[BradleyT]

[ QUOTE ]
It seems to me with a big stack, a medium stack, and two very small stacks the big stack shouldn't be pushing very weak holdings since folding keeps the bubble alive.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let's look at some ICM numbers in a 10 player $10


Starting ICM
Player 1 9000 0.6667 0.2689 0.0583 $42.57
Player 2 3000 0.2222 0.4706 0.2424 $30.08
Player 3 800 0.0593 0.1387 0.3703 $14.53
Player 4 700 0.0519 0.1218 0.3289 $12.82

Those small stacks are worth a bit of money. Even though when you "absorb" one the $12.82 or $14.53 gets distributed amongst 3 players you still come out with a $1.49 gain for taking out the T700 stack -

We beat the T700 player
Player 1 9700 0.7185 0.2506 0.0309 $44.06
Player 2 3000 0.2222 0.5812 0.1965 $32.48
Player 3 800 0.0593 0.1682 0.7725 $23.46

(Player 3 should be thanking you very much)



When we lose to the T700 stack it's not too bad for us -

We lose to the T700 Player
Player Chips Prob 1st Prob 2nd Prob 3rd Equity
Player 1 8300 0.6148 0.2855 0.0868 $41.04
Player 2 3000 0.2222 0.3944 0.2813 $28.57
Player 3 800 0.0593 0.1184 0.2475 $11.47
Player 4 1400 0.1037 0.2017 0.3844 $18.92

We only lose $1.41 in equity. The other stacks make up the large majority of equity gained by player 4. He gained $6.10 and our $1.41 is 23% of that so the other two stacks gave him 77% of his equity gained.



Now let's keep the short stacks alive so we can steal 400 chips from the middle stack -

We steal
Player 1 9400 0.6963 0.2480 0.0506 $43.27
Player 2 2600 0.1926 0.4642 0.2630 $28.82
Player 3 800 0.0593 0.1532 0.3628 $14.82
Player 4 700 0.0519 0.1345 0.3235 $13.10

We gained $.70 and the next steal (9800/2200) we gain $.69. Two steals have netted us $1.39 which is almost the same amount gained by eliminating the T700 player.

I would think the stealing plan would be better because there is a drastically lower chance of getting called by the medium stack than one of the small stacks - unless of course you play the $6.50's then the medium stack is calling an all in with AJo risking his $27.07 to gain $6.26 because his cards are "pretty".

However when you go for the stealing plan one of the shortstacks may decide enough is enough and take a stand - so in game you probably gain a little less than $1.39. But as shown above losing to a small stack while stealing isn't a catastrophy as the majority of their equity (75%) is gained from the other players.

So the moral of the story is - being the big stack rules.