How to distribute the prize fund. Prize fund - how it is formed, the drawing and other important nuances

1. Introduction

Poker tournament calls great amount emotions and brings indescribable pleasure when, on the one hand, you can win something, and on the other hand, there is something to lose. This is starting to get on my nerves. Of course, you shouldn't set a huge buy-in (entry fee) right away. From this article you will learn several basic rules that will help you make the optimal buy-in.

Another important question that will be answered in this article is: who will win how much? In the second chapter you will learn how to distribute correctly prize fund between different places.

2. What should the entrance fee be?

The buy-in size is influenced by two main factors:

• It should be small enough that every player can afford to lose this money and not worry too much about it.
• It should be large enough so that every player has a desire to take first place, i.e., so that everyone plays seriously, normal poker, and not fool around.

If the buy-in is too high, players will stop enjoying the game, as they will be under pressure and will be afraid of being eliminated. And if the buy-in is too small, some players may not take the tournament seriously. All of the above means that the optimal buy-in size depends on the financial capabilities of the so-called “average” participant. If you are playing with schoolchildren or students, you should buy in less than if you were playing with successful businessmen.

What is especially important is how experienced the tournament participants are. Absolute beginners, naturally, will not want to pay 50 € to enter the tournament, so it is better to play with them for small amounts. A experienced players, who may already be playing relatively high limits on the Internet, on the contrary, they will be interested in playing for several a large amount money, so you should increase your buy-in.

In addition, you should have an idea of ​​how many tournaments you will play in an evening. If you plan to play only one big tournament, then the buy-in can be made larger. If, on the contrary, you want to play several short tournaments, then, accordingly, the buy-in for each of them should be smaller.

3. How is the prize fund distributed?

For regular single-table tournaments, you can stick to the same payout structure as online poker. So, for a tournament for 8-10 people:

• 50% of the prize fund - 1st place;
• 30% of the prize fund - 2nd place;
• 20% of the prize fund - 3rd place.

With 5-7 participants, only the first 2 places should be paid:

• 60% - 1st place;
• 40% - 2nd place.

Alternatively, you can use another structure:

• 70% - 1st place;
• 30% - 2nd place.

An increase in the number of participants must necessarily be reflected in the payment structure. If you are playing a 2-table tournament with no more than 20 players, then at least 4 seats must be paid. The following structure is recommended:

• 1st place - 50%;
• 2nd place - 25%;
• 3rd place - 15%;
• 4th place - 10%.

In 3-6 table tournaments, it is desirable that at least 3/4 of the participants who reach the final table receive prizes. The payout structure in such tournaments can be very different. The main thing is that the amount of additional prize money increases as you move from place to place, i.e., that the difference in prize money between, for example, 6th and 7th place is greater than between 7th and 8th place.

In larger tournaments the payout structure is much more complex. As a guide, keep in mind that at least 10% of participants should win prizes. You can study the payout structure of some poker room, for example: PartyPoker:

4. Conclusion

The payout structure always depends on the number of participants. You can focus either on the option proposed in this article or on the payout structures in online poker rooms.

Most players don't think about in what proportions The prize fund is distributed by category. Meanwhile, this is extremely important parameter, which determines the size of winnings. We are also talking about payments for the main categories, that is, the largest ones. The easiest way to see this is at specific examples. But first, a little clarification is required.

Probability of winning

There are 8,145,060 combinations in the 6 out of 45 lottery, which means the odds of winning are 1 in 8,145,060. In other words, if you made one single bet, the chance of matching 6 out of 45 is only one in eight million. Not very affordable, to put it mildly. This is if we are talking about 6 numbers. But 5 numbers (out of 45) are easier to guess, in in this case probability 1 in 34,808. The same can be said about 4, 3 or 2 numbers - the fewer numbers you need to guess, the greater the probability of this. All these values ​​are easy to calculate and have long been known

Probability of winning
6 out of 45 - 1 out of 8 145 060
5 out of 45 - 1 out of 34,808
4 out of 45 - 1 out of 733
3 out of 45 - 1 out of 45
2 out of 45 - 1 out of 7

Since the probability of winning in each category is known, by taking another indicator - the number of bets made by players during the period - you can check whether the calculated and actual number of winnings coincides. The more bets have passed, the closer these values ​​will be to each other.

And it is calculated simply, the number of bets is divided by the probability of winning. For example, in 2016 in Gosloto “6 out of 45” players placed 63,782,760 bets.

• 63 782 760 / 34 808 = 1 832 (1,787 or 97.5% of the calculated value)


• 63 782 760 / 733 = 87 016 (86,468 or 99.4% of the calculated value)


• 63 782 760 / 45 = 1 417 395 (1 425 327 or 100% of the calculated value)


• 63 782 760 / 7 = 9 111 823 (9,642,494 or 105.8% of the calculated value)

The actual number of wins per category for the same period is indicated in parentheses. As we see, real values close to the calculated ones. This means that when considering any parameters, for example, the distribution of the prize fund by category, we may well start from calculated values.

