Curriculum

A Complete ICM System for
Every Stage of a Tournament

• Lifetime Access
• Preflop and Postflop ICM
• Real-World Scenarios

1. 01

   Getting Started 3 Lessons

   • Introduction

     Welcome to Practical ICM Mastery! Check out this brief introduction where I outline how this course will help you truly understand the nature of ICM, why I'm proud of its practical approach and what else you can expect from the lessons ahead.

   • HRC Tutorial

     Holdem Resources Calculator will be one of the key tools we use inside the course. In this video, I walk you through the process of setting up hands, analyzing the output, and the most crucial features you'll need.

   • Risk Premium Explained

     Risk premium is one of the most important concepts in ICM and a key driver of our strategy. In this video, I’ll show you how understanding risk premium alongside stack sizes helps you recognize repeatable patterns and work out the right strategy across different situations.

2. 02

   Early Stage 3 Lessons

   • Early Stage ICM - Imaginary Scenarios

     At this stage of the tournament, strategy is still quite similar to chipEV, but there are already some important differences. I’ll walk you through a few early-stage tournament scenarios to show where those differences begin to appear.

   • Early Stage ICM - Real Scenarios

     Now, I’ll jump into three real hand examples and compare the chipEV strategy with how we should actually approach these spots.

   • Early Stage Adjustments

     Welcome to the final chapter on Early Stage play. This time, I’ll revisit some of the scenarios we’ve already covered and look at what happens when our opponents fail to adjust and continue using chipEV strategies.

3. 03

   Mid Stage 2 Lessons

   • Mid Stage ICM - Max Latereg

     We now move into the Mid Stage chapter. I’ll start by looking at max late registration - why it can make sense to do so, but also highlight the downsides of it.

   • Mid Stage ICM - Real hands

     Let's look at real hand examples from the stage of a tournament where late registration has closed and around 15-20% of the field remains.

4. 04

   Bubble 5 Lessons

   • Near Bubble - Big Field

     We’re on to the bubble stage. In the next few chapters, I’ll break down how to approach the bubble as a short, mid, and big stack. In this video, I’ll focus specifically on big-field bubbles - tournaments with 200 or more players.

   • Stone Bubble - Big Field

     Now, I’ll dive deeper into stone bubble scenarios in big-field tournaments. Risk premiums become much more significant here, so I’ll show you how they affect your decisions and how to adjust your strategy accordingly.

   • Near Bubble - Small Field

     Welcome to the Small Field Bubble section, where I’ll focus on tournaments with roughly 100–200 runners. With the final table and meaningful pay jumps getting closer, building a stack becomes more valuable, but the ICM pressure can also be significantly higher and risk premiums can change a lot depending on the stack sizes around you.

   • Stone Bubble - Small Field

     With a focus on the stone bubble, I’ll continue exploring how our strategy changes across different scenarios in smaller-field tournaments, using real hand examples from my own play.

   • Bubble - Tiny Field

     Next, I’ll look at tiny-field bubble situations, covering both near-bubble and stone-bubble spots in the same video since these scenarios apply to a much smaller player pool.

5. 05

   Post Bubble & Pre Final Table 2 Lessons

   • Post-Bubble ICM

     The bubble has burst, and we’ll start by looking at spots where we’re still a long way from the final table. At this stage, risk premiums have dropped, and the relationship between the number of starting stacks and risk premium isn't there anymore.

   • Pre-FT ICM

     Now, I’ll look at spots with 16-10 players remaining and break down how different payout structures and stack sizes affect our risk premiums and, in turn, the strategies we should use.

6. 06

   Final Table 8 Lessons

   • FT ICM - BVB Similar Stacks

     We’ve reached the Final Table. This is where most of the ICM magic happens. Our decisions will be rewarded with the highest $EV, so this stage is especially important! We’ll start by looking at BvB situations at similar stack sizes.

   • FT ICM - BVB Different Stacks

     I’ll continue exploring blind-vs-blind play at the final table, this time focusing on how different stack-size dynamics change our strategy across hands I've played at high-stakes tournaments.

   • FT ICM - Blinds vs RFI: Similar Stacks

     How do we play from the blinds vs. raises? Let’s start by looking at spots with similar stack sizes featuring some of the best online MTT players in the world.

   • FT ICM - Blinds vs RFI: Different Stacks

     In this video, we’ll explore how the blinds should react to raises when stack sizes differ significantly between players.

