Payout Calculator
Generate a fair prize pool payout structure for your next live poker tournament in seconds. Free, no signup required.
Quick answer: a fair poker payout structure typically pays 10-20% of the field, with 1st place taking somewhere between 25% and 45% of the total prize pool depending on how top-heavy the structure is. Most home games and clubs use a balanced "Standard" curve; groups with a lot of regulars often flatten it so more players leave with something. Enter your prize pool and player count below to generate exact numbers for your event.
Payout generator
Set your prize pool, field size, and payout style below, then generate the structure.
Total players in the tournament
Optional - no payout will land below this
Standard payout
5 places paid · 30 entrants · prize pool $1,000 · min cash $60
This is a suggested starting point, not a certified structure, payouts are rounded to clean numbers. Double-check the totals below before using it to run a live event.
Drag to reshape the 5 paid places, updates instantly, no need to regenerate.
| Place | % of Pool | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 🥇 1 | 43.0% | $430 |
| 🥈 2 | 25.0% | $250 |
| 🥉 3 | 16.0% | $160 |
| 4 | 10.0% | $100 |
| 5 | 6.0% | $60 |
How to Use the Payout Calculator
Working out a fair payout structure by hand means guessing at how many places to pay and how steeply the money should drop off after 1st, get either wrong and either too few players cash, or the min-cash feels insultingly small. This tool handles that math for you: set your prize pool and field size, pick a style, and it builds out the full place-by-place payout table.
- Enter your total prize pool - the full amount being paid out across all places.
- Set your number of entrants - which the calculator uses to decide how many places should realistically get paid.
- Choose a payout style - that matches how you want the money distributed, standard, top heavy, flat, or deep pay.
- Leave places paid on Auto - for a count matched to your field size, or set a custom number of paid places.
- Click Generate structure - and the full place-by-place payout table appears on the right, including each place's percentage and dollar amount.
A quick note before you run with it: this calculator gives you a solid, sensible starting point, it isn't a certified payout table, and payouts are rounded to clean dollar amounts rather than exact percentages. A good host always double-checks the totals before posting a payout structure. It's also a planning tool only, it doesn't process, hold, or move any money, and you handle the actual cash payouts yourself. It's free to use on its own with no signup, and entirely optional if you also use BlindShark's tournament management app - it's available there as an add-on if you want it, but nothing in the app depends on it.
Understanding Each Setting
Total Prize Pool
This is the full amount of money being distributed across every paid place, typically total buy-ins collected, minus any rake or fees your event takes off the top. Every payout in the generated table is a share of this number.
Number of Entrants
This is your total field size, and it directly affects how many places get paid, a bigger field can realistically support paying more places without any individual payout feeling too small.
Payout Style
Style controls how steeply payouts drop off from 1st place down to the min-cash:
- Standard - a balanced curve suited to most home games, clubs, and leagues.
- Top Heavy - fewer places paid, with 1st place taking the largest possible share.
- Flat - more places paid, with a narrower gap between 1st place and the min-cash.
- Deep Pay - pays the deepest into the field, spreading the pool as widely as possible.
Places Paid
This is how many finishers get a payout. On Auto, the calculator picks a place count that matches your chosen style and field size. Switching to Custom lets you set your own number of paid places, from 1 up to the full field.
Example Payout Structures
Two worked examples using the Standard payout style, so you can see exactly what the calculator produces before you run your own numbers.
Example: $500 prize pool, 10 players
| Place | % of Pool | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 50.0% | $250 |
| 2nd | 31.0% | $155 |
| 3rd | 19.0% | $95 |
3 places paid, min cash $95 (above the estimated $50 buy-in).
Example: $2,000 prize pool, 40 players
| Place | % of Pool | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 40.8% | $815 |
| 2nd | 25.0% | $500 |
| 3rd | 15.0% | $300 |
| 4th | 9.5% | $190 |
| 5th | 6.0% | $120 |
| 6th | 3.8% | $75 |
6 places paid, min cash $75 (above the estimated $50 buy-in).
