Do you use the "M" zone to calculate your stack and playing range?

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Boston10111

Boston10111

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Normally I just calculate my blinds throughout the tournament, but I've been reading a more effective strategy is to calculate based on the M zone. This calculates how many orbits you have until your blinded out if to say the blind levels do not change.

The math behind it is your stack divided by (BB + SB+ all players antes)

so if your stack is 40,000 and you have 600 BB, 300 SB, and 100 total in antes from everyone it would be 40,000/ 1,000 = 40 orbits

Does anyone use this for their strategy, and do you feel it has worked better than just looking at your total blinds?

would love to hear your input.
 
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I do all the time. It’s on my HUD and I start pushing all-in when M is 7 and range widens as it goes down. And seeing how others handle M tells me whether they understand tournament strategy. Seeing people raise 3bb when their M is 5 tells me that the player is not a good player and if they fold before the flop, they will likely be out sooner than later.
 
nameless1537 said:
I do all the time. It’s on my HUD and I start pushing all-in when M is 7 and range widens as it goes down. And seeing how others handle M tells me whether they understand tournament strategy. Seeing people raise 3bb when their M is 5 tells me that the player is not a good player and if they fold before the flop, they will likely be out sooner than later.
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what is your M when you play speculative hands like 76s or maybe pocket 44s? does it have to be higher than 10 for you? or larger?
 
Boston10111 said:
Normally I just calculate my blinds throughout the tournament, but I've been reading a more effective strategy is to calculate based on the M zone. This calculates how many orbits you have until your blinded out if to say the blind levels do not change.

The math behind it is your stack divided by (BB + SB+ all players antes)

so if your stack is 40,000 and you have 600 BB, 300 SB, and 100 total in antes from everyone it would be 40,000/ 1,000 = 40 orbits

Does anyone use this for their strategy, and do you feel it has worked better than just looking at your total blinds?

would love to hear your input.
Click to expand...



To me the number of BB or the M number can be translated into the same behavior. i.e. I need to act a certain point or I will be blinded out.

I often use BB but - if I have 6 BB (that is really short)….but I don't have six orbits....it's the M number that will remind me that I only have less than 3 orbits with antes.

These are just gauges - it doesn't matter which one you use as long as you come to the proper conclusions about how often you should act and what your range should be.

Good luck !
 
Poker_Mike said:
To me the number of BB or the M number can be translated into the same behavior. i.e. I need to act a certain point or I will be blinded out.

I often use BB but - if I have 6 BB (that is really short)….but I don't have six orbits....it's the M number that will remind me that I only have less than 3 orbits with antes.

These are just gauges - it doesn't matter which one you use as long as you come to the proper conclusions about how often you should act and what your range should be.

Good luck !
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Does this mean you feel M is more important when you are a small stack vs a large or medium stack since you’re at risk of blinding out?
 
Boston10111 said:
Does this mean you feel M is more important when you are a small stack vs a large or medium stack since you’re at risk of blinding out?
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Yes and no.

Certainly important as a short stack to realize that I only have ~2 orbits left. And I feel like I need to get value for my entire stack.

And still important as a bigstack - not to calculate my own stack - but to calculate the short stacks and predict their behavior and ranges.

I'm really not against using either (or any other method) of defining:
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Good luck !
 
I use BBs and I'm used to it. Explanation of play using the M number would confuse me, but of course I've heard about it and know how it's calculated. But overall I feel like M was heavily used in earlier days, now almost all modern strategy info is referring to stacks in big blinds. Well, there might be exceptions of course.
 
In the tournaments ofc only M number! It's more accurate because it includes ante, which is very important!
 
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I think that math including bb, sb and antes more effective, but I need to know about the math to determine what range I can play profitably relative to my stack size because I like to suit my range as like each situation is needed.
 
In principle, there is no difference in calculating the number of M or blinds. But in tournaments I use the number M, although a lot depends on the stage of the tournament, and there are many additional nuances, and I'm not at all strong at everything.
 
It really doesn't matter which one you use as long as you understand what it means. A stack of 10BB doesn't mean you have 10 orbits left. In a game without antes, you have less than 7 orbits left. With antes, it's more like 4 orbits. You should obviously go into push-or-fold mode sooner when antes are involved. Pick whichever one works for you.
 
Ive heard about this from the Dan Harringtons old tournament books, "Harrington on Holdem". He used to talk about the M and the Q. Although its been so long I forgot what the Q was lol. Check out those books if you can.
 
n1ckoftime said:
Ive heard about this from the Dan Harringtons old tournament books, "Harrington on Holdem". He used to talk about the M and the Q. Although its been so long I forgot what the Q was lol. Check out those books if you can.
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Q is your stack divided by the average stack size in the tournament. So it is basically used to give an idea of where you are in the tournament. This is mainly important in satellites.

Zvezda kz said:
In principle, there is no difference in calculating the number of M or blinds. But in tournaments I use the number M, although a lot depends on the stage of the tournament, and there are many additional nuances, and I'm not at all strong at everything.
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Normally there isn't too much difference, but this would depend on what tournament you are play. For instance M would be more useful than BB when playing an "anti up". Where as if you was playing "win the button" BB would be more beneficial to know.

Boston10111 said:
Normally I just calculate my blinds throughout the tournament, but I've been reading a more effective strategy is to calculate based on the M zone. This calculates how many orbits you have until your blinded out if to say the blind levels do not change.

The math behind it is your stack divided by (BB + SB+ all players antes)

so if your stack is 40,000 and you have 600 BB, 300 SB, and 100 total in antes from everyone it would be 40,000/ 1,000 = 40 orbits

Does anyone use this for their strategy, and do you feel it has worked better than just looking at your total blinds?

would love to hear your input.
Click to expand...

I use this because my HUD allows me to choose if it displays BB or M. When I am playing on my phone with no HUD, I will normally just use BB as it is easier/quicker to work out.
 
pokerballsaa said:
Normally there isn't too much difference, but this would depend on what tournament you are play. For instance M would be more useful than BB when playing an "anti up". Where as if you was playing "win the button" BB would be more beneficial to know.
Click to expand...



Thanks for the tips on winning the win the button tournaments, I had difficulty playing them and did not know about the blinds.
I will use your advice, first I will study the question of course)).
 
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