ICM in five minutes

Dara O'Kearney presents some instant tips from his new book Endgame Poker Strategy that should boost your ROI even if you don't read it.

In my new book Endgame Poker Strategy: The ICM Book we have a chapter called 'ICM in 30 Minutes' at the start. Here we give some quick fixes you can make to your ICM game you can make before you dive into the book.

Today I am going to condense that section even more. You'll have to buy the book to get a really deep understanding of ICM, but before you do, these quick fixes will instantly fix some of the biggest ICM leaks.

Small pairs lose their value/ blockers go up in value

Small pocket pairs that you would be happy to set mine with in a cash game go dramatically down in value in tournaments as you get nearer the money. It is not a bad idea to remove pairs below sixes entirely from your range when you are near the money.

Most of the time the stacks are shallower when ICM influences the action, so you usually won’t be getting the implied odds to play small pairs anyway.

On the flip side, you can make up for the small pair removal by adding more hands that block big hands. You will discover that suited Aces and suited broadway hands go up in value in the late stages of a tournament.

This is because when you have an Ace in your own hand it makes it less likely your opponent has one. Because you need a tighter calling range in tournaments, you are more likely to get folds when you have an Ace in your hand because the typical calling ranges are mostly made up of AA, AK, KK, QQ, JJ hands. If you raise with 22 there are 16 potential combinations of AK and six combinations of AA out there, for example, but if you raise with A2s there are only 12 combinations of AK and three combinations of AA. You will run into a big Ax hand 30% less often in this example with A2s than you will with 22.

Who covers whom is important

The nearer you get to the money the more significant your risk of elimination becomes in your decision making. You should always pay attention to who can bust you at your table, who is close to busting and who is somewhere in the middle.

You can play a wider range of hands against a player you can bust, because they have to play tighter against you. You can play more aggressively against a player you cover and take them off more pots. 

If you are the player who is covered, you should play more passively and take fewer risks. Pot control your hands, avoid thin value bets and be prepared to fold in hands you would probably call in a cash game. Your opponent should be playing more aggressively against you, so a more passive style should earn you more chips overall anyway.

Play tighter as the short stack

This goes against a lot of prevailing wisdom and instincts. Many people believe that when they have a short stack they have to gamble to avoid being blinded out. That is a fallacy. The fewer chips you have the more each one is worth in terms of equity.

The few chips you have are worth more to you than they are to the other players, so they need protecting. It may feel counterintuitive but the shorter your stack, the tighter you should play.

How tight is hard to say without further study, but for now just narrow your range as much as you can bear when you get short stacked.

ICM is most extreme on the bubble and final table bubble

Most of you probably know that you should play much tighter on the bubble. Even amateur players who have never heard the term ICM realise this and you will see them stalling near the bubble. You need a very strong hand to risk elimination on a tournament bubble, KK is often a fold. 

However, when you have a big stack, this means you can exploit how tight people should fold by being more aggressive. If you have a very big stack you should try and extend the bubble as long as possible to pick up lots of small pots from people hanging on until the money. The flipside of having to play very tight as the short stack is that you can play very aggressively as the big stack and the bubble is where you can do that the most.

What fewer people know is that ICM is at its second most extreme on the bubble of the final table. This is because most of the money is on the final table and the pay jumps get bigger with each elimination. You should, therefore, play almost as tight just before the final table.

Although there is the most money on the final table, while ICM plays a big role it does not play as big a role as you think once you get there. ICM is less extreme with every elimination. ICM is less powerful with four players left than it is with six players left, because the players have secured more money they cannot lose.

What you tend to see on the final table is players playing very tight because they have their heart set on a particular pay jump. The money for third place might represent something significant for them in their real life, but from an ICM perspective they should not be playing like it’s a bubble.

Dara O'Kearney's new book Endgame Poker Strategy: The ICM Book is out now.