Why do tourney chips change value?

[Vertigo50]

I think I understand this, but rather than state my understanding, I'd rather here other explanations.

Why do tourney chips change value as the tourney progresses. Can you give a math example of the value of chips during a Party Poker SNG? (800 starting chips)

And how should this affect my play?

[SuitedSixes]

Inflation.

[TheNoodleMan]

Scenario 1:
There are 10 players left in a party 10+1 SNG. You have 1 chip. 8 players have 800 chips, 1 player has 1599 chips. How much is your one chip worth?
Scenario 2:
there are 4 player left in a party 10+1 SNG. You have 1 chip. player A has 5999 chips. Players B and C each have 1000 chips. Player B moves all in, player C calls. The action is on you and your lone chip.
In one scenarion your chip is virtually worthless, in the other scenario your chip is so valuable that you should fold AA rather than jeoprodize it.
Do you see why?
<font color="white"> it will almost never be this obvious </font>

[jojobinks]

go ahead and read up on this. tournament poker for advanced players has a section on it.

[TheNoodleMan]

[ QUOTE ]
go ahead and read up on this. tournament poker for advanced players has a section on it.

[/ QUOTE ]
It is the central theme of the entire book. Well worth a read.

[microbet]

Lots of situations demo this, but this is the simplest:

When you start, all the chips are equal to all the prize pool. When you end, all the chips are worth 50% of the prize pool.

[GrekeHaus]

Here is the easiest example to help you understand why this is true.

Consider a 10-person $1,000 buy-in tournament where everyone starts with 1,000 in tournament chips. The prize pool pays $5000,$3000,$2000 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

At the beginning of the tournament, each player has 1000 chips and (all other things being equal) will win 1/10 of the prize pool, which is $1000. Thus, each chip is worth $1 in real money.

At the end of the tournament, one player has all 10000 chips, but only wins $5,000, so each chip is worth 50 cents.

If two players are heads up, one with 9,999 chips and the other with 1. The player with only one chip has a chip that's worth more than $3,000!!!

To calculate how much each of your chips is worth exactly is a tricky problem. ICM is a system that attempts to model this and predict your percentage of the prize pool based on chip stacks.

[Vertigo50]

GrekeHaus,

That was a perfect explanation, and confirmed what I was sort of thinking it meant. Thanks for that.

I will definitely check out Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, as suggested.

Thanks guys.

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