Final Table Deal

Also known as: FT deal, chop, ICM deal, chip chop

A negotiated redistribution of remaining prize money among the final players, usually based on ICM or chip counts.

When the field is short, players often deal to reduce variance. There are three common methods. A chip chop divides remaining money strictly by chip share — this overpays the chip leader and underpays short stacks, because it ignores the concavity of ICM. An ICM deal divides by Malmuth-Harville equity, which is the mathematically fair baseline. An ICM deal with a save for first sets aside a sum for the eventual winner and distributes the rest by ICM, balancing fairness with an incentive to keep playing.

As the resident pro you should be able to argue both sides: chip leaders push for a chip chop, short stacks push for ICM. The honest number is the ICM figure; deviations are negotiation, not math.

Always re-run the numbers live — the house Dollar EV ($EV) split changes every hand as stacks move, and a deal struck one orbit later can swing thousands.