Poker Games Live Poker Online Poker Tournament Poker Poker Equipment Poker Resources
 
When at the very end of a tournament, constantly evaluate your chip stack in relation to others.
 

Tournament Prizes

Many factors determine tournament prizes. We will discuss some common ones here.

Entrants: Though not always guaranteed, the typical tournament distribution is around 10% of the field. That means that for every 100 entrants, the top 10 get some form of prize. A typical distribution for a 100 player tournament is displayed below.

1st: 34%
2nd: 18.5%
3rd: 12.9%
4th: 9.5%
5th: 7.1%
6th: 5.4%
7th: 4.2%
8th: 3.34%
9th: 2.73%
Last: 2.33%

Tournament "Chops": At the end of tournaments, the blinds relative to average chipstacks can become very high. This increases the "luck" factor relative to skill. Sometimes the remaining players will agree to divide the prize money equitably based on the play that has already occurred, and not strictly adhere to the "listed" payouts. More information can be found HERE.

Tournament Type: Though most tournaments follow a multi-table and multi-payout structure, there are other types that you may find occasionally. The shootout type for instance, pays only the last remaining player. Some tournaments used to end at a specific time, and the remaining players got to keep what was left of their chip stack. This is rarely, if ever, seen today.

Rebuys: In rebuy tournaments, the number of rebuys does not affect the number of entrants. The rebuy money just fills up the prize pool, making each original percentage payout worth even more. This is a key reason why some people favor rebuy tournaments.

 

 

 

 
Home
Rank of Hands
Glossary
Play Online!
Books