Making a deal at the final table? Enter the payouts and everyone's chips to see the ICM deal and the chip chop side by side.
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Taken out of 1st place before the deal, then played for. This can't be more than the gap between 1st and 2nd prize.
| Player | Chips | ICM deal | Chip chop | ICM vs chip |
|---|
The Independent Chip Model treats your chance of winning as your share of the chips, then works out the odds of every other finishing order the same way. Each player's deal is their average payout across all of those orders. It gives short stacks a little more than their chip share, because they're already guaranteed the smallest payout left.
Every player is guaranteed at least the smallest payout still left. The rest of the money is split by chip count. It's simple and favors the chip leader.
Some tables keep part of 1st place in the middle (plus the trophy) and keep playing. We take that amount off 1st place, run the deal on what's left, and the winner adds it on top.
Stacks of 5,000 / 3,000 / 2,000 with $50 / $30 / $20 payouts give an ICM deal of $38.39 / $32.75 / $28.86, matching the worked example from GTO Gecko. Stacks of 25 / 87 / 88 with $50 / $30 / $20 give the short stack $25.69, matching Wikipedia's ICM table. Tap "Try an example" to see the first one.
ICM is a model, not a rule. Skill, blinds and who's on the button matter too. Any deal has to be agreed by every player and approved by the tournament director, and some rooms don't allow deals.
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