Splitting of tournament prize money (Did the TD make a mistake?)

There was a tournament this past weekend and the payout for the U1500 section was $1,000 for 1st, $600 for 2nd, $500 for 3rd, with an U1350 prize of $400.

The top 8 finishers were as follows:

Player A, Rated 1464, 4.0

Player B, Rated 1466, 4.0

Player C, Rated 1348, 4.0

Player D, Rated 1282, 4.0

Player E, Rated 1259, 3.5

Player F, Rated 1283, 3.5

Player G, Rated 1285, 3.5

Player H, Rated 1111, 3.5

The rest of the field finished with 3 or less.

How should the prize money for this section been paid out.  The TD combined all of the prize money for the section (including the U1350 prize) and split it evenly among the top 4 finishers.  Do you think he made a mistake or not?

Overall prize money takes precedent over class/rating prizes.  

This doesn't answer anything.

Surely $2100 should have been split 4 ways and given to A;B;C;D. Then $400 should have been split 2 ways and given to C and D ?

That sounds right.

Btw, why is the prize money so much? It seems like the sort of money that IMs and GMs get for tournaments.

I've been told by other TDs (not saying that they were 100% correct) that a player can't receive 2 cash prizes.  Meaning that the player would get the higher payout if he/she were eligible for multiple payouts.  If what I was told was true that I'd think that $2,100 should have been split 4 ways (A,B,C,D) and then $400 should have been split 4 ways (E,F,G,H).  Either your way or the way I just described, I don't see how Players A & B should have gotten any share of the U1350 money.

Maybe it depends on where you are.  Where I am, there are tournaments with these type of payouts about once a month.  The Open section of the same tournament paid out about $3,000 in place money.

the way it works ( and i know i am correct ) is that the number of people tied for first (second, third) place corresponds to the number of prizes you combine to divide evenly, starting from the prize of the tied place.

example: there are five prizes, first place is clear, three people tied for 2nd. 2nd, 3rd, 4th place prizes are combined, then divided. if there is a clear fifth, then he gets 5th prize, if not they divide it by the number of people tied for 5th, no matter how small it might be. 

that way a tied whatever place will never get less than the clear or tied place beneath him

I agree with you as far as the place prizes, but that doesn't address the Under prize.

was there only one under prize?

Copy and pasted from the original post: "with an U1350 prize of $400."

so they divide it i guess

I don't think you read the original post before giving a response.

The entry fee was $99 up to 4 days before the tournament;  $109 the 4 days before the tournament; and $114 the day of the tournament.

A master (IM) told me once that there are lots of the larger tournaments in the U.S. that pay out good money for those U600, U1500, U1400 and U1200. He used to take new players with low ratings and train them intensely, and then they would go and win more than enough money to pay for his lessons. He was trying to market me because I rarely study any chess, I just like to play, he wanted $50 per hour. The point is that the winners in the lower classes are usually "sandbaggers" of one variety or another that play much stronger than their ratings. For instance all I would have to do is purposefully lose about 150 points of ratings at local low cost tournaments (I was USCF 1647 but it lapsed a few years ago), then enter a large U1500 tournament and have a good chance of making money. That is not fair, so I'm not going to do it, but I bet many others would and think nothing of it.

Did the master (IM) coach also tell you that the USCF has "money floors" and that once you win $4,000 in any sub-2000 section, your rating is automatically raised to the next 100 point mark so that you are no longer eligible to play in the section in which you won the money?

Yeah, I know about that, but $4000 for learning and playing chess is still pretty good money to some....