Drill PokerEvery push and call chart on this site is built on chip expectation: a chip is worth a chip. In the late stages of a tournament that is false. Busting one spot short of the money costs you your entire payout, while doubling up brings far less than double the money. The gap between "chips" and "money" is ICM, and this page is about how to adjust the base charts for it.
Action
My stack
Opponent stack
The chart shows pushing and calling at 10 BB in a typical bubble spot: pick your stack (short, medium, big) and your opponent's stack — the range boundary shifts visibly.
The main rule
ICM barely touches the shove but sharply tightens the call. The pusher still takes the pot down without showdown a lot — opponents fold even more often, because busting is expensive for them too; because of that, shoving into medium and short stacks often gets even wider than the chip-EV baseline. The caller, though, always puts his stack at risk and needs noticeably more equity than the chip model demands.
In practice it looks like this:
- Shoving tightens only against the big stack; in every other direction it stays the same or widens — opponents over-fold.
- Calling tightens for everyone — by roughly half again versus the chip model. Hands that call an SB shove in the mid-game (small pairs like 33, K7o, QJo, JTo) become folds on the bubble.
Three stacks — three strategies
Big stack. Your elimination is unlikely, and it costs your opponents dearly. Shove into medium stacks well beyond the base chart, and into short stacks with almost any two: their call is cheap for you and is their tournament life. Call medium stacks with care — even a moderate lost pot changes your position.
Medium stack. The most squeezed seat at the table. Shoving into the big stack is the only direction tighter than baseline: he can call you almost painlessly. Shoves into other mediums and shorts — baseline or wider. Calls — tighter than baseline against everyone.
Short stack. ICM pressures you least: you're near the exit anyway, and doubling up is your only path. Shove at baseline or wider; hold back slightly only into the big stack. Call tighter than in the mid-game only if there are even shorter stacks at the table — then waiting has a point.
What sets the size of the adjustment
- Distance to the money and the gaps between payout steps. On the bubble and at the final table, crossing big pay jumps, the adjustment peaks. In the middle of the payout zone, where adjacent places differ by pennies, ICM barely operates.
- Payout structure. A satellite where all prizes are equal is the extreme case: calling with AA against a big stack's shove can be a fold.
- The number of short stacks at other tables. The more shorts around, the sooner the bubble bursts without you — and the more patience is worth.
Common mistakes
- Calling by the base chart on the bubble — the most expensive mistake in tournament poker.
- Folding an 8 BB shove against the big stack "to sneak into the money" — the min-cash isn't worth giving up the entire top of the payout ladder.
- Playing a big stack and a medium stack the same way: the big one is obliged to apply pressure, the medium one is obliged to endure.
- Applying ICM heads-up — heads-up ICM no longer operates; it's pure chips again.
The MTT trainer deals spots with a real payout structure and shows not just "push/fold" but the difference in dollar expectation — which is exactly what separates ICM from chip counting.