ICM Quiz FAQ's

[dutch81]

Hi, I was looking at the settings of the ICM quiz and see that I can change the blind intervals, there are also "flags" such as "SNG", "satellite" and "progbounty" and "Hero's range" is set to 15% by default.

If it's not too much trouble, could tell me if the intervals and flags have any impact on the answers to the quiz, like setting it to "progbounty", will the quiz account for ICM and also consider the bounty on a villain for a play's pish/fold %?

If I wanted to set the default to a wider range (20%), can you explain how that would change the answers to the quiz?

I have started using this daily now after all these years and would like to fine-tune this to replicate my scenarios online, which consist of playing on a site where 1st pays less than 20% of the pool. I tried to edit the "custom" filter with places 1-4 by percentages but I got errors after I chose "push" or "fold" so I had to delete it, the quiz didn't work, no details for the hand were given (loose, tight, etc). the default payouts are useless to me as I do not play SNG's and unfortunately, the payouts are not close to what my realities are (1st usually gets 18-20%) so I'd like to change the parameters to reflect that.

Thanks in advance, guys.

[Flag_Hippo]

If I wanted to set the default to a wider range (20%), can you explain how that would change the answers to the quiz?

This changes the range of cards that you are dealt during the quiz rather than the answers themselves so you can practice with a certain range and/or exclude certain cards from being included e.g. AA.

I tried to edit the "custom" filter with places 1-4 by percentages but I got errors after I chose "push" or "fold" so I had to delete it, the quiz didn't work, no details for the hand were given (loose, tight, etc). the default payouts are useless to me as I do not play SNG's and unfortunately, the payouts are not close to what my realities are (1st usually gets 18-20%) so I'd like to change the parameters to reflect that.

As far as I am aware that's a known issue but to ensure it's not something else please capture this trouble you're having in a log file and then send that to us in a Support Ticket so we can investigate that:

Tutorial: Reporting A Problem

[dutch81]

Thanks for the explanation, I appreciate it.

[dutch81]

i was able to change the payout structure to something more realistic in my case, it's still not exact but it's a lot closer than the default structures as seen here.

https://imgur.com/a/yLuNVyk
https://imgur.com/a/vdsf4YK
https://imgur.com/a/jGdQxIl

on avg, i'm getting a majority of these quizzes right but i'm really not to sure how i should be applying this to my game. in this exact spot, if i had to choose, even though i have a great hand 3-handed, the last thing i'd do is shove here unless i've been shoving up until this point (even then, 50x effective vs SB is too much). i'd rather raise 2.2x. when i look at the push/fold %'s, it's down the middle. i understand the concept of ICM and when this should be applied. i also understand that the answers rely on stack sizes, player tendancies & busting/cashing or pay jumps. what i don't get is how i can make these scenarios more realistic, at least on my end. or am i totally missing something and looking at this the wrong way?

i was thinking maybe i could set the quizes, an effective stack of 20 BBs, not 50 like in this example. i'd actually consider open shoving 20BB's in this spot, 50? never. if i'd never take this action, does the answer really matter? other than me knowing it's close? is there a way of fine-tuning this so i can get a more accurate answer?

also, i was thinking i could increase the default 15% range to 20%. this also got me thinking, if i did this, how would the answers differ?

sorry for the rant but this really gets to me. even if i'm getting these right, i want to understand exactly what all the variables are and how i can make these quizzes more realistic to improve my game. a lot of the times, i wouldn't push (because of deep and semi-deep stacks and no antes) or fold, i'd just open. so even though i get the answer right, it's not what i'd do in realtime. does that matter? about a third of the time, the percentages are off by less than 5%, i have been keeping screenshots of my results. i feel like i'm missing something. any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Flag_Hippo]

on avg, i'm getting a majority of these quizzes right but i'm really not to sure how i should be applying this to my game. in this exact spot, if i had to choose, even though i have a great hand 3-handed, the last thing i'd do is shove here unless i've been shoving up until this point (even then, 50x effective vs SB is too much). i'd rather raise 2.2x. when i look at the push/fold %'s, it's down the middle. i understand the concept of ICM and when this should be applied. i also understand that the answers rely on stack sizes, player tendancies & busting/cashing or pay jumps. what i don't get is how i can make these scenarios more realistic, at least on my end. or am i totally missing something and looking at this the wrong way?

The ICM is just calculating whether going all-in, calling an all-in or folding is more profitable for a given hand based on payout structure, stack sizes, opponents range and your hole cards so you'd want to review hands where you'd be generally going either all-in, calling an all-in or folding and this will be far more common when effective stacks sizes are lower. ICM is not going to tell you whether raising 2.2x, folding or going all-in is more profitable as that is a far more more complex scenario.

also, i was thinking i could increase the default 15% range to 20%. this also got me thinking, if i did this, how would the answers differ?

Are you referring to Hero's default range of 15% again? As I mentioned above this only changes the range of cards you are dealt during the ICM quiz. For example if you wanted to practice with any two cards then you would want to change Heros range to 100%.

[dutch81]

ok, i think i get it now. it's basically just a guideline and i need to figure out what would skew the numbers even more towards pushing/folding for the specific situation? so if a decision is within 10% between push and fold, is that considered really close? what is the generally considered a close decision as far as the %'s go?

i get that ICM quiz doesn't offer up more choices other push/ fold. it's just that up until now, it often felt like i wasn't necessarily acting on what i'd do, but how the quiz would score me. just picking the better of the two bad options and that was confusing... and annoying.

can you tell me if adjusting the payout structure from the default 50/30/20 to my custom 17/12/8 will have any impact on the quiz, if at all? i did this to reflect my site's payout structure.

i've been using the default structures for 9man SNG's to practice FT scenarios with my payout structure. the other day, i created a custom structure succesfully and saved it. should i make a new payout to simulate 500 man MTT's instead of just using 9 man SNG all the time? will that simualte more bubble situations, or no?

[Flag_Hippo]

ok, i think i get it now. it's basically just a guideline and i need to figure out what would skew the numbers even more towards pushing/folding for the specific situation? so if a decision is within 10% between push and fold, is that considered really close? what is the generally considered a close decision as far as the %'s go?

For more information on that I'd suggest searching/posting on a strategy forum. That seems like a big difference to me but how costly it is will also depend somewhat on the stakes/games you play.

can you tell me if adjusting the payout structure from the default 50/30/20 to my custom 17/12/8 will have any impact on the quiz, if at all? i did this to reflect my site's payout structure.

i've been using the default structures for 9man SNG's to practice FT scenarios with my payout structure. the other day, i created a custom structure succesfully and saved it. should i make a new payout to simulate 500 man MTT's instead of just using 9 man SNG all the time? will that simualte more bubble situations, or no?

Payout structure needs to add up to 100% unless you are simulating a final table MTT with 3 handed play where 17/12/8 represent the remaining payouts. ICM can only only be used for SNGs or final tables so this will not work for bubble play in a MTT since what's going on at the other tables isn't known.

[dutch81]

Thanks guys, that really cleared up a lot for me. I appreciate it.