Prize fund, 6 out of 45

Currently, the prize fund in the Gosloto “6 out of 45” lottery is distributed as follows:

2 numbers - fixed payment, 100 rubles.
The remaining prize fund is distributed in the following percentage:

6 rooms - 35.8%
5 numbers - 26.8%
4 numbers - 14.4%
3 numbers - 23%

This distribution is not optimal; there are at least two distortions

• too large a share is allocated to accumulate the jackpot


• winnings are paid for 2 numbers, which costs a significant part of the fees.

Why should you refuse payments for 2 numbers? Because the chance of guessing them is the highest (1 in 7), and there are too many of these winnings: out of 64 million bets per year there will be 9.1 million “twos”. If you pay 100 rubles for each, you get 910 million. Or 28.5% of the prize fund - almost a third! The prize fund is simply dispersed into small payments

This is what it looks like in numbers (based on 64 million bets per year)

Prize fund distribution. The last column is real shares (including “twos”)

It’s better to do a different distribution of the prize fund, without “twos”. You can remember the experience Soviet Sportloto, when payments in 6 out of 45 started with three numbers.

The difference in approach is obvious - previously they didn’t pay for a “two”, and only 10% of the prize fund was spent on a “six”. But the winning amounts for numbers 3, 4 and 5 were more interesting.

It is still possible to shift the focus of payments to another category, for example, allocating more to “A” grades. It will do big wins more widespread.

If, with 64 million bets per year, there may be only 6-10 who guessed “six”, then the number of those who guessed “five” is much larger, about 2 thousand. And everyone’s winnings would be (on average) a million rubles. Taking into account the fact that single super-large winnings go to unknown lucky ones, in whom the vast majority rightly do not believe, the regular (massive!) appearance of people who win a good amount would serve as an excellent impetus to increase sales and increase the popularity of the lottery itself.

True, there are still a couple of pitfalls that hinder the promotion of a mass lottery. With the current circulation schedule (2-5 times a day) and the inflated price (80-100 rubles), not a single lottery will become truly widespread. The question arises, who do the owners of Stoloto focus on when they develop or change the format/conditions of the lottery?

An ideal player is a person who participates in every draw and spends small (for a personal budget) money on the lottery. It's even better when (most) of these people play with extended bets or incomplete systems.

It is clear that for regular or system game The cost of the bet is extremely important. If the bet cost 20-30 rubles, then it would be ideal. What do we have now?

• 5 draws per day (at a price of 80 rubles per bet) in the Gosloto lottery “5 out of 36”


• 2 draws per day (at a price of 100 rubles per bet) in the Gosloto lottery “6 out of 45”

In the first case, the monthly game budget will be 1200 rubles, and in the second case - 600 rubles. This is 1 bet per draw, in one lottery! What if you want both lotteries? And a couple of bets in each, or even three? I’m not even talking about detailed bets, where the minimum option (7 combinations in “6 out of 45”) is 700 rubles

The costs are disproportionate. Gamers are ready to go to them; they spend a lot more every month, up to tens of thousands of rubles. But you shouldn’t focus on this group, because only regular players with small budget. While 3-5% of our population plays lotteries, in contrast to the whole world, where 50-70% are interested in them, the biggest basis for sales growth is the involvement of more participants in the game.

What would the distribution of the prize fund look like for the “6 out of 45” lottery at a price of 50 rubles? Let's make it following the example of the Soviet Sportoloto, with a slight change (we will add 5% of the main category to the payment for 5 numbers)

Yes, the amounts turned out to be less. But the distribution is more equitable. Of course, in this option there will not be jackpots of 100-200 million, they simply will not have time to accumulate. But, here it is important to remember that the prize is collected from the bets made. In order for him to break records, he must either make maximum deductions from the prize money main category, and this always happens only at the expense of other categories. Or, if the lottery numerical formula assumes big jackpot- let's say in American lottery Powerball chance to win Grand Prize 1 in 292 million. But there are tens of millions of tickets for each circulation. Moreover, a lottery with such probability can be launched only when the number of players is large.

If 10-20 thousand tickets are involved in the draw, then it is stupid to launch a lottery with a similar formula - no one may hit the jackpot at all. This, by the way, is what happens with the Gosloto lottery “7 out of 49” (the chance of guessing a “seven” in it is 1:85,900,584). Yes, this lottery has the potential for record jackpots. But in order for it to be realized, millions of people need to play the lottery. So far this is not even close

P.s. The article does not discuss the increase or decrease in turnover associated with a decrease in the price of the bet. In this case, 64 million bets is a conditional (current value). Obviously, reducing the cost of one option will entail an increase in both players and total number rates, this can be clearly seen in the previous statistics.

