Introducing ICM

When playing Sit & Go’s every player is aware that the payouts at the end are what they are aiming for, and the majority understand that they may need to make adjustments along the way in order to maximise their profits depending on their stack size. However, what starts to separate the men from the boys is a precise understanding of when and how much to adjust, as opposed to regularly underestimating the range of hands to move all-in with and overestimating the number to call with late in a tournament. Chip values are not linear in Sit & Go’s and are often very warped by the payout structure around the bubble. Don’t make those mistakes.

Before we get into ICM let’s look at a very basic example. Consider a ten-player $10 Sit & Go with a standard 50/30/20 payout structure, where each player starts with 1,000 chips. The initial conversion rate sees one chip equalling one cent, but by the end of the Sit & Go when the winning player has all 10,000 chips, he has ‘only’ won a $50 first prize- this means the conversion rate has dropped to one chip equalling 0.5 cents. But if a player has just a single chip left when the fourth player is eliminated in an all-in confrontation, the conversion rate of his last chip is now fractionally more than $20, as he is guaranteed to finish at in at least third place.

The Independent Chip Model

The most accurate way of calculating the real-money value of tournament chips in Sit & Go situations – and therefore a very informative guide to whether you should shove, call or fold – is known as ICM (the Independent Chip Model). ICM calculates the value of tournament chips in real dollars by considering the stacks of all remaining players and the prize structure, then calculating their relative chances of finishing in certain orders and the total real-money equity they would amass by doing so. It’s quite complicated, and in following article we’ll be looking at how it works and some of the tools you can use to help you make quicker decisions.