ICM Explorer by Douglas Zare



Download for Windows XP and later (.NET 3.5)


Register ICM Explorer ($20).

In a poker tournament with prizes of 50%, 30%, and 20%, accumulating chips must be balanced against survival. You may need far more equity to call in a tournament than you would need if you could cash the chips out after the hand. The Independent Chip Model (ICM) is the model of choice for analyzing Sit-N-Go tournaments. ICM Explorer is an advanced calculator for the ICM.

You can use ICM Explorer to study many aspects of SNG tournaments:
  • How much equity do you have in a particular situation?
  • How much equity do you gain when a player is eliminated?
  • What chance do you need to win in order to call a bet?
  • How much equity do you need to bet for value?
  • How much equity do you need against marginal hands to prefer extra action over stealing the blinds?
  • How often does a pure bluff need to succeed?
  • How often does a semibluff need to succeed, or what chance do you need to win after you are called?
ICM Explorer can import hand histories from PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, reading the blinds and antes.

ICM Explorer is neither designed nor intended to be used during play. That may violate the TOS of the poker sites. Don't do that. ICM Explorer helps you to study situations away from the table, so that you can act quickly, confidently, and correctly when you do play.

I've used ICM Explorer in some of my instructional videos on SNGs for StoxPoker.com. Many late game SNG decisions boil down to a few key questions:
  1. How risk-averse is my opponent due to the stack sizes?
  2. How risk-averse am I due to the stack sizes?
  3. How do the blinds affect my risk-versus-reward when pushing or calling?
  4. What is my opponent's range?
  5. What should my range be?
ICM Explorer helps you to answer questions 1-3. Experience should help you with question 4, and the results from ICM Explorer, this range, and a tool like PokerStove will tell you the answer to question 5.

A collection of tutorials and preset stack distributions is built into ICM Explorer.

ICM Explorer is shareware. This means you are welcome to redistribute ICM Explorer, but it's not free. If you find it useful, please register using the Buy Now buttons on this page. Thank you for your support.


Download for Windows XP and later (.NET 3.5)


Register ICM Explorer ($20).