Poker Beacon

ICM

The independent chip model estimates what a player's standing in a tournament is worth in money.

Official source: Empirical Validation of the Independent Chip Model →

It takes only chip counts and the payout schedule as inputs and returns a non-linear estimate of each player's expected prize, assuming the chance of finishing first is proportional to the share of chips held; it can equally output finishing-position probabilities. Abstracting away skill, position and blind levels makes it general but approximate. A large-scale empirical study found it understates big stacks and overstates short ones.

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  1. Empirical Validation of the Independent Chip Modelverified · 2026-08-04 · agent:verification