   • FT ICM - IP vs RFI: Similar Stacks

     We’re now IP and facing an RFI from a similar stack. Let’s focus on how to approach these spots when risk premiums are very high.

   • FT ICM - IP vs RFI: Different Stacks

     How should we play against raises when stack sizes differ? We’ll look at examples where we’re the short stack and others where we’re the big stack, and see how our risk premium shapes the strategy in each case.

   • FT ICM - RFI and Open Jams

     We’ll focus on open raises and open jams in some peculiar spots, looking at how different stack-size configurations influence the strategy.

   • $10,000 Final Table Review with Jans Arends

     We're wrapping up the Final Table section with a special surprise! High-stakes crusher and 2-time WSOP bracelet winner Jans Arends joins me to put all of the lessons into practice and have some deep discussions about the hands of this prestigious $10k final table.

7. 07

   Extra Lessons 4 Lessons

   • Future Game Simulation (FGS)

     What will our Future EV look like after certain outcomes? And how can we deviate from our standard strategy based on FGS? Find out more in this video.

   • Live Vs Online

     In live poker, the payouts are more top-heavy than online. In this video, I dive deeper into the differences in risk premium between live and online poker and how that trickles down to all aspects of ICM.

   • Common Mistakes

     In this video, I break down some of the most common ICM mistakes I see players make from big stacks jamming too wide over tight opening ranges and calling open-jams too liberally, to short stacks overfolding from the big blind. Using real hand examples, I’ll show you why these mistakes happen, how to recognize them, and how you can exploit them in-game.

   • ICM Quiz

     Welcome to the ICM Quiz! You can grab the Quiz PDF in the extra materials section of the course. Look at the spot first, I'll ask questions and you should provide the answers on your own, then compare to my thoughts.

8. 08

   Postflop ICM 13 Lessons

   • BTN vs BB

     Welcome to the post-flop section! I’ll start by looking at BTN vs. BB situations and breaking down how ICM changes with changing stack sizes and on that - with changing risk premium.

   • BTN vs BB IP Cbet Comparison

     In this video, I'll compare post-flop strategies in BTN vs. BB spots and show how different risk premiums affect our betting and checking frequencies under ICM.

   • CO vs BB - Tight RFI

     I’ll look at a spot from a $10K GGMillions final table where a 20BB cutoff opens into three bigger stacks. I’ll break down how that creates a high risk premium for the cutoff and how it shapes our post-flop strategy.

   • UTG vs BTN - OOP Strategy

     Now, let’s look at an OOP example, specifically a UTG open and BTN call, and see how risk premium discrepancy impacts our overall strategy.

   • UTG vs BTN - IP Strategy

     This time, I’ll focus on the IP strategy from the previous example and break down how our risk premium changes the way we approach betting behaviour.

   • HJ vs CO

     In this video, I’ll break down a HJ vs. CO final table spot and show how stack sizes and risk premiums shape our post-flop strategy and range construction.

   • IP vs SB - Tight IP

     In this video, I’ll look at a post-flop ICM spot where the IP player has a tight UTG range and the OOP player is defending a wider range from the small blind, and break down how that shapes the strategy for both players.

   • CO vs SB

     In this video, I’ll break down CO vs. SB post-flop strategy under ICM by comparing two different stack-size dynamics: first when the small blind covers the cutoff, and then when the cutoff covers the small blind.

   • BVB Chip Leader RFI

     Here I’ll break down post-flop blind-vs-blind strategy in high risk-premium situations and show how different stack sizes affect the decisions we make.

   • BVB Chip Leader RFI - IP Stab

     Here's how to approach in-position stabs when the small blind checks in blind-vs-blind spots, focusing on the big blind’s betting strategy and how the small blind should respond.

   • BVB Same Stacks RFI

     With both stacks roughly equal, I’ll break down how to approach blind-vs-blind play post-flop and where ICM starts to meaningfully shift our strategy.

   • BVB BB Iso SB Limp

     Next, I’ll look at spots where the big blind isolates the small blind’s limp and compare three different stack-size setups. We’ll see how those dynamics change the way we approach betting, calling, and raising post-flop under ICM.

   • Postflop ICM - Real Hands

     We'll examine some real hands I've played, talk through the strategy and look at the solver to see if my thought process was correct.

9. 09

   What Now? 1 Lesson

   • Graduation Party & What Now?

     Congratulations on completing Practical ICM Mastery! Thanks for making it all the way through the course. I hope the concepts, patterns, and practical strategies we’ve covered help you make better ICM decisions and give you more confidence at the tables.