Chip chop
Splitting what is left of the prize pool by chips, after every player first locks up the smallest prize still to come.
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- What it means
- A chip chop stops the tournament. Every player left takes the smallest prize still to be paid, and the rest of the pool is shared out by chip count, so a chip near the min-cash counts the same as one that could win it all.
- How it is calculated
- chip chop for a stack = smallest prize left + that stack ÷ total chips left × (pool − smallest prize × players left).
- Worked example
- Three stacks split 50,000, 30,000 and 20,000 chips, with a $1,500 pool still paying $900, $400 and $200. Everyone locks up $200 and the other $900 goes 50/30/20, so the chop pays $650, $470 and $380. Some write-ups split the whole $1,500 by chips instead, $750, $450 and $300, but that version can pay a short stack less than the prize it has already locked up.
- Why it matters
- It is quick and needs no calculator, but it still overpays the chip leader. ICM pays the same three stacks $617.86, $485.00 and $397.14, so the chip chop hands the leader $32.14 that the two shorter stacks pay for.
Try it: ICM calculator, Chip chop calculator