There are a number of different ways you can go! There's really no right or wrong answer. I'll just tell you my personal system, and hopefully others will chime in as well, and you can get and idea of some of the options.
I pay the highest number of the field that doesn't exceed 1/3. So if we have 6 people? 2 places. 8 people? 2 places. 9 people? 3 places.
That's a pretty generous number though. For a lot of people, they cap payouts down from 1/3rd to 1/4th or 1/5th of the field. It really depends on you.
Some people also count rebuys as an additional person. I.E., if you have 8 people and one rebuys, they pay as if they have 9 players. I don't do this since my payout is already pretty generous, but it's an option.
The breakdowns of what the payouts should be depend on how top-heavy you want them (i.e., does the first place get more money than everyone else? Or A LOT more money than everyone else?). For me, I want my game more casual so I do a flatter structure.
I have this pre-defined in my rules:
2 payouts: 60/40
3 payouts: 50/30/20
4 payouts: 40/30/20/10
5 payouts: 40/30/15/10/5
But just note some people may advocate for a structure that pays first place more.
At the end of the day, it really depends on what your game is for. Mine is for fun primarily, and I want people to feel they have a chance to win something a the end of the day.
how you determine when you stop? or do you play till there is one winner left? or do you set a time to stop?
You typically play until there is one winner left. Or in some games, you give the players the option to "chop" if they want two. I.E., if you have two players left? They can decide to negotiate and split the winnings if they're tired of playing.
For me, I have a mandatory chop after the 16th level, but we have never gotten close to reaching that. Some games also start making the blind timers shorter in the higher levels.
But more than anything, just remember the general rule of thumb that a tournament ends no later than when the total number of chips on the table equals about 20 big blinds. Often they end earlier; sometimes a level or two later. But it's a good rule when determining your structure. That doesn't "force" the game to end, but you - as the TD - can get a good idea on when it will.
