Chop or no chop, PokerStars Sunday Million

Game type: PokerStars Sunday Million NLHE tournament
Stage of tourney: Final Table, 4 remain
Avg stack: ~15m
Your image: Aggressive and a little lucky
Opponent’s image: One fairly LAG, one willing to deal and one pretty tight.
Your hand: n/a

This scenario is taken from the actual final table negotiations at last night’s FT of the PokerStars Sunday Million. The final four (clockwise from seat A) were roosterfish, Roberta114, IG0tDibs and downosaur. You’ll be standing in for IG0t

The setup: You have been playing a strong game and you’ve won a couple coinflips – that’s resulted in you holding the chip lead with 4 left in the Sunday Millions. The payout structure for the top 4 is as follows: 188k, 98k, 70k, 54k.

Everyone indicates that they’d like to discuss a deal. Lee runs the numbers and the chip count chop breaks down like so (with 30k being set aside to play for):

roosterfish: $77,445
Roberta114: $88,400
IG0tDibs: $119,899
downosaur: $95,942

You say you’d like 125k, but no one’s budging. Should you take the deal as offered?

13 COMMENTS (Jump to comment form)

Rondleman

I think this is very player-dependent. If IG0t feels that he’s got a significant enough skill advantage over the remainder of the field, and the money won is insignificant to him (i.e. he’s got a sizable bankroll or is independently wealthy), then it would be silly of him to take the chop. On the flip side, if he usually plays $5.50s and just happened to satellite into this one and luck through, or if he thinks that he does not have a good advantage over the other players (and especially if both are true), then the chop becomes a much better move.

If he took the chip-chop, he would only be giving up about 4% -vs- not taking the $125k, which would be substantial if the tournament was a more long-term occurrence for him. Personally, I know I take the chop every day, but if I played large buy-in tourneys regularly, I might think twice.

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Anonymous

I would of reraised 3x the BB preflop. Thats what I would of done.

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Fagin

How many hours have they been playing to get to this stage??

I take the chop then go all-in every hand untill I get called!! I’m a small stakes player and I would be looking to grab the cash and hit the pub to celebrate!!

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drhoho

I would take the chop. I am not really a gambler, only a cardplayer. Rather lessen the variance, once a huge win is secured.
Sure winning after a chop will leave you 48k less than winning without, but the chiplead is not that big and there is no saying who will win.

If you are confident that you are the best player and have a good feeling about it, you can refuse the chop as Rondleman stated, but I would take it.

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Joe B

I don’t really understand the question. Is my name dibs?…

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Ally

I take the chop.

With the blinds this high, anything can happen. There can be some massive swings and when you think about it, every single hand affects your equity in the prizepool by tens of thousands of dollars.

There is a little bit of play left, so you could sit back and grind until there are three left, but by doing so, you’ve substantially decreased your equity.

Look at it this way. You are offered $120k. 4th is $54k and 3rd is $70k. We’re risking as much as $50k or more with the play of even a few more hands. Would we walk into a casino and put $50k on black? That’s essentially what we’re doing here. We’re totally gambling with $50k.

I’m not a gambler, so I take the $120k and start to party.

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Kevin

I would chop..but I dont know this guy.. he may have a big bankroll, or a small one.. He may not care to much about 77k vs 120k.. who knows. Also it depends on if he feels he can win or not. Having never found myself in a situation like this Im saying chop. Money wise a chop is smart because if you win still your close to 1st palce money anyway as the DHQ said.

Being final table with high prizes already to win your going to have to get lucky..regardless of how good you are. Chop IMO..but it depends 100% on you bankroll and how much you can afford to gamble.

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bluesbread

Nothing wrong with chopping but not at this price. Don’t let them screw you after all your hard work. According to my calculation, $161G is your rightful share if it’s chopped now.

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chris

30k gets held back in stars deals – they have to play for at least 30k.

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no_donkey

I thought this was Daily Hand Quiz, not Daily Chop Quiz

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MDH

Interesting last comment there as I came late to this quiz and had other thoughts. Thank you DHQ for covering this topic. My initial reaction was “Will I ever outmaneuver such a massive field as the Sunday Stars brings again?” and because it’s so difficult and I’ve been lucky it feels like my big day so I should refuse chop and continue. However, after reading the comments I do see the similarity to the final 4 of a classic WPT 10k buyin event. I know myself, I’m not a gambler that extra 30k could actually become my bankroll and the bills will be paid to the point where I can work whatever job I care to! I chop for life changing money.

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Karnage

You got the chip lead by winning coin-flips. This is hardly a position of strength.

Five minutes ago you would have been offered less then 3rd place money, so take the chop and boast for the rest of your life about how one time you won $60k in five minutes.

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Ian

As with all poker questions, it depneds. It’s certainly not illegal to ask, but the different sites all have different policies on spare-changing. Sites like PokerStars and FullTilt don’t necessarily prohibit it but they will turn your chat off for a set period of time (like 4 or 5 days) if anyone complains. I wouldn’t recommend spare-changing as a practice. Everyone hates it and you’ll be slammed mercilessly by the players at whatever table you ask.There are a couple of sites (and I’m sorry I don’t have links or URLs) where you can ask the poker community to stake you. These are people who will give a way a few cents or a dollar or 2 or 3 for people to enter micro-buy in tourneys. Try Googling poker staking. Good luck!

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