How the Calculation Works
Every paid place earns a fixed fraction of the place directly above it - if that fraction (the "decay rate") were 0.6, 2nd place would earn 60% of what 1st place earns, 3rd place would earn 60% of 2nd, and so on. A lower decay rate produces a steeper, more top-heavy curve; a decay rate close to 1 produces an almost flat one. Each payout style just picks a different decay rate and a different target percentage of the field to pay.
Those raw percentages are then rounded to clean dollar amounts, and whatever small remainder rounding leaves over is folded into 1st place - the same way live rooms handle odd-chip breakage rather than leaving money unassigned. If a buy-in is set (or estimated from prize pool ÷ entrants), the calculator checks whether the smallest paid place would clear it before deciding how many places to pay, so a thin prize pool pays fewer, larger places instead of producing payouts smaller than what players put in.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of a poker tournament field usually gets paid?
Most tournaments pay somewhere between 10% and 20% of the field, depending on the format. A tighter, top-heavy structure might pay closer to 10%, while a flatter structure built to reward more of the field might pay 20% or more. Very small fields typically only pay the top 1-3 finishers, since there isn't enough of a prize pool to spread further without every payout feeling trivial.
What is a good payout structure for a small home game?
For a small home game, a Standard or Flat structure tends to feel best - it pays a reasonable share of the table without making the min-cash feel like an afterthought. Winner-take-all or very top-heavy structures work fine for casual, low-stakes games, but can feel discouraging in a group that plays regularly, since the same few players end up taking everything.
What's the difference between top-heavy and flat payout structures?
A top-heavy structure gives first place a large share of the prize pool and drops off quickly after that, rewarding the eventual winner the most. A flat structure spreads the prize pool more evenly across all paid places, so min-cashing still feels meaningful even if a player doesn't make the final table. Neither is objectively better - it's a question of whether you want to reward the win itself or reward simply cashing.
How many places should get paid in my tournament?
As a rule of thumb, aim to pay somewhere around 10-15% of your total field for a balanced feel, adjusting up toward 20-25% if you want more players to leave with something. Very small fields (under about 10 players) usually only support paying the top 1-3 finishers - spreading the pool any thinner than that tends to make individual payouts too small to feel worthwhile.
How is prize money typically distributed in poker tournaments?
Prize money is almost never split evenly - it follows a curve where each paid place earns less than the one above it, with first place taking the largest single share. How steep that curve is depends on the structure style: steeper curves concentrate more of the pool at the top, while flatter curves narrow the gap between 1st place and the min-cash.
How much should 1st place get in a poker tournament?
First place typically takes somewhere between 25% and 45% of the total prize pool, depending on the payout style. A Top Heavy structure sits at the high end of that range and pays fewer places overall, while a Flat or Deep Pay structure sits closer to 25-30% so more of the pool is left for the rest of the paid places.
Should the minimum cash always be at least the buy-in?
It's not a hard rule, but many hosts prefer it that way - a player who min-cashes for less than they paid to enter can feel like they lost money despite technically cashing. That's the whole reason a buy-in floor is worth setting: it keeps the payout curve from spreading the pool so thin that a min-cash stops covering what someone put in.
Is this the same thing as an ICM calculator?
No - they solve different problems. An ICM (Independent Chip Model) calculator estimates each remaining player's real-money equity mid-tournament, based on chip stacks, for things like deal-making or final-table decisions. This tool instead builds the payout structure itself, before the tournament even starts - deciding how many places get paid and how the prize pool splits between them.
What if I want to pay more places than the prize pool really supports?
In Auto mode, the calculator will automatically reduce the number of paid places to keep every payout at or above the buy-in. In Custom mode, it respects the exact number of places you choose, but flags and highlights any payouts that fall below the buy-in so you can decide for yourself whether to pay fewer places or leave it as-is.
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