Power Chip

I play in a tournament that uses a power chip (can be used to exchange 1 of the first 2 cards or exchange the last hit card or look at a face down DD card and keep/exchange it). I really do not know what the value of this for winning one hand. I have traditionally used (before the cards are dealt) 60% vs the traditional 44% as a guide to win one hand. I am curious if anyone else has ever looked at this scenario and come up with a value? The game uses a 6D, S17, DAS, RSA format.

Quote: larwiz1

I play in a tournament that uses a power chip (can be used to exchange 1 of the first 2 cards or exchange the last hit card or look at a face down DD card and keep/exchange it). I really do not know what the value of this for winning one hand. I have traditionally used (before the cards are dealt) 60% vs the traditional 44% as a guide to win one hand. I am curious if anyone else has ever looked at this scenario and come up with a value? The game uses a 6D, S17, DAS, RSA format.

The question you should be asking is not what the value is. The value is zero, because every other player in the tournament presumably has one of these power chips too. Remember, in a tournament the dealer is not the enemy, the other players are.

The question you should be asking is how to use the chip effectively. Chances are at some point in the tournament you will have to bet everything you have. I would save it for that moment. Also, obviously, if you still have it at the last hand, use it then. How to use it would be very complicated. Just use your best judgment on that.

Quote: Wizard

The question you should be asking is not what the value is. The value is zero, because every other player in the tournament presumably has one of these power chips too. Remember, in a tournament the dealer is not the enemy, the other players are.

The question you should be asking is how to use the chip effectively. Chances are at some point in the tournament you will have to bet everything you have. I would save it for that moment. Also, obviously, if you still have it at the last hand, use it then. How to use it would be very complicated. Just use your best judgment on that.

There's another factor in the use of the power chip, and that is its use as a threat/leverage. If you retain it while the other players have used theirs, then you have a tremendous advantage. It's not unlike the doubling cube in backgammon.

The chip's absolute utility would be (the increase in EV it affords)*(the largest bet you can make). So logically, you would want to use it, all other things being equal, the first time your chip stack was over the table maximum; the first time that happens, bet the max and use the chip. But that decision would, of course, have to be modified by your status relative to the other players, as above. Dropping your stack below the table maximum and possibly never maximizing the chip's value would be a disaster.

I have played in enough of these tournaments to have a fair idea of how and when to use a power chip. It can get complicated.

To put the question another way. On the last hand of a round, before the cards are dealt and after your opponents bet is on the table, supposed you have an option on your bet. You can "take the low" (bet small) and will win the round if your opponent does not win or push (a combined roughly 52%), and you would have a 48% chance of advancing. Or you can bet high and will win the round if you win the hand. Normally, you would have a 44% of winning the hand and in a traditional scenario you would" take the low" however with a power chip that % is going to go up, and I do not know how much. I just in general use 60% as my potential win % with a power chip. I was just curious if anyone else has looked at the power chip and determined a worth for it, before the cards are dealt.