Quote:
Originally Posted by Flying Player
It's not published because it is 0%.
This is an accumulator prize pool game. All buy ins (edit: minus the 7-9% rake) go into the pool. Payouts come out of the pool. What comes out of the prize pool is whatever final prize is choosen, one of the 3 amounts drawn at the start of the game OR the offered cash out amount whichever is choosen by the winner. All they said is the offered amount of the cash out is going to be significantly less than the EV of choosing between the 3 possible prize amounts which just encourages people to take the 1 in 3 chance for the big payout.
This idea that PokerStars is secretly removing some portion of the prize pool to pad their profit margin is a made up conspiracy theory.
I don't understand what you're saying.
My reasoning is simple - the "cash out option" is, as you say, below the EV of the 3 offered prizes. So, whenever someone picks that "cash out" option, PokerStars benefits more than the base 9% rake.
In other terms - without the "cashout" option, PokerStars would make on average 9 cents for every $1 buyin. That's obvious from the pay tables, and it is printed and explicit.
However, assuming some players opt for "cash out", PokerStars will, long-term, make more than 9% of the buy-ins. To me this is self-evident, but it is quite possible I've missed something.
Fwiw, I don't think there's any conspiracy. And of course the "pick one of three" is smoke and mirrors and doesn't change things. But the 4th option - "cash out" - does change things. That the 'cash out' option makes PokerStars extra money on top of the stated rake, and I'm somewhat surprised that the "edge" PokerStars takes in this option is not apparently published somewhere.