Home game tool

Poker Settle-Up Calculator

Who owes who after your home game, in the fewest payments. Enter each player's total buy-in and cash-out: every player's result is cash-out minus buy-in, the results add up to zero, and the players who lost pay the players who won. Free, no sign-up, and it uses the same settle-up engine as the PokerLog app.

Updated October 20, 2026By the PokerLog team at MoneySense Labs

Players (6)

NameTotal buy-inCash-out

Buy-in
$
Cash-out
$
Buy-in
$
Cash-out
$
Buy-in
$
Cash-out
$
Buy-in
$
Cash-out
$
Buy-in
$
Cash-out
$
Buy-in
$
Cash-out
$

Buy-in = everything a player put in (first buy-in, rebuys, add-ons). Cash-out = the chip value they ended with ($0 if they busted).

Who held the money?

Host

Round payments

Shared costs (food, drinks)

Pot $750 · Cash-outs $750 · Balanced

Results

Each player's buy-in, cash-out and result
Player	In	Out	Net
Alex	$100	$245	+$145
Jordan	$100	$160	+$60
Chris	$150	$190	+$40
Morgan	$100	$100	$0
Taylor	$100	$55	−$45
Sam	$200	$0	−$200

4 payments settle everything

1.Sam pays Alex $145
2.Sam pays Jordan $55
3.Taylor pays Chris $40
4.Taylor pays Jordan $5

The link carries the numbers in the part after #, which never reaches our server. Nothing is saved.

1. How settling up works

Settling up a poker game takes three steps: work out each player's net, check that the nets add up to zero, then match the players who owe with the players who are owed.

Net = cash-out − buy-in. The buy-in is everything the player put in, rebuys and add-ons included. The cash-out is the chip value they left with.
The nets must sum to zero. Poker moves money between players without creating any, so whatever the winners won, the losers lost.
Losers pay winners, with the payments matched so the fewest possible change hands.

Here is the six-player game the calculator opens with:

Worked example: $750 bought in, $750 cashed out, so the ledger balances.
Player	Total buy-in	Cash-out	Net
Alex	$100	$245	+$145
Sam	$200$100 + $100 rebuy	$0	−$200
Jordan	$100	$160	+$60
Taylor	$100	$55	−$45
Chris	$150$100 + $50 rebuy	$190	+$40
Morgan	$100	$100	$0

Sam and Taylor owe $245 between them; Alex, Jordan and Chris are owed $245. Four payments settle it:

Sam pays Alex $145
Sam pays Jordan $55
Taylor pays Chris $40
Taylor pays Jordan $5

Morgan broke even, so Morgan doesn't pay or receive anything.

2. Host bank vs. pay each other

There are two common ways to handle the money in a home cash game:

	Host bank	Everyone pays each other
How it works	Players pay the host for chips; the host pays out each cash-out at the end	Nobody collects money during the game; losers pay winners afterwards
Payments	One per player, all with the host	The fewest possible, between players
Best for	Cash at the table; groups that don't know each other well	Regular groups who pay by app and trust each other
Watch out for	The host needs enough cash on hand to pay the winners	Someone has to chase the payments the next day

Pick the bank before the first hand is dealt. Switching mid-game is how ledgers end up not adding up.

3. Why the fewest payments

If n players are up or down, they never need more than n − 1 payments: each payment can settle at least one player completely. The calculator goes further and finds the true minimum. It looks for groups of players whose results cancel out on their own (say one player lost exactly what another won) and settles each group separately, which saves a payment per group.

It does this exactly for up to 20 players with a non-zero result, and for larger games (up to 30 players) it falls back to matching the biggest debtor with the biggest creditor. In the example above, five players are up or down and no smaller group cancels out, so four payments is the minimum.

4. When the chips don't add up

If the cash-outs total more than the buy-ins, the ledger is short; if less, it's over. The usual causes:

A rebuy or add-on that nobody wrote down
A miscounted stack at the end of the night (stacked chips of two colors are easy to misread)
A player who left early and cashed out without it being recorded
Chips that fell on the floor or went home in a pocket

Recount first. If the gap stays, the calculator offers the same fixes as the PokerLog app:

The host covers it (or keeps an overage).
Winners cover a shortfall in proportion to what they won, or losers get an overage back in proportion to what they lost.
Split it evenly across every player. A gap of $1 or less (or half a percent of the pot) is split evenly by default.

5. Splitting food and drinks

Add shared costs like pizza or drinks with who paid for them. Each cost is split evenly across all players and included in the same payments, so a $60 pizza paid by Morgan in the example adds $10 to every player's share and pays Morgan back $50 without anyone sending a separate payment. A cost the host paid is paid back to the host the same way.

6. Tips for a clean ledger

Record rebuys as they happen, not at the end of the night.
Agree on the bank before the first hand: who holds the cash, and whether buy-ins on credit are allowed.
Count stacks before anyone leaves, including the early departures.
Use round chip values so stacks are easy to count. The chip calculator works out values and starting stacks.
Send the summary to the group chat right away, while everyone still remembers the night.

Hosting for the first time? The guide to hosting a poker night covers buy-ins, chips, blinds, house rules and settling up in order.

7. FAQ

How do you calculate who owes who in poker?

For each player, subtract everything they bought in for (first buy-in plus rebuys and add-ons) from the chips they cashed out. That's their net: positive means they're owed money, negative means they owe. The nets of all players add up to zero. Then the players who owe pay the players who are owed, matched so that as few payments as possible change hands.

What if the ledger doesn't balance?

If the cash-outs add up to more (or less) than the buy-ins, someone miscounted a stack or a rebuy wasn't written down. Recount first. If the difference can't be found, agree on a fix: the host covers it, the winners cover a shortfall in proportion to what they won (or the losers get an overage back), or everyone splits it evenly. The calculator applies whichever you pick and shows each player's share.

Should the host hold the money?

Holding the money (a host bank) works well when buy-ins are paid in cash at the table: the host pays each player their cash-out at the end and nobody owes anybody later. If people buy in on credit or pay by app, letting everyone pay each other after the game usually means fewer, simpler payments.

How do you split pizza in a poker game?

Add it as a shared cost and say who paid. The calculator splits it evenly across every player and folds each share into the final payments, so the person who paid for the pizza gets it back without a separate round of payments.

Can I settle with Venmo or Cash App?

Yes. Add a player's Venmo, Cash App or PayPal handle and every payment to that player gets a button that opens the app with the payee and amount filled in. PokerLog never handles or moves money, and Zelle has no public payment link, so Zelle payments are made in your bank app as usual.

Does this work for PokerNow ledgers?

Yes. Add up each player's buy-ins and cash-outs from the PokerNow ledger (chips still on the table count as a cash-out) and enter the totals here. A direct ledger import isn't available yet.