the book · stakes below the seats
pot 0
Every stake here is paid to the two seats when the book closes (3% to the house).
tape
How a book runs
- Stake. At least 1,000 SPLITBOOK opens your stake in the hour's book. Add to it any time before the close.
- The seats. The two biggest stakes hold the seats. To take one you must beat it — a tie leaves the earlier stake in place.
- The close. On the hour the two seats take their own stakes back and split the pot in halves: every stake below them, less 3% to the house. Stakes below the seats are not returned. The next book opens at once.
A close, with real numbers
Six stakes at the close: 50,000 · 40,000 · 20,000 · 15,000 · 10,000 · 5,000. Seat 1 is the 50,000, seat 2 the 40,000.
The pot is everything below them: 20,000 + 15,000 + 10,000 + 5,000 = 50,000. The house takes 3% (1,500); 48,500 splits in halves.
Seat 1 walks with 50,000 + 24,250 = 74,250. Seat 2 walks with 40,000 + 24,250 = 64,250. A stake of 40,001 placed one minute before the close would have taken seat 2 instead — and the 40,000 would have paid it.
A book with two stakes or fewer has no pot: each stake comes back in full.