | Split (%) |
|---|---|
| 2 to 3 | 100 |
| 4 to 6 | 65 / 35 |
| 7 to 9 | 50 / 30 / 20 |
| 10 to 15 | 45 / 27 / 18 / 10 |
| 16 to 24 | 40 / 25 / 16 / 11 / 8 |
| 25 to 35 | 38 / 23 / 15 / 10 / 8 / 6 |
| 36 and up | 35 / 21 / 14 / 10 / 7 / 6 / 4 / 3 |
Amounts are rounded to the euro, and the rounding remainder goes to the winner: the payouts always add up to exactly the prize pool.
What do rebuys and add-ons change?
Each rebuy or add-on grows the prize pool but doesn't change the number of paid places, which depends on the number of players. A tournament with lots of rebuys pays the same places, just more.
What if the last players want to make a deal?
Late in the tournament, the remaining players can agree to split the money still in play differently, for example evenly or by chip count. Blinder lets you enter that deal: each player gets the agreed amount and the recap reflects it.