The Moscow Dota 2 tournament EPICENTER: Moscow will go down in the history of e-sports with intense matches, a beautiful show, bright scenery and one more important detail. June 11 at the arena " VTB Ice palace" the winner of the championship - the European Team Liquid - was presented with a check for 250 thousand dollars, after which the total amount of prize money in this discipline exceeded 100 million dollars, and this is over the seven years of the game's existence. In total, last year the e-sportsmen enriched themselves by 95 million. all the time, the total amount of prize money in all disciplines is 317 million (or 19 billion rubles).We propose to study where so much money came from and in whose pockets it ended up.

A LITTLE HISTORY

At the dawn of the development of eSports, more than 20 years ago, the disciplines of Quake and Starcraft dominated. While the first computers were just appearing on the tables of Russian residents, in Korea and North America The first eSports players were already fighting for decent prize money. According to the esportsearnings portal: in 1998, about 111 thousand dollars were played, 94 and 16 thousand each in Quake and Starcraft, respectively. It is noteworthy that the organizer of the first championships was the Romanian company PGL, which now has an almost complete monopoly in holding Major category tournaments.

IN next year eSports players became richer by 253 thousand dollars, and two years later by another 672. In the early 2000s, the new project from a little-known Valve company called Counter-Strike. This game will be destined to take computer sports to a new level. In 2005, more than a million dollars will be won in CS alone, with a total figure for all disciplines of 3.8 million.

The psychological mark of 10 million dollars was surpassed in 2011 - the year of the release of Dota 2 from the same company Valve. The debut world championship in this discipline set a new bar. The International 2011 was the first tournament whose prize pool exceeded one million dollars (1.6 million). The large figure attracted the attention of not only the public, but also investors. In subsequent years, a budget race began between game developers, which is only gaining momentum.

BIG PLAYERS

Who writes checks to the winners of the competition, and why does the amount grow exponentially? To answer that question, you need to understand the system for forming the prize fund of the largest tournaments. First of all, these include the Dota 2 and League of Legends world championships. It is LoL from Riot Games that is Valve's closest pursuer in terms of prize money, with $41 million over eight years. It is noteworthy that in the top five, only these projects are free, while players cannot strengthen their characters for money. This is precisely where, paradoxically, the answer lies.

Both projects use a model for forming a prize fund, in which the lion's share of it is collected through a percentage of in-game sales, the so-called " battle pass"worth about $10. A ticket that gives cosmetic improvements to characters for interacting with the tournament in the game client: predictions, voting, polls. These improvements, or “skins,” can then not only be put on your favorite hero, but also sold, and for quite a bit a significant amount (from one dollar to several thousand).

High quality, interesting, and free game guaranteed to be massive. For example, the number of LoL players exceeded 100 million last year. One by one, this is how these astronomical amounts of prize money are accumulated in tournaments from developers. And the figure will grow as the number of players, their involvement and purchasing power increases. The prize fund of the upcoming Dota 2 world championship - The International 2017 - has already exceeded 18 million dollars, Valve initially contributed only 1.6 of them.

MODEL - COUNTER-STRIKE

The paid game from Valve, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, closes the top three. Its figure is more than 34 million in 5 years. Although the developer is the same, the models are completely different. There are no world championships or “battle passes,” and Valve itself allocates a million dollars for Major tournaments, but nothing more. The first fiddle here is played by large esports organizations and their business approach.

Professional players have no time to breathe. Over five years, more than two thousand tournaments have been held in this discipline, 73 of them with a prize fund of more than 100 thousand dollars. A subsidiary of the Alibaba holding, Alisports, the American ELEAGUE, which grew out of the Turner Sports conglomerate, has already entered the race. Between them, these companies wrote checks to CS:GO players for more than seven million.

In Europe, it is worth highlighting one of the oldest organizations, the German ESL and the Russian Epic Events. The latter is part of the Esforce holding of businessman Alisher Usmanov and has already established itself with high-quality tournaments in the EPICENTER: Moscow series with a total prize fund of $1.5 million, as well as advertising contracts with a number of large Russian companies.

BLIZZARD IS IN THE RACE TOO

Two new projects from Blizzard quickly burst into the top ten, which, a little later than its main competitor, Valve, realized the importance of developing e-sports to increase the number of ordinary players. In just three years, the amount of prize money card game Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm strategy totaled $17 million.

Blizzard also has an ace card up its sleeve - Overwatch. More than 20 million users around the world have purchased a “shooter” that costs about $50. An impressive figure, considering that the release took place only in September last year. Company representatives have already announced the Overwatch League, in which teams will represent various cities around the world. According to foreign media reports, the cost of a slot in this league ranges from 3 to 25 million dollars, depending on the popularity of e-sports in the region.

CONCLUSIONS

Amazing numbers? Yes, if you compare computer sports with traditional sports. No, if you compare it to business. Project - investment - profit: the commercial approach has already demonstrated its suitability. All research suggests that soon all numbers in this article will need to be added zeros. Number of active players and their average age growing from year to year. And it’s quite logical - people want to compete in what they play. And the developers will be happy to provide such an opportunity, and they themselves will not be offended.