How much is the biggest stack worth in ICM with 6 players left?

Seat 1 holds 10,000 chips, 16.7% of the chips in play, and is worth 16.7% of the prize pool when 2 places pay 65/35 percent. That is +0.00 points against its chip share.

What equity does the smallest stack need to call the biggest stack's all-in?

53.8%. In chips alone the call breaks even at 50%, but the bubble factor of 1.16 raises the requirement because losing costs the smallest stack 16.67% of the prize pool.

Why is ICM equity different from chip share?

Because the prize pool is paid by place, not by chips. Doubling a stack does not double its payout, so each extra chip is worth less than the one before it. Here the biggest stack is worth 16.7% of the prize pool for 16.7% of the chips.

ICM: Even stacks, 6 Players, 2 Paid

Take 6 players, 2 paid places (65/35 percent) and even stacks: the largest stack converts 16.7% of the chips into 16.7% of the prize pool, and the smallest turns 16.7% into 16.7%.

How much is each stack worth with 6 players left?

60,000 chips are in play in the even stacks pattern, where every player holds 10,000 chips. The prize pool pays two places paid, 65 and 35 percent, and the table converts each seat's chips into prize equity.

Chips and prize equity with 6 players left, payouts 65/35 percent
Seat	Chips	Share of chips	ICM equity	ICM minus chips
Seat 1	10,000	16.67%	16.67%	+0.00 points
Seat 2	10,000	16.67%	16.67%	+0.00 points
Seat 3	10,000	16.67%	16.67%	+0.00 points
Seat 4	10,000	16.67%	16.67%	+0.00 points
Seat 5	10,000	16.67%	16.67%	+0.00 points
Seat 6	10,000	16.67%	16.67%	+0.00 points

Share of the chips against share of the prize pool

Seat 1Chips 16.7%Prize 16.7%
Seat 2Chips 16.7%Prize 16.7%
Seat 3Chips 16.7%Prize 16.7%
Seat 4Chips 16.7%Prize 16.7%
Seat 5Chips 16.7%Prize 16.7%
Seat 6Chips 16.7%Prize 16.7%

ICM pays less than chip share to the stacks at the top and more to the stacks at the bottom: Seat 6 falls 0.00 points short, and Seat 1 comes out 0.00 points ahead.

How often does each seat finish in the money?

Before payouts are applied, each stack has a chance of every finishing place. The biggest stack cashes 33.3% of the time, the smallest 33.3%, with 2 places paid.

Chance of finishing in each place
Seat	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth	Paid
Seat 1	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	33.33%
Seat 2	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	33.33%
Seat 3	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	33.33%
Seat 4	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	33.33%
Seat 5	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	33.33%
Seat 6	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	16.67%	33.33%

Where each seat's prize equity comes from, in points of the prize pool
Seat	From first	From second	Total
Seat 1	10.83	5.83	16.67%
Seat 2	10.83	5.83	16.67%
Seat 3	10.83	5.83	16.67%
Seat 4	10.83	5.83	16.67%
Seat 5	10.83	5.83	16.67%
Seat 6	10.83	5.83	16.67%

What is the bubble factor for each seat with 6 players left?

The bubble factor is the prize equity a player loses by losing an all-in divided by the equity gained by winning it. The highest figure here is 1.16, for Seat 1 calling Seat 2, and the lowest is 1.16, for Seat 1 calling Seat 2.

Bubble factor when the row seat calls an all-in from the column seat
Seat	vs Seat 1	vs Seat 2	vs Seat 3	vs Seat 4	vs Seat 5	vs Seat 6
Seat 1	none	1.16	1.16	1.16	1.16	1.16
Seat 2	1.16	none	1.16	1.16	1.16	1.16
Seat 3	1.16	1.16	none	1.16	1.16	1.16
Seat 4	1.16	1.16	1.16	none	1.16	1.16
Seat 5	1.16	1.16	1.16	1.16	none	1.16
Seat 6	1.16	1.16	1.16	1.16	1.16	none

How much equity does a call need?

When the smallest stack (Seat 6) calls an all-in from the biggest (Seat 1), the bubble factor is 1.16. A call that needs 50% in chips needs 53.8% once prize money counts, which is 3.8 points more. The same all-in the other way, with the biggest stack calling the smallest, has a bubble factor of 1.16 and needs 53.8%, 3.8 points over the chip figure. Here the bigger stack pays the larger premium: losing costs it 16.67% of the prize pool and winning adds 14.33%.

Break-even equity for two all-in calls, risking and winning the same chips
Call	All-in (chips)	Bubble factor	Chip break-even	ICM break-even	Equity now	Equity if win	Equity if lose
Smallest stack calls biggest	10,000	1.1628	50.0%	53.8%	16.67%	31.00%	0.00%
Biggest stack calls smallest	10,000	1.1628	50.0%	53.8%	16.67%	31.00%	0.00%

Where can I compare other stack patterns?

Open a sibling to see how the same payouts value a different split of the chips. For your own stacks and payouts, use the ICM calculator.

How was this ICM table computed?

A player finishes first with chance equal to their share of the chips; each next place goes to the players left in proportion to their stacks. Equity is the payout of each place times the chance of finishing there. The bubble factor is prize equity lost by losing the all-in divided by prize equity gained by winning it, with the other stacks unchanged; a player whose stack reaches 0 busts and takes the lowest place.

Source: Malmuth-Harville ICM, computed by GeorgeLiPoker's own library. The model follows D. A. Harville, 'Assigning Probabilities to the Outcomes of Multi-Entry Competitions', Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1973.

Questions

How much is the biggest stack worth in ICM with 6 players left?: Seat 1 holds 10,000 chips, 16.7% of the chips in play, and is worth 16.7% of the prize pool when 2 places pay 65/35 percent. That is +0.00 points against its chip share.
What equity does the smallest stack need to call the biggest stack's all-in?: 53.8%. In chips alone the call breaks even at 50%, but the bubble factor of 1.16 raises the requirement because losing costs the smallest stack 16.67% of the prize pool.
Why is ICM equity different from chip share?: Because the prize pool is paid by place, not by chips. Doubling a stack does not double its payout, so each extra chip is worth less than the one before it. Here the biggest stack is worth 16.7% of the prize pool for 16.7% of the chips.