You want this at kdice instead of gpokr forum.

Basically elo is how often you win, but is modified by the skill level of your opponents.

You gain *Score* every game based on your elo rank. If you have 10th elo then end of game you gain 1/10th = 0.1 points
or 1/500th = 0.002 points

Basically you get most points from games that your elo is at it's highest.

whoops, score is the new/2nd system and separate from elo. More details at:
http://kdice.wikispaces.com/Ranking+System


More detailed elo explanation is:

Before the game begins, pretend you're expected to rank/finish an average of 4th. But if you're playing against weak opponents you'd average better than 4th and get too many points from easy opposition, so "elo" modifies your expected rank using something similar to the standard logistic function. I believe kdice currently uses something similar to:

Ea = 1/[1 + 5^((Rx - Ra)/400)]

Ea = Expected rank of player a
Rx = Rating of player X
Ra = Rating of player a

So say if you have 1900 vs a 1500 player, Ea = 0.83

1) vs 6 opponents:
Ea = (0.83 + .83 + .83 + .83 + .83 + .83) = 5

2) 2300 vs 6x 1500:
Ea = 5.77

3) 1500 vs 6x 1900:
Ea = 1

4) 1500 vs 6x 1500:
Ea = 3

To adjust rating you take Expected Rank and plug it into a linear formula vs a K-value to get Elo points adjustment for each game, here's an example formula (I think kdice changed it's k-value from 32 to 16 because ratings changed too fast from luck, I think it should try a k-value of 8 but meh...):

R'a = Ra + 16(Sa - Ea)
((R'a = new rating for player a, Ra = previous rating, Sa = Score from game))

Let's say you get 4th in the game, then somehow:

1) R'a = Ra - 32

2) -44 points

3) +32 points

4) +0 points

All the best!

ps: the 5 from the logistic function used to be a 10, but your change in elo was *way* too influenced by the elo of your opponents, I also think this should be changed to 4 or lower because it still seems very risky to play at a table or 2 below your rank.