tournaments
Laddering
Also: ladder, pay-jump laddering
Deliberately folding your way up the payout ladder at a final table, waiting for shorter stacks to bust so that your finishing position — and prize — improves without risking chips.
Example. With three big blinds and two other short stacks, she folds every hand and ladders from ninth to seventh place.
Laddering is correct ICM play when the pay jumps are large and someone else is likely to bust first, and a leak when it means passing up profitable spots. The word is also used as a verb for each pay jump gained: 'we laddered to seventh'.