Player 1 · 50,000 chips
Chip share50%
ICM prize equity38.4%
Poker ICM Calculator
Convert two to ten tournament stacks into place probabilities and prize equity. The poker ICM calculator uses subset dynamic programming, conserves the entered prize pool, and compares ICM value with a simple chip chop.
Independent Chip Model prize equity
Enter positive whole-chip stacks and payouts in descending place order. Payout units must be consistent.
How the result is built
Tournament Chips Do Not Convert to Prize Money Linearly
ICM recursively assigns finish probabilities, then weights each place by its payout. Chip share is shown beside—not substituted for—prize equity.
| Player | Chip share | ICM value | Chip-chop value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50% | 38.39 | 50 |
| 2 | 30% | 32.75 | 30 |
| 3 | 20% | 28.86 | 20 |
Chips become conditional place probabilities
First-place probability equals chip share. After a player occupies a place, that stack is removed and the remaining probabilities are renormalized recursively.
Prize equity is a weighted sum
For each player, every place probability is multiplied by that place’s payout. The resulting equities sum to the prize pool within floating-point tolerance.
ICM deliberately omits poker context
Position, blind pressure, skill differences, future deals, and risk preferences are not inputs. ICM is a stack-and-payout model, not an action recommendation.
Prepare a reliable tournament snapshot
Use stacks captured at the same decision point and payouts that are already locked. Include every player still eligible for those prizes; omitted or duplicated chips distort Independent Chip Model position probabilities. Comparing the returned total with the prize pool provides a practical conservation check.
Worked examples
Winner-take-all
With only a first prize, ICM equity equals each player’s chip share of that prize.
Equal stacks
Equal stacks produce symmetric place probabilities and identical prize equity.
Frequently asked questions
Do payouts need to total 100?
They may be currency or points; the calculator preserves whatever consistent total you enter.
Why can ICM differ from chip chop?
Payouts are nonlinear across finishing places.
Does player order change results?
No. Reordering rows reorders the corresponding outputs only.
Is this an ICM decision solver?
No. It computes stack prize equity, not push-fold ranges.