Chopping

Its 12:00 am and you find yourself at the final table after 9 hours of grueling play, and there are only four players left. Unfortunately everyone is pretty even stacked. Someone finally asks, “Do you guys want to just chop?” The day has been long, and everyone is starting to wear down. What do you do? Some pros advocate chopping if you can find an advantage to doing so. Other pros say absolutely not. In my opinion there are times where chopping can be beneficial. In the scenario stated above I think chopping would be the best avenue. The reason is because you are worn down and are likely to make mistakes that could cost you a lot of money, and everyone is even in chips. Most of the prize pool goes to first and second place, so if you finish third there is a significant decrease in profit. Chopping the money four ways will even everyone out.
There are plenty of reasons not to chop. If you feel that you are playing well, are alert, and you can see that your opponents are getting tired, then you might want to consider not chopping four ways. Since you are playing well, you can wait for your opponent to make a mistake and capitalize on it. At this point you may decide to play it out or make another deal. If you have a sizable chip lead over your players, then chopping shouldn’t be an option for you. If you are tired and fear that you might make a mistake, then offer to chop and give you a little extra on top.
One method that I like to use is chopping four ways and playing for an extra amount. For example, there are four players left and the remaining prize pool is $10,000. Each player gets $2,000 and then the table will play for the remaining $2,000. First off, this really speeds the game up. Players will start to play looser knowing they are guaranteed taking home a sizable return on their investment. The extra $2,000 for first is a great incentive to finish out the tournament, and it gives the winning player the ability to have a first place finish instead of a chopping finish.
Of course there are hundreds of ways to chop in tournaments, and there are thousands of different deals to be made. The main factor in chopping is assessing how you and your opponents are playing, how you feel, and what the chip stacks are. These are all indicators of how the rest of the tournament will proceed. If you feel you will benefit from a chop, then you should chop. If you feel that you are going to make 1st or 2nd place money, then you shouldn’t chop because you will lose out on a majority of what you could have won.