Home game payouts and bounties: how to split the prize pool

2026-11-03

The payout is the part of the night people remember, and the part they argue about if it was never agreed. Settle it before the first card is dealt and say it out loud to the table.

How many places to pay

A simple rule that most groups accept: pay roughly one in every four or five players.

Up to 6 players: pay 1 or 2 places.
7 to 10 players: pay 2 or 3 places.
11 to 20 players: pay 3 to 5 places.
Bigger fields: pay 5 or 6 places.

Paying too many places makes the prizes small. Paying only the winner makes the night short for everyone else.

Common payout splits

These splits each add up to 100 percent of the prize pool:

2 places: 60 / 40 or 70 / 30.
3 places: 50 / 30 / 20, or 60 / 25 / 15 for a top-heavy finish.
4 places: 40 / 30 / 20 / 10.
5 places: 35 / 25 / 20 / 12 / 8.
6 places: 30 / 24 / 19 / 13 / 9 / 5.

Round the amounts so they are easy to hand over, and give any leftover to first place. If rebuys or add-ons are allowed, agree before you start that they go into the same prize pool.

Bounties

A bounty puts a prize on every player's head, paid to whoever knocks them out. It keeps players who are short on chips interested, because there is still something to win at every table. Set the bounty as a part of each buy-in that goes to the bounty pool instead of the main prize pool.

Standard bounty. Each player carries a fixed bounty. Eliminate them and you collect it.
Progressive bounty. When you knock someone out, you collect part of their bounty and the rest is added to your own, so the players who eliminate the most become the most valuable targets.
Mystery bounty. The bounty amounts are hidden until a player is knocked out, so every elimination comes with a surprise.

Keep a clear record of who knocked out whom. Most bounty arguments come from a count kept on a napkin.

Do the sums before you start

The PokerPulse payout calculator splits a prize pool in chips or points for the number of players and places paid, with no account needed. When you run the tournament in PokerPulse, you choose a payout split and a bounty type (standard, progressive or mystery) during setup, and each elimination is recorded as it happens.