Deal Making
1. Assuming there are a few players left. Let's say 3 players. Or say 2 players. Let's assume very similar stacks.
Generally speaking in smaller, one day tournaments we’re going to have average stacks <20BB at the FT and potentially less than that 5 handed. In which instance skill levels become less significant regardless of our personal understanding of the game.
An ICM deal realises our equity and takes the variance out of the equation.
That being said, if we always deal, we never get the experience of playing 3handed or HU.
Generally speaking in smaller, one day tournaments we’re going to have average stacks <20BB at the FT and potentially less than that 5 handed. In which instance skill levels become less significant regardless of our personal understanding of the game.An ICM deal realises our equity and takes the variance out of the equation.That being said, if we always deal, we never get the e
Skill levels become less significant if players understand short stack/ICM spots. In my experience 'daily' tournament players actually play this stuff worse than some of the more bread and butter spots.
When there is no obvious short stack, I'm always a fan of the ICM chop where everyone gets the money for the lowest position left (5th place money if it's a 5-way chop), then the rest of the prize pool is divvied up based on chip stack -- so the big stack gets the most, but everyone ends up getting about 3rd place money. given the variance of a final table, if you can lock in a good payday and go home (when it's typically 2:00 a.m), I'll do it. The chip counts mean that everyone gets a proportional amount based on their current chips, which is fair, and if the big stacks are willing to forego the top prize money, then the lower chip stacks should be happy to move up and get mid-level payout.
But that's just me.
