When people think of poker luck often comes to mind. Most people who do not play poker think that it’s either all about the luck of the draw or cheating. This is far from the truth. Well, luck may play a little into it but not much. It comes down to strategy when playing poker.
The strategy is what separates the losers from the winners. A good strategy can, and often does, give a poker player the edge in a game. Success in this game isn’t about just drawing a few cards and hoping you win. It’s about knowing what strategy to use for the type of game, and player, that you’re in. Let’s take a look at one of those strategies is called “Independent Chip Model” or ICM.
When to use strategy
A good poker player will utilize strategy as soon as they become competent in the game. This means that you know all your hands, you have a good handle on the feel of the game, and you know your way around a deck of cards. One important step that you’ll reach is when you want to play for money. When money is on the line you can’t afford to make mistakes and you have to start thinking about getting the edge in a tournament. This is when you’re ready to start learning something like ICM.
What is the Independent Chip Model?
ICM stands for “Independent Chip Model” and is used to get the equity of poker chips in tournament play. This is useful because it gives the player an accurate view of the value of their chips in certain parts of a certain tournament. There are some basics to it and it’s a really easy strategy to catch on to.
A few basics for the Independent Chip Model
One of the most frustrating things about playing poker is how much of your money to put down and when. This is done in the form of chips, the value of each chip and how you strategize things are different if it’s a cash or tournament game. For ICM, this strategy is all about tournament play.
Tournament equity is really at the heart of this strategy. You want more equity for yourself and you don’t want to make a bad move. If you do get a bad hand, then you want to limit the damage you do to yourself. In a tournament, the value of each chip changes as the game progresses and players get eliminated. Knowing this, you can make better decisions about those precious chips in your hand.
One important basic rule about tournament play and ICM is that chip value doesn’t necessarily follow a logical order. Let’s say that you go from holding 10 percent of the chips to 20 percent. Has your equity doubled? Well not really. Things change depending on if it’s winner take all or if there are rankings, like a 2nd, 3rd and so on.
A quick example
So now you know that ICM is really for tournament play and is used to tell the difference in equity between winner take all and a ranked match. So what’s the math involved to make ICM work for you? It’s simple really, let’s start with a ranked match.
You’re in a match and there’s only two of you left. Your opponent has about 3000 chips and you’re on the losing end with only 500. Now 1st place gets 60 percent of the pool and 2nd gets 40 percent. If you go from 500 chips to 1000 did you double your equity? Nope. As the game stands each player can make at least 40 percent of the pool. So you going to 1000 and your opponent getting 2500 doesn’t double things for you and lesson for him by that much.
Your new equity percentage would go up by a fraction but it does go up. 1st place is still winning with the lions share of the loot after the match is over. Using ICM however, can help reduce by how much you lose by and maximize how much you get in this match.
Conclusion
Playing poker is a great past time but you have to be smart at it. First, you need to learn the game and all the rules involved. Then, when you start playing for money in different types of tournament matches is when you start learning strategy. Now it is best to learn before you get in your first tournament. ICM is a great strategy to start with for calculating equity. When you get your equity down then you can decide if certain moves are worth the risk.
ICM is simple to use, gives a good, repeatable approach to poker tournaments, and can be learned by almost any player. If you’re ready to take your poker game to the next level, then go and learn ICM. Your next big win may come from it.
