DECISION POINT: You're in a daily tournament that you frequently play at a local casino. There are 16 players remaining with 10 getting paid. In this tournament, it's common for players to do an even chop between the final 6 or 7 players. Blinds are 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante. You are second in chips with 126,000, with most other stacks around 60,000. The UTG player moves all-in for 23,000 and action folds to you in the Hijack seat with K♣Q♣. What's your move?

PRO ANSWER: We are playing in a daily tournament at our local casino. There are 16 players left and 10 places get paid. We play in this tournament regularly. It's very common for an even chop to happen with 6-7 players left, where the remaining players evenly split the remaining prize money without regard for the chip stacks in play. We are currently second in chips with 126,000 and blinds are 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante. There are a few short stacks at the other table, but most players have around 60,000 chips, or 30 big blinds.

We are dealt K♣Q♣ in the Hijack seat and the Under the Gun player moves all-in for their remaining 23,000 chips. Action folds to us, and we have a decision to make. Under normal circumstances with a standard payout structure that is top-heavy, KQs would be right on the cusp of being able to call an all-in from a UTG player at an 8-handed table.

This situation, however, presents several unique variables. Given this tournament normally chops 6-7 ways evenly, the payout structure is very flat and rewards staying in the tournament far more than accumulating chips. If the UTG player is adjusting appropriately, they should be shoving much narrower than they would in a more typical tournament situation with 11.5 big blinds. Additionally, being second in chips means that we will likely get the maximum payout in a chop scenario simply by staying alive in the tournament. There is very little benefit to taking on risk to attempt to grow our stack beyond what is likely to make it into the final 6 or 7 players.

With these ICM factors at play, we should be continuing with a very narrow range, particularly with so many players behind us still to act. Chopping is very common in a lot of daily tournaments, particularly in a live casino environment. Making the correct strategic adjustments deep in a tournament when an even chop is likely is key to maximizing your value in these spots.

Folding is the best play.