Calculate fair payouts when tournament players decide to split the remaining prize pool.
A chop (deal) is when the remaining players in a tournament agree to split the prize money before it ends. Late at a final table, when stacks get shallow and variance runs high, players often stop rather than play to the finish, dividing the remaining prize pool fairly based on current stacks and the payout structure.
The catch is what 'fairly' means. Splitting purely by chip ratio looks even at a glance, but real tournament payouts have large gaps between places, so having more chips doesn't earn you proportionally more. That's why an ICM-based split that accounts for each player's win chance and the payout structure is more accurate.
Enter the remaining players' chip stacks and the payout structure (1st, 2nd, 3rd place prizes), and it computes both the chip-chop and ICM-chop distributions side by side for comparison.
When discussing a deal, understanding these three points lets you judge whether it favors you.
Chip-chop splits the prize by each player's chip ratio. It's simple but overly favors the chip leader. ICM-chop reflects the payout structure by converting win chances into money value, so the short stack gets a bit more than chip-chop and the leader a bit less.
ICM (Independent Chip Model) calculates the probability of finishing in each place from current stacks, then multiplies by each place's prize to find expected winnings. The larger the gaps between place prizes, the more a short stack's survival value rises, favoring an ICM-chop.
If stacks are shallow with high variance and your skill edge isn't large, cutting variance with a deal can be profitable. Conversely, a chip leader with a clear skill edge may have higher expected value by playing it out.
Generally ICM-chop is fairer. Real payouts have big gaps between places, so a chip ratio alone doesn't accurately reflect each player's value of winning. ICM-chop reflects the payout structure and properly values a short stack's survival.
Actually, under ICM-chop the short stack often receives more than under chip-chop, because the guaranteed value of the minimum place prize is reflected. That said, if your skill edge is large, playing on may be better — compare both figures with the calculator to decide.
Sometimes the entire prize is split, but often a portion (e.g., an amount equivalent to the winner's trophy) is left to play out and determine a champion. This calculator computes the fair split for the portion being divided.
