How the Independent Chip Model Impacts Sit ‘N Go Strategy

When it comes to poker strategy, throwing together advice articles on cash games and ring games is much easier than trying to help people with their personal Sit ‘N Go strategy. These quick, convenient tournaments have become wildly popular, though, so someone needs to help people make the most of their time at the table. People who have been around poker and have studied the game as of late will be familiar with one of the more complex, and also more important Sit ‘N Go strategy cogs. It’s known as ICM, or the Independent Chip Model, and a firm understanding of its principles can help individuals make better decisions.

The thing to know about the ICM theories is that, in the past, the math was so tough and complicated to do that most people without advanced MIT math degrees had little chance of implementing any techniques when they sat down at the table. All of that has changed now, as the online game gives players an opportunity to have more time to think, as well as use some new software that breaks ICM into more useable terms.

In order to have a firm grasp of Independent Chip Modeling, one must know all about pot odds. This is one of the semi-advanced poker strategies that people must become familiar with if they want to take their game to the next level, so you should already be familiar enough with the concept to understand the more advanced techniques.

Understanding pot odds in a cash game sense is pretty simple. You can figure out if making a call will give you any value by doing some quick math and understanding what percentage of the pot you will have to commit to take a chance on catching a flush or a straight. When you start playing in tournaments, and especially Sit ‘N Go tournaments, the math can get tough, because the chips don’t have an already designated value in tournament play like they do in cash game play. Think about it this way. In a cash game, if you have a mountain of $1 chips totally up to $5,000, your last chip and your $5,000th chip have the same value. They will both get you a buck at the cashier when you go to leave. In a tournament, that’s not necessarily true because when your last chip is gone, you have no chance of winning any money if you aren’t already qualified in a payout position. Along those same lines, losing your 5,000th chip isn’t that big of a deal because you have 4,999 more to go to war with in the tourney.

If you have spent any time whatsoever understanding economics, then you will recognize this as being similar to the theory on diminishing returns. Marginal value of things is different depending upon how much you have of it. Because of these important differences with tournament play, it can be very tough to figure out your true pot odds for every decision in a tournament. Luckily for players, ICM gives you a fighting chance at understanding the true value in some of the decisions you will undoubtedly be put to in a tournament.

If you try to conquer the entire prevailing theory behind ICM, you will probably end up with a headache and not a lot of accomplishment. Simply put, some really smart people have developed this system using overly complicated means. As a poker player, you just need to understand the general implications and how the use of ICM can help you play better poker. ICM assumes that your chances of winning have everything to do with your chip count as compared to the total chip amount for the entire tournament field. You can figure out what your chances of finishing second in the tournament are by figuring out your total chip count as opposed to the total tournament count after subtracting the chip leader’s stack. Obviously you can follow this theory on down the line, depending upon how many places in the tournament pay out. This type of idea is less useable for big, multi-table tournaments because of the sheer volume of chips, but it can be used effectively in smaller Sit ‘N Go tournaments. The key here is to figure out how much expected value you have in the tournament, which can be done by taking the probability that you will finish in one place and multiplying it.

Do you have a headache yet? If the above seems pretty complicated, just know that it’s the more explainable version of what is a pretty complex poker idea. Luckily for players today who play Sit ‘N Go tournaments online, you don’t have to engage in that type of mathematical foolishness. There are some really nice pieces of technology out there that will make these calculations for you. ICM calculators can be downloaded from a number of sites and they will save you time over doing the calculations yourself. Sure, if you are up for a challenge, the formulas are available, but this isn’t the sort of thing I would wish on anyone. You will be better off by just plugging the numbers of each situation into a calculator and letting it tell you just how much expected value you have at that time. This will help you understand how “good” or “bad” a move will be in terms of helping you get value at the table.