Most tournament poker players agree that after some point the game becomes entirely mathematical.
The debate about the relevance of mathematics in poker is primarily focused on
where this point is and to what degree the tournaments are mathematical
before this point. Although this topic delves deeply into complex issues such as game theory, the
ICM Calculator and the ICM Applicator can help any player to see and understand where and when
math becomes important.
ICMs are a crucial part of any tournament poker calculation. This is because in order to convert your chipstack
into money (which is trivial for a cash game) becomes a tricky problem in tournaments
because you need to incorporate every player's chipstack as well as the payout structure. The ICM Calculator takes
this information and does the algebraic conversion for you. The ICM Applicator takes it one step
further in that it uses certain ICM calculations and opponent hand ranges to tell you, based on that information,
exactly how much you make from pushing each hand. Since it can check every hand and figure out how much you make
if you fold versus how much you make if you play, it can tell exactly which hands to push in any situation where 2 players
have gone all in!