Two calculators in one
Our ICM calculator has two tabs covering the two most common real-world use cases:
- **Push/Fold ICM**: should I push or fold this hand? Uses Nash equilibrium + ICM pressure to tell you which of the two decisions is +EV in $ICM. - **Chip Chop (Deal)**: how much do I get if we stop the tournament here and make a deal? Uses pure Malmuth-Harville to distribute the prize pool based on remaining stacks and payouts.
Both calculators are free, no registration required, and support up to 9 players. Any result can be shared via a public link (valid for 90 days).
How to use Push/Fold step by step
1. **Your stack and your opponent's** in BBs. The opponent is the defender — the one deciding whether to call or fold against your push. 2. **Other stacks** (optional): the other players at the table who have already folded. They matter for the ICM calculation even though they aren't acting. 3. **Payouts** in descending order, separated by commas. Any currency works — only the proportions matter. 4. **Your hand** in standard notation: AA, AKs, AKo, 72o. 5. **Your blind and your opponent's**: 0.5 for SB, 1 for BB, 0 if you're pushing from BTN with no posted blind.
Hit Calculate and you get $EV(push), $EV(fold), a recommendation, and the exact equity of your hand against your opponent's calling range.
How to use Chip Chop step by step
Simpler to use: enter the stacks of all remaining players (separated by commas) and the remaining payouts (also comma-separated, in descending order). Hit Calculate Deal and the calculator returns how much each player is owed based on their stack and the payout structure.
This is the formula pros use to avoid getting a bad deal. It also works as a check: if you're offered a deal and the amount you'd receive is less than your ICM equity, **reject the deal**.
Sharing results
Every result has a **Share spot** button that generates a public URL with an Open Graph image optimized for Twitter/Discord/Slack. Useful for discussing spots with friends or coaches without having to take screenshots manually. The link stays live for 90 days. Individual pages are not indexed by Google (by design), so the spot won't show up in searches — it's only for direct sharing.
Honest limitations
This calculator makes two approximations worth knowing about:
1. **Opponent's calling range**: we approximate it as 'top X% by equity vs ATC' where X is derived from published Nash tables. Real solvers (ICMIZER, HRC) use slightly different ranges. Typical error: <2% of $EV. 2. **Equity vs range**: linear interpolation between equity vs ATC and equity vs top-10%. For ranges of 8–30% (the typical ones), the error is <1.5 points.
For critical spots in a live high-stakes tournament, it's still worth running the hand through a dedicated solver. For 95% of practical online tournament situations and for learning ICM, the calculator is more than sufficient.
Real-world use cases
- **Post-session hand review**: plug in questionable spots from your history and see whether your decision was correct. - **Targeted study**: test how the decision changes when you vary an input (stack, hand, payouts). It teaches you the sensitivity of each variable. - **Quick decision in a live game**: if you have your phone handy at a live tournament and you're unsure about a spot, 30 seconds gives you the answer. - **Deal negotiation**: never agree to a chip-chop by feel. Run the numbers with the tool and show the result to the other players as an objective reference.
Head over to the free ICM calculator now and solve your first spot.