Patent ID: 8579700

Claim:
A method of providing a participant value in a game tournament wherein a plurality of participants play a casino-style game using player terminals linked via an electronic network to a central processing unit, the value provided to the participant based upon the participant's equity at the time the participant elects to withdraw from the tournament after the beginning of the tournament, the method comprising: estimating an equity for the participant in the tournament with the central processing unit, the central processing unit determining the equity based upon the number of wagering units held by the participant at the point in time, the number of wagering units held by each other participant in the tournament at the point in time and a payout table for the tournament the central processing unit estimating an equity for each participant with a machine-based monte carlo simulation, simulating multiple games wherein a series of games are played to completion with participants being eliminated during the course of the simulation wherein simulated games are repeated the number of times necessary to estimate an equity with a predetermined confidence level; and providing a tournament participant withdrawing from the tournament with value proportional to the participant's equity at the point in time without decreasing the remaining tournament participants' equity in the tournament.