progressFinal table push/fold ranges
Nine players, the payouts of a normal final table, and everyone short.
Here is what changes at a nine-handed final table when all players have 10 big blinds and the payouts are 28, 19, 13, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 percent of the prize pool. The numbers are the share of hands the first player to act shoves, folded to him:
| Seat | Chip EV shove | ICM shove |
|---|---|---|
| Lojack | 23% | 29% |
| Hijack | 28% | 32% |
| Cutoff | 33% | 44% |
| Button | 43% | 61% |
| Small blind | 72% | 98% |
Every seat shoves more under ICM than in chip EV, and the gap grows toward the blinds: the small blind shoves 98% of hands (72% in chip EV).
The callers
When the cutoff shoves, the three players behind him decide:
| Caller | Chip EV call | ICM call |
|---|---|---|
| Button | 15% | 7% |
| Small blind | 22% | 8% |
| Big blind | 29% | 10% |
Calling ranges are more than halved. A player who calls off at a final table risks several places in the payout ladder for the chance to win more chips that are worth less than they look.
What it means for you
- Shove ranges first in are wider than the chip EV charts. Use the late-position and blind ranges more freely when the stacks around you are not much bigger.
- Call ranges are much tighter. Folding a hand that is a call in chip EV is often correct.
- The size of the effect depends on the payouts and on who is behind you. See the bubble factors of your own spot in the ICM calculator.
- The same pattern holds in a satellite: see satellite push/fold ranges.
How these numbers are made
They come from our own push/fold model of the whole hand. Every player, in turn, can fold, go all-in or call an all-in. The payouts use the Malmuth-Harville ICM, and the ranges are found by repeated best responses until they settle (they move by about a percentage point between runs; a second, independent solver agrees with the chip EV numbers to within about a point and a half). The blinds are 0.5 and 1 BB and the antes total 1 BB. Stacks are before posting. There is no postflop play, because an all-in and a call run to showdown. It is an approximation of the real game, and ICM itself ignores skill and position after the flop. It is a map for study, not an exact solution.
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Related guides
Questions
Should I shove wider at a final table?
First in, yes, when stacks are similar and short. In our model every seat shoves more under ICM than in chip EV with nine players on 10 BB.
Should I call all-ins tighter?
Yes. In the cutoff shove example the callers continue with 7% to 10% of hands against 15% to 29% in chip EV.
Do these numbers include the antes?
Yes, antes total 1 BB, blinds are 0.5 and 1 BB.
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progressGTO guides use our own solution book (v13, 8-max tournaments with ante, chip EV): an approximation of equilibrium with a modelled postflop, not an exact solution. Numbers are computed from the book and from the exact ICM model.
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