On Stars you can email and support will come to the table, pause the tourney, and facilitate the chop. I'm not sure but I think the major tourneys support is watching anyway and comes instantly if people agree they want to chop.
Not sure about Full Tilt, I don't think they allow chops, no idea on other sites. One thing's for sure, no one makes it a gentleman's agreement, I would never trust a random player to transfer me several tens of thousands of dollars lol.
basically just play at
poker stars is what he's trying to say
On a serious note, a lot has already been said and clarified, and if you don't understand chopping by now then well w/e, but in kill phil the book, there is a whole chapter on chopping. Basically it says this...
Say there is three players left. First place is 50k, second is 35k, and third 20k. Let's suppose the chip distribution count is 50%, 30%, and 20%.
Since all players are gauranteed 20k this becomes the base amount of the deal. The standard deal formula calls for the remaining 45k if each pulls 20k..60k+45k=95k. The player with 20% gets 9k, the player with 30% gets 13.5k and the player with 50% gets 22.5k.(adding 20k to each) This is the same formula Poker Stars uses.
Appearantly this formula isn't equitable. Look at a hypothetical case with 3 players remaining and prizes of 50$, 30$, and 20$. There is a total of 100 chips in play and they are distributed 80-10-10. The standard formula would pay 54-24-24. But first place pays only 50$. This clearly is too generous, because noone deserves more than what 1st place originally was even though they had the chip lead. So the standard formula is good for the chip leader and bad for the small stacks.....
imo I took a deal before when I was 2nd to last and made some more money since blinds were huge and variance was bound to happen....so I'll make a deal if possible and under the right circumstances.