Point structures can range from the basics to extremely complex. Generally you'll want something in between. Poker League Helper has several built in formulas for point calculations, and also gives you the ability to write your own formulas. These are the ones we've found to work best.
Straight Points
This is the most basic points structure around. The last player out gets 1 point, the next gets 2, and that pattern follow all the way up to first place who gets points equal to the number of players in the tournament. This is the easiest structure to work with by hand, but also leaves a lot lacking overall
Bonus Points
This is what we've found to be the best points formula for our leagues. It can be adjusted in Poker League Helper in whatever way you want. This gives the bottom half of the players in the tournament the same points as the straight points structure. Those with higher places, receive bonus points. The first player gets bonus points equal to the number of players divided by 2. The second player gets bonus points half of that, down to the player who finished in the middle of the pack. This is more of a top heavy points structure that rewards the top finishers more than just the straight points would.
Bonus Points - Rounded
This is just the version of bonus points, with rounding the points received. If you have a large tournament crowd, the points could otherwise run into long decimals, and this will stop that from happening if you want.
Straight Points - Adjust for fee
This is in our system mainly to show you how to use the formulas. This uses the straight points structure, but will allow for the fair points scoring if you want to have different fees throughout the season. So, as an example, if your standard "extra fee" for each tournament was $5 per entry that goes towards the league pool, and you decided to have a tournament where the "extra fee" was $7, this formula would adjust the points up an extra 2/5 to give fair points scoring for the tournament based on what the extra fee paid was.
Copyright Ben Lawshe, 2007