What is M?

[Cactus Jack]

In Harrington on Holdem vol 2, he discusses a concept which seems to be very common among pro tournament players. This concept is M, which is named for the guy who figured it out and I don't remember his name and the book is in my truck.

M is a ratio of your stack vs. the blinds.

If you have 6,000 chips early on and the blinds are 100/200, you have an M of 20. This puts you in what Harrington describes as the Green Zone. You're in great shape and can make some moves without too much concern. However, make a call and fold and you're immediately into the Yellow Zone, in which you have less room to maneuver.

Later, you've got 8,000TC and the blinds are 250/500 with an ante of 50. Now, the pot is 1200 and you've got an M of between 6 and 7--or you can play 6 more orbits before you're blinded out, as long as the blinds don't go up during that time. You're in the Orange Zone and you need to do something soon. You still have some fold equity for your all in, but not as much as you think.

You're up to 10,000TC and the blinds are 1000/2000 and antes are 50. The pot is 3450. Your M is less than 3--the Red Zone. Brother, you better push the first semi-decent hand that comes your way because you're about to be sent packing by the ever increasing blinds. You have 0 fold equity. People are just waiting for you to bust out. All in when you are first to bet, even with air. One more orbit and you're in the Dead Zone, where the blinds put you all in.

That's it, quick and dirty. It's something every tournament player must keep in mind during play. The blinds are the ever-increasing driving force and you must keep your M up if you're planning on being around for long. When the blind increases, you're M is cut in half, every time. Gather chips, gentleman, cause the blinds are coming at you from behind. Remember, too, that you're opponents also have an M, even if they aren't aware of it.

Every decision you make in a tournament is governed by your stack size, in relation to the blinds. How you play in each zone is where the debate begins.

More later, gotta go to work.

CJ

[Twelver]

Thanks CJ

[JDLush]

[CybrPunk]

Yeah you're actually dead on there, JD. Paul Magriel was the one that coined the concept of M and knowing the M of everyone at your table is definitely to your benefit. Blind stealing becomes more and more important as the blinds and antes increase, especially to someone who reaches the bubble shortstacked (generally M<10 or, as you may hear others refer to it, under 10BB). Knowing other players 'M' gives you an idea of which players are in good shape and which ones need to make a move soon and are more likely to call a push from you, or push themselves. It also further helps you to analyze their play as someone with an M of 30 who pushes preflop is probably playing a much tighter range of hands than someone pushing with an M of 3.

First in "vigorish" (as Dan calls it) makes a huge difference here as you are gaining fold equity by pushing. It puts your opponent to the toughest possible decision. You win when your opponents fold the worst hand, you win when you make them fold a better hand AND you win when you're called and either have a better hand or you suckout. If you review ICM calculations you'll see that pushing marginal hands is much more +EV than you would originally think. I know after playing with SNGPT for just a short while my game on the bubble improved dramatically just due to having more confidence in pushing marginal hands in the right situations. Knowing those situations is a different beast, completely, and only comes with experience.

And you're also right about HOH 1 & 2 being the best books on NL tournament play ever written. Anyone who plays MTTs that hasn't read these books is really putting themself at a disadvantage. I highly recommend them both.

[Macallan]

Well, this topic seems to fit a question I had, so here goes my first post:

First, I agree with HOH 1 & 2 being awesome books on NL tourney play, but I have found that they have improved my cash game play as well. What I learned about heads-up strategy alone will probably pay for the cost of the books (I was shocked to read that section and learn that I was basically a heads-up donkey).

I have read and tried to follow the advice in TexasKowboy's article on MTT play. It helped me reach a final table after a long dry spell. However, in light of HOH, the advice about staying tight passive until the blinds reach 50/100 doesn't sit well with me. If you start with t1000 and you wait until the blinds reach 50/100 (after the first break on Party), then you will be down to about t825 by the time that happens (depending on the pace of play at your table, maybe a little more, like t900, maybe less). This is assuming you just fold for the first hour, which is entirely possible if you don't happen to pick up something in the first 40-50 hands. You have even less if you see a flop or two, and miss and have to lay down your hand. But let's say that you are playing really tight, so tight that you might as well be auto-folding ("If you're playing online you can click 'auto fold' and often be better off before the end of this stage if you can't play in the passive/aggressive style."), you may be between t825 and t900.

This would mean that you have voluntarily waited until your M is between around 5.5 to 6 before you open up your game. You're in Harrington's Orange Zone before you really start playing. Play one hand and lose, and you're in the Red Zone (at best)!

So finally, the question in all this: what starting chip count did TexasKowboy have in mind when choosing the 50/100 level as the threshold for opening up your style into tight-aggressive?

[Cactus Jack]

The starting chips at PP tends to throw off a lot of people. Yes, it does push you to open up early, too early in most cases, but you have a lot more time than you think. The important thing to really work on is your post-flop play. You can play more hands if you are able to let the marginal hands go when you're beat. Neat trick, IF you can do it.

For most people, it's simply better to play tight/aggro. You will get a hand at some point, in position, which you can play. Then you can make back the ground you may have given up in a single hand. What most lack is the patience to play Harrington's way. It works, but isn't easy to fold over and over.

CJ

[Macallan]

[scarface]