Chop or no chop?

[Shabazz Jenkins]

I know there are alot of factors involved when deciding to chop or not, but I am always curious as to what others would've done in the same position.

I decided to make the trip through the blizzard last night into Columbus to play the $85 tourney at Nick's Shark Tank. I really didn't think the major roads would be that bad, but 161 from Newark to Cbus was a mess and my rear wheel drive pickup drives horribly in the snow. There were only 38 players. There were some good players there but also some really....really bad players.

Once we got down to 4 players blinds were going to 5 and 10k. They were suggesting even chop. Stack sizes were 220k(me), 120k, 60k, and 60k. Even chop...hmm..I don't think so.

Prizes were approximately:
1st-$1515
2nd-$750
3rd-$450
4th-$300

I felt that I had a huge edge and if there was more play involved I wouldn't have been considering a deal. We were going to break so that gave me the chance to think it over. Back from break and they offered me
1k and they would split the rest. I said I wanted $1100 and and we agreed they would get $650 each and I would get the rest which was $1080. I got home and put this into a chip chop calculator and I would've gotten $1025.

[whereisdonny]

never chop in an 85$ live tournament imo. as shortstack it sucks because u might not be getting icm and even if u are they play too tight to jams as bigstack it sucks because they do these stupid even chops live.. most of your edge in tournaments comes at the final table when everyone's tournament equity is higher and they make all kinds of icm errors

if they think youre a dick... whatever theyre stupid lol.

can i get a link to chip chop calc?

[selfproclaim]

I don't chop in this situation with chip lead and edge. Actually, I rarely chop or pay the bubble. Overall it costs me money.

[Shabazz Jenkins]

Here is the chip chop calculator I used

[Vestvik7]

and HU is fun.

[Shoecrew22]

and HU is fun.

and being a dick is fun

[paratrooper99]

Lose one decent hand and your in survival mode. Skill in late stages of fast tournaments doesnt give you an advantage. Cards are nearly the only factor here. Any blind steal effort makes a villians jam an insta-call. If you have a big chip stack, get as much as you can then and there. You won 12x your BI. That is a good chop for 38 players.

[Vestvik7]

^ That is so beyond wrong.

[tnlovells]

^ That is so beyond wrong.

So well said. Chop is -EV...

[KevinW]

^ That is so beyond wrong.

agreed. good aggressive players have a HUGE advantage over their opponents late in live donkaments. in general, their all in calling ranges will be way too tight against you. they also tend to be loose pre, calling raises and folding when they miss. they will usually value moving up in spots more than they should. i could go on and on......