Tournaments are structured to pay out surprisingly well to the winner. Tournament directors like to be able to announce a huge prize for first place. In the Sunday's Stars $200, first place gets 20% of the prize pool! 4th place still gets a huge payout, but it's only 5.6%. The difference between 1st and 4th is $100,000. In situations like this, it makes sense to propose a chop deal.
What is “chop”?
Chop is an agreement in which the players still in the tournament agree on a different division of the prize pool than the one previously defined. This way, the difference in the amount paid to each classification would be smaller. In other words, if the first would win $1000 and the second $500, they can agree to change it to $800 and $700, for example. This is allowed by poker rooms, as long as it is done officially (and not “under the table”). So, what are the things you should remember when you get to this point?
How important is the game to you?
Let's say you enter a tournament for fun and get to the heads-up. 1st place takes home $1,000 and 2nd place takes home $600, a difference of $400. Is $400 a significant amount to you? Or is it a small amount? If it's an important amount to you, it's worth negotiating. If it's not, why waste your time?
How do you compare to your opponents?
If you played a satellite to get into this tournament, chances are you won’t be the best player at the final table. In fact, you’ll probably be the worst player at the table. Be realistic about your skill and take that into account when making a deal. Conversely, if you suspect your opponent is playing poorly for some reason, or simply isn’t as good as you, you may be less inclined to make a deal, or make a proposal that favors you.
What is a fair deal?
A fair deal gives something for the stake and something for the chip ratio. We all know that each additional chip is worth less than the previous one, which should be taken into account when making the deal. But this all depends very much on the structure. If all players have less than 10BBs, then the stake is worth more than the chips (since the blinds threaten everyone). But if everyone has more than 100BBs, then the chip ratio deal may be fairer.
What is Chip Chop?
First, you determine the minimum possible payout (the value of the next player eliminated) and take the equivalent amount from the prize pool. Then you divide the remainder according to the % of the total chips that each player has.
Example: there are four players left and the final prize pool will be $1000 for 1st, $600 for 2nd, $300 for 3rd and $100 for 4th. The first step is to set aside $400 (4 x the last place prize pool), as each player will receive at least $100. The remainder ($1600 in our example) will then be divided according to the number of chips. If the chip leader has 50% of the chips in play, he would get $800 + $100. Likewise, if the last place player had 5% of the chips, he would get $80 + $100.
What is a Save?
Save is a chair chop, in which the game will continue for a portion of the prize pool. In other words, a portion of the prize pool is divided equally among the remaining players, while another portion is put up as an extra prize only for the first-place player.
Example: there are three players left in a tournament that only pays the first player, with a prize pool of $2K. You are the one with the smallest stack in the tournament, and you can propose a save of $400, for example. In this case, each player wins $400 and the remaining $800 goes to the champion.
How can I make the best deal based on my stack size?
If you are the chip leader and can convince others to accept a split of chips, you will make a great deal. If you have the worst stack and can get a 50/50 Chip/Chair deal, congratulations. If you have a small stack, don't accept a deal that doesn't take placement into account.
In fact, a short stack usually has more leverage in the deal. A stubborn short stack can often convince the bigger stacks to make concessions to each other. Something like: “Look, all I’m asking for is another $2K. I don’t care where it comes from, but I need another $2K before I agree.” The big stacks are expecting a huge prize that can easily evaporate if they take KK vs AA.
Remember: the less you have to lose, the more power you have, in ANY negotiation.
Pride.
This is a huge factor to consider in a deal. Your pride and their pride. You don’t want to offend anyone. If you know that your skill is so far above others that a “fair” deal won’t seem fair to them, don’t even mention the offer. Let others maintain their dignity – it’s the only way you’ll get any deal done. The most annoying form of arrogance is the chip leader who keeps saying “but I’m the chip leader!” This guy will make it harder to get a split seat, but you have to stick with it and get the other players to support your argument. So be mindful of pride/vanity issues during final table discussions.
How painful would a defeat be?
Let's say you're in a heads-up final, with 12x the amount of chips your opponent has. The 1st place player will receive $12K and the 2nd place player will win $1K. You've been in similar situations before and ended up losing. If you lose again here, it would be devastating. In this case, it might be advantageous to propose a deal. You could offer to keep $11K and your opponent $2K, thus defining the prize pool. You'll only play to determine who was the winner, but you've already secured your $11K.
Comments
The most important thing in the chop debate is to secure a good deal. Keep this in mind. Use these tips to understand what a fair deal is and try to use them to secure a chop that is slightly favorable to you.
In some online poker rooms you can contact the online moderators so they can manage the chop to avoid problems. For example, at PokerStars it is possible to make “chop” deals in tournaments in an easy way. Just contact a moderator by sending an email to support@pokerstars.com with the following subject: “URGENT Tournament #XXXXXXX chop” -> replace XXXXXXX with the tournament number. In some other rooms you can click on the table dealer (or on the dealer's chip box) and check if there is this option.
There are also applications (on the internet or for smartphones) that calculate these “deals”.
NOTE: This article is an adaptation of the text written by CardSharpCook. Original text here.
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