When it comes to the game of poker there are literally thousands of things that one must understand. Understanding certain concepts are not only key to winning tournaments, but they are key to developing strategies as well as changing them on the fly. A seasoned poker player must be able to adapt to all situations. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you have to continually improve your game while also using the tools at your disposal to the fullest. During a poker tournament, one of those tools is going to be the ICM or independent chip model.
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During tournament play, you are going to hear the pros oftentimes throw around the word ICM or phrase independent chip model. When they use these two terms that are simply talking about converting tournament or SNG chip stacks into real money. ICM was created in the first place to help players keep track of the amount of money they have during tournament play.
Understanding The ICM
During tournament play, you are going to hear the pros oftentimes throw around the word ICM or phrase independent chip model. When they use these two terms that are simply talking about converting tournament or SNG chip stacks into real money. ICM was created in the first place to help players keep track of the amount of money they have during tournament play.
For instance, chip stacks vary in tournaments. If you are playing a regular game and have a stack of chips in front of you, you will know the value of those chips at all times. This is not the case with tournament play. Just because you have a $100 stack of chips in front of you it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are holding onto $100. Simply put, ICM is the value of your chips during a tournament game.
The first thing that you have to know is that the ICM is going to vary depending on the type of tournament that you are playing in. For instance, if you are playing in a tournament hosted by agen bola the value of your chips might vary from the chips of another player playing with another provider. To better help, you understand how you can apply ICM in a real setting it would be best to take a look at an example. Say that you just entered a three-man SNG tournament where the buy-in is $10. With this example, there would be no rake, which means that the total prize is $30.
The winner of the tournament would collect $20, whereas the runner up would collect $10 and the last-place finisher would walk away with nothing. Just remember that the above example is just a basic one. The value of chips and stacks will change throughout the tournament depending on the number of players in the game. So, it is entirely possible that the winner of the tournament will walk away with more than $30 at the end of the night.
At the end of the day, using ICM to calculate the value of the chips on the table is mostly beneficial for one reason. And, that reason would be to determine whether or not a play is worth the risk. In any poker game, there are going to be raises and calls.
Applying The ICM In A Real Setting
The first thing that you have to know is that the ICM is going to vary depending on the type of tournament that you are playing in. For instance, if you are playing in a tournament hosted by agen bola the value of your chips might vary from the chips of another player playing with another provider. To better help, you understand how you can apply ICM in a real setting it would be best to take a look at an example. Say that you just entered a three-man SNG tournament where the buy-in is $10. With this example, there would be no rake, which means that the total prize is $30.
The winner of the tournament would collect $20, whereas the runner up would collect $10 and the last-place finisher would walk away with nothing. Just remember that the above example is just a basic one. The value of chips and stacks will change throughout the tournament depending on the number of players in the game. So, it is entirely possible that the winner of the tournament will walk away with more than $30 at the end of the night.
Determining Your Prize Pool
At the end of the day, using ICM to calculate the value of the chips on the table is mostly beneficial for one reason. And, that reason would be to determine whether or not a play is worth the risk. In any poker game, there are going to be raises and calls.
Knowing the value of the chips on the table will help you determine whether or not call or raises is worth it. In some situations, it might prove to be more fruitful to call. In other situations, it might prove more fruitful to raise or fold. You simply won’t know until you know the value of the chips on the table.