Guides / What Is ICM?
What Is ICM?
Published Updated How these ranges are solved
ICM stands for "Independent Chip Model," and it's a model that converts chip stacks in a tournament to the "real money" expected payouts in a tournament. In cash games, a $1 chip is worth exactly $1 in real-world money. However, this is not the case in tournaments.
Cash game
$1 chip = $1
Fixed. It doesn't matter who else is at the table, or what anyone else has in front of them.
Tournament
1 chip = it depends
On the payout structure, on how many players are left, and on how many chips you already hold.
In fact, the value of a tournament chip is variable. The value changes as a tournament progresses, but also each individual chip is worth less the more that you have.
Why this makes short-stack strategy so important
This is a big reason why understanding short stack strategy is so important. When you are short stacked is when your individual chips are worth the most. Don't be like many players that give up and gamble that value away - understand how to make optimal decisions to make the most of your stack at every stage of the game.
How ICM changes your strategy
ICM also changes the nature of your strategy significantly. Busting a tournament becomes a lot more costly, so we are generally tighter compared to chip-EV strategies. However, there are also still opportunities to be more aggressive. For example, it's not just you that have this pressure. If you are a large covering stack, then you have the opportunity to apply huge pressure to smaller stacks, forcing them to fold more than they normally would.
Combining this with a strong understanding of fold equity opens up opportunities to get the maximum benefit based on the incentives of each hand.
When you are the one at risk
Busting is disproportionately costly, so marginal spots that print chips are folds. This is the direction most players already know about.
When you are the one they fear
A covering stack cannot be eliminated by the hand, so the same pressure that folds everyone else is licence for you to attack.
When it matters most
ICM pressure is sharpest right around the bubble and every pay jump after it, and it matters more the shorter your own stack is relative to what you'd win by surviving. Deep in the money with stacks still relatively even, chip-EV and ICM mostly agree; the gap widens exactly when the payout jumps get steep.
One ICM bubble spot is free to try in the app's Solutions browser. Full ICM training - every stack template, position, and depth - is a Pro feature.
Calculate it yourself
Common questions
- What's the difference between chip-EV and ICM?
- A chip-EV solve treats every chip as worth the same, whether it's your first or your last. ICM converts every stack at the table into real prize-pool equity given the payout structure and everyone's chip count, then re-solves the shove/fold decision against that instead of raw chips. Chip-EV is right for a cash game and for most of a tournament; it breaks down once payouts turn non-linear.
- Does correct play get tighter or looser near the bubble?
- Almost always tighter. Busting is disproportionately costly compared with what you gain by winning a marginal pot, so a hand that's a clear chip-EV shove can become a clear ICM fold - especially for a covered stack shoving into a short stack that would rather fold and ladder than bust.
- When does ICM stop mattering?
- It's sharpest right around the bubble and every pay jump after it, and it matters more the shorter your stack is relative to what you'd win by surviving. Deep in the money with stacks still relatively even, chip-EV and ICM mostly agree. The gap widens when the payout jumps get steep.