Every $Puck staked on every entrant goes into one pot for that question. When the division has a winner, the house takes its fee off the top and everything left is split between the people who backed the winner, in proportion to what each of them staked.

So you are not betting against fixed odds. You are claiming a share of whatever ends up in the pot. The return you see on an entrant is the pot divided by the $Pucks already on that entrant, with the fee already taken out — it is the real number, not a headline.

Your Own Stake Moves The Price

Staking 100 $Pucks on someone who only has 20 behind them drops your own return a long way, because you are now most of the money on that entrant. The quote you get before you confirm already accounts for your stake, so the number on the button is the number you would be paid.

Knocked-Out Stakes Stay In The Pot

When an entrant goes out, the $Pucks staked on them do not come back — they stay in the pot and get paid to whoever wins. By the time a division is down to the last two, most of the pot usually belongs to people who are already out. That is why a stake placed late, on a two-player final, is still worth placing.

There Is No Cashing Out Of A Pool

This is a pooled market, not a trading market. Once $Pucks are in a pot they stay there until the division has a winner. There is no selling your pick back part-way through. Decide what a pick is worth to you before you confirm it.

Opening The Board

When a pool opens, the house puts its own $Pucks on the board so the first person is not staking into an empty pot. Once players have staked at least as much as that, the house money comes back out.