See what tournament chips are really worth — set the stacks and payouts and watch each stack's chip share turn into money equity. Free, no signup.
ICM (Independent Chip Model) turns each chip stack into its real-money equity — what it's worth on average once everyone finishes and the payouts are shared. Compare each row's Chip % to its $ %: that gap is why chips aren't money.
| Stack | Chips | Chip % | ICM $ | $ % |
|---|
In a tournament you can't cash out chips — you're paid for where you finish. ICM (the Independent Chip Model) converts stacks into real-money equity by weighting every possible finishing order. The result: doubling your stack never doubles your money, so a big stack's chips are each worth less than a short stack's. That's ICM pressure — near the money it makes you fold hands you'd happily stack off with in a cash game, because busting costs more equity than winning gains.
Every deep tournament decision is an ICM decision. This sandbox makes the money behind the chips visible — and shows why the correct play often isn't the chip-EV one.
In a cash game a chip is worth its face value; in a tournament it isn't, because you're paid for where you finish, not for the chips you're holding. The Independent Chip Model converts stacks into real-money equity, and the result is always the same shape: doubling your stack never doubles your money. This sandbox lets you set any stacks and payouts and watch that compression happen — the big stack's chips are worth less per chip, the short stack's worth more.
Because busting costs more equity than winning gains near the money, ICM makes correct folds that look absurd in chip terms — laying down a strong hand on the bubble, refusing a coin flip as a big stack against another big stack. Move the stacks around and the money column shifts under your eyes. Size the bankroll for that variance with the bankroll calculator, and score your tournament results with ROI.
Set stacks, set payouts, read the money column.
Enter each player's chip count — use a preset for a bubble or final-table shape, or type your own.
Enter the prize for each paid place in dollars. Pay fewer places for a top-heavy structure, more for a flat one.
Each stack shows its chip share next to its real ICM money equity. Watch the gap — that gap is ICM pressure.
Fix Tournament chips convert to money non-linearly. A stack that's 50% of the chips is worth well under 50% of the prize pool — plan around the money, not the chips.
Fix As a big stack you have the most equity to lose. ICM says avoid marginal all-ins against other big stacks and let the short stacks bust each other.
Fix ICM pressure cuts both ways, but survival is worth the most when a pay jump is near — pick spots where your fold equity or hand strength is real.
Fix A flat payout reduces ICM pressure; a top-heavy one increases it. The right adjustment depends on the exact prizes — set them here before you decide.
The Independent Chip Model converts tournament chip stacks into real-money equity by weighting every possible finishing order against the payouts. It's the standard way to measure what a stack is actually 'worth' when you can't cash out chips.
Because you can only win the prize pool once. Extra chips help you finish higher, but with diminishing returns — so each additional chip on a big stack adds less money than a chip on a short stack, which most needs chips to survive.
By the Malmuth–Harville method: a player's chance of finishing first is their share of the chips, and the model recurses through each paid place, removing the 'winner' at each step, to weight every finishing order by the payouts.
The strategic effect of ICM: because busting costs more equity than winning gains near the money, you correctly fold hands you'd play in a cash game. It's strongest on the bubble and at pay jumps, and hardest on medium stacks.
Yes — that's the point of the sandbox. Edit any chip stack or payout, add or remove players and paid places, and the ICM equity for every seat recalculates instantly, so you can model the exact spot you're sitting in.
Three classic spots: the money bubble (four left, three paid) where ICM pressure peaks, a final three with a steep pay ladder, and a heads-up deal. Load one, then tweak the numbers to match your table.