The following grid shows the points that each player receives for finishing in certain positions:-

This can be summed up by the following formula:-

So, for example, if a player finished 3rd out of 6, they would receive 6/2*2*2 = 6/8 = 0.75 points

If two players are knocked out at the same time then their points total is equal to the difference between the two positions. For example, say two players were knocked out at the same time during a game of 8 people, and they were the first people to be knocked out, then their points total would be calculated as the difference between 7th and 8th. Which is (0.0625 + 0.0313)/2 = 0.0469.

A players average is then calculated by dividing the total amount of points they have gained by the number of games they have played.

The beauty of this system is as follows:-

• The bigger the game, the more points that are at stake, i.e. The winner gets more points and the loser gets less points.

• The average amount of points scored in a single game, no matter how many people are playing, is always roughly equal to 1. This means players aren’t at a disadvantage if they miss games, or if they play in different sized games to other players.

• The system is weighted in favour of players who win games, i.e. someone who wins a game and then comes last in a game will have a far better average than someone who comes in the middle twice. This puts the emphasis on winning games which is what poker is all about, i.e. making money by coming first. Conversely, there isn’t much difference between the points gained in the last few places of a game, so its not that important if you finish, say, 8th out of 8 compared to 5th out